Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.
Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 47.24 points, or 0.3%, to 16,049.13. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 2.32 points, or 0.1%, to 1,884.09. The NASDAQ composite fell 26.65 points, or 0.6%, to 4,517.32.
U.S. crude rose 80 cents to close at $45.23 a barrel in New York. Brent Crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 89 cents to close at $48.23 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.4 cents to close at $1.363 a gallon. Heating oil rose 2 cents to close at $1.498 a gallon. Natural gas fell 8.4 cents to close at $2.586 per 1,000 cubic feet. .
Ailing Whole Foods to Lay Off 1,500 Workers “The hits keep coming against upscale grocer Whole Foods Market. Reeling from more aggressive rivals and shrinking same-store sales gains, the company said Monday it will lay off 1,500 workers over the next eight weeks.” (New York Post)
Hotel Owners Looking to Stay Current Put Money in Properties “Investing at record levels, owners of hotels across the United States are doing everything from rewiring their rooms and buying smart TVs, to replacing bathtubs with more easily maintained walk-in showers.” (New York Times)
PREI Grabs Hot Asset in NYC “Prudential Real Estate Investors has acquired both Gramercy West and Gramercy Central, a 207-unit, two-building residential portfolio in the heart of Gramercy Park for $123 million, from a joint venture between Broad Street Development and Crow Holdings.” (Commercial Property Executive)
Hotel Industry Is Looking Good to Commercial Real Estate Firms “The hotel industry is seeing an upsurge. It can be attributed to economic recovery, demographic shifts, international demand and easier access to hotel bookings and demand for new properties is growing, especially in large areas.” (Realty Today)
Japanese Real Estate Investors Are Back “Japanese investors are eyeing New York real estate again after getting burned in the downturn of the 1990s. In the past year, Japanese real estate companies have bought $1.5 billion worth of properties in the city, according to The Wall Street Journal.” (Crain’s New York Business)
Walmart vs. Target: Which Retailer Is More Powerful? “We just released a list of the 50 most powerful companies in America, and Walmart came out on top as the most powerful company in the nation with Target a close second.” (Business Insider)
Plaza Hotel Sale: The Latest Twist in a Long, Strange Trip “The Plaza Hotel—with its illustrious history and a roster of previous owners that includes Conrad Hilton and Donald Trump—is on the block again.” (Wall Street Journal)
Carl Icahn: Fed Interest Rate Policy 'Could Be Disastrous' “There’s danger ahead for the U.S. economy, activist investor Carl Icahn warned in a video released Tuesday.” (Fortune)
The Horrible Truth About Retailing “The outlook for major chain and specialty retailers that control many of the anchor spots in shopping malls is bleak. The onslaught of tough new competition is upping the ante for all legacy players in retail.” (Forbes)
So, About that Hot Manhattan Resi Market… “A hiccup, or signs of a slowdown? The median price for a Manhattan apartment that went in contract between July 1 and Sept. 21 was $950,000, 3 percent lower than the second quarter’s record-high median.” (The Real Deal)
US consumer confidence rises again in September — American consumers were feeling more confident again this month, good news for the U.S. economy. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose again to 103 in September after surging in August to 101.3. The September reading was the highest since January. Economists had expected the index to fall this month. Consumers’ assessment of present economic conditions hit the highest level in eight years. More than 25 per cent of Americans said jobs were plentiful, highest share since September 2007. (ABC)
US home prices rise steadily in July, lifted by higher sales — U.S. home prices rose at a solid pace in July, as would-be buyers competed for a diminished supply of available housing. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 5% in July from a year earlier. That’s up from a 4.9% annual pace in June. Home prices rose in all 20 cities over the past 12 months. San Francisco posted the biggest gain of 10.4%, followed by Denver with 10.3%. (AP)