Archive for Uncategorized
$38 Billion Finnish Fund Moves Assets to U.S. as Europe Founders
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Hedge funds still charge too much to be worth considering
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Finnish fund Ilmarinen used to be underweight U.S. assets
One of the Nordic region’s biggest asset managers is adjusting its portfolio to reflect a lack of confidence in Europe and a growing faith in the prospects of a U.S. boom.
Ilmarinen, a Finnish pension fund that oversees about 36 billion euros ($38 billion) in assets, plans to adjust its investments so it’s no longer underweight the U.S., according to Timo Ritakallio, its chief executive officer…
$38 Billion Finnish Fund Moves Assets to U.S. as Europe Founders
Big D Office Tower Attracts JV Buyer
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The 8080 North Central Tower in Dallas
Dallas—A joint venture of Foundry Commercial and Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., has acquired 8080 North Central Tower, a 17-story Class A building in Dallas. The acquisition brings Foundry Commercial’s footprint in Dallas to 1.3 million square feet.
Formerly known as Eighty Eighty Central, 8080 North Central Tower is located on North Central Expressway at Caruth Haven on a 1.7-acre site. According to Yardi Matrix data, the building has 1,007 parking spaces in a 12-level garage. Amenities include proximity to the Preston Hollow and Park Cities neighborhoods, retail and restaurants on Greenville Avenue and on-site retail options. Currently, the property is 96 percent occupied…
Vancouver Home Sales Decline for 5th Straight Month in November
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Downtown Vancouver is pictured through a crane’s wires at the Port of Vancouver terminal in Vancouver.
Photographer: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg
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November residential transactions plunge 37%, realtors say
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Sales were 7.6 percent below 10-year average for month
Vancouver home sales plunged 37 percent in November from a year earlier, extending the slowdown in Canada’s most expensive property market for the fifth straight month.
Transactions in the Pacific coast city fell to 2,214 in the month, from 3,524 a year earlier, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Friday. That was 7.6 percent below the 10-year average for November…
Vancouver Housing Tax Pushes Chinese to $1 Million Seattle Homes
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Visitors at Kerry Park in Seattle.
Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg
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Toronto also a lure after 15% levy on foreign purchases
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Buyers look for value: ‘Why pay more for the same thing?’
Just a few days after Vancouver announced a tax on foreign property investors, Seattle real estate broker Lili Shang received a WeChat message from a wealthy Chinese businessman who wanted to sell a home in Canada and buy in her area.
After a week of showings, he purchased a $1 million property in Bellevue, across Lake Washington from Seattle. He soon returned to buy two more, including a $2.2 million house in Clyde Hill paid for with a single cashier’s check…
Ogilvy CommonHealth Stays Put in NJ Home
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Morris Corporate Center III, courtesy of Shea Communications
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide has decided there’s no place like home: its home in Morris Corporate Center III in Parsippany, N.J. In a lease renewal orchestrated by commercial real estate services firm JLL on behalf of the owner of the 530,000-square-foot office complex, the health-care marketing services firm recommitted to the Class A property with the signing of a lease for 83,500 square feet.
Net Lease Valvoline Property Sells in Ohio
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Middletown, Ohio—The Boulder Group recently facilitated the $360,000 sale of a 2,700-square-foot Valvoline property located approximately two miles west from Interstate 75 within the Cincinnati MSA. The company’s Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman negotiated the deal on behalf of both the seller, a Midwest-based private partnership, and the buyer, an unnamed private investor.
According to PropertyShark data, the 30-year old asset was last sold in 1989 for $300,000.
The Guys From ‘Government Sachs’
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In 1967, Sidney Weinberg celebrated his 60th year at Goldman Sachs. CreditThe New York Times
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected Sidney J. Weinberg, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, to serve as the assistant director of the War Production Board. Mr. Weinberg was one of the few men on Wall Street to support Roosevelt in the 1932 election, and he went on to advise Presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Lloyd Blankfein’s Eldest Son Has Been Quietly Chilling At Carlyle For Over A Year
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Getty Images
Alex Blankfein’s dad, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, is one of the most powerful people on Wall Street. Carlyle Group is among the largest private equity firms in the world. It would stand to reason that people would notice the former working for the latter.
But apparently no one really picked up on it when Blankfein’s eldest got a job at the prestigious investment company more than a year ago. As eFinancialCareers reports:
Lloyd Blankfein’s Eldest Son Has Been Quietly Chilling At Carlyle For Over A Year
HFF Arranges $84M for Purchase of Metro Orlando Office Park
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Lake Mary, Fla.—Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has arranged $84 million in financing for the acquisition of Primera Towers I–V, a five-building office park in this Orlando-area community. HFF worked on behalf of a Parmenter Realty Partners investment fund and an institutional equity partner to secure the $84 million loan through JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
The park totals 772,000 square feet and consists of Primera Towers I–V, at 605, 610 and 615 Crescent Executive Court and 255 and 300 Primera Blvd. The park is 89 percent leased and features on-site fitness centers and a café with patio seating at the Primera III building…
Enron Still Matters, 15 Years After Its Collapse
Posted by: | CommentsWhere were you on Dec. 2, 2001?
It is not a cocktail party icebreaker question, but rather a test of perspective and experience. Because 15 years ago on that day, the energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy protection, prompting a chain of seminal legislative, regulatory and public policy developments that influence corporate governance practices to this day. A new generation of leaders has entered boardrooms since then, and it is fair to question what they know, or remember, about the fiduciary failures that not only doomed Enron but also permanently recast the board’s role…
Enron Still Matters, 15 Years After Its Collapse
One of the typical lines lobbied by cane wielding house humpers is that renters are low income households that simply have no choice but to rent. The implication is subtle on some fronts but others choose to use a 4×4 of clarity by saying renters are simply poor people. Clearly these Taco Tuesday Jimmy Buffet loving fans have failed to take a look at rental rates in San Francisco. They also use an outdated model of the world where Don Draper was the model of success puffing away long and hard on that cigarette. Even in “prime” neighborhoods I am surprised at the lack of tech knowledge by some of these people living in million dollar homes. Some folks just have a hard time seeing that they bought a lucky scratcher at the right time. In fact, new data shows a rise in wealthy renter households. And in places like San Francisco, there are actually more households making over $150,000 per year that choose to rent than own. Clearly a household that is pulling in $150,000 or more a year is not “dumb” or low income…
Activist Fund Has Tough Sell to Get Rockwell to Rethink Deal
Posted by: | CommentsStarboard Value is flying close to the sun. Starboard, the activist hedge fund run by Jeff Smith, wants aircraft-parts maker Rockwell Collins to consider ditching a $6.4 billion tie-up with B/E Aerospace. Grounding the merger has merit, but Carl Icahn and others have had mixed results agitating against mergers and acquisitions. A Trump-inspired rally in Rockwell’s stock complicates Starboard’s case.
Melbourne Apartment Risks Mount as Prices Drop by Most Since ’14
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Values in Australia’s second-biggest city fell 3.2% last month
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RBA has warned about possible supply glut in Melbourne
Apartment prices in Melbourne fell at the fastest pace in more than two years in November, reinforcing concerns about a looming oversupply of units in Australia’s second-largest city.
The 3.2 percent month-on-month drop is the largest such decline since May 2014, according to figures from data provider CoreLogic Inc. This dragged down the overall increase in dwelling values across the nation’s state capitals to 0.2 percent, the smallest rise since March this year…
Cognizant Technology Can Do This The Easy Way Or The Paul Singer Way
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Getty Images
IT-outsourcer Cognizant Technology CEO Francisco D’Souza returned to work after Thanksgiving to find that most unwelcome thing on his desk: A fat envelope with a return address on West 57th Street. Enclosed therein was Elliott Management’s take on his company, which boils down to: Stop wasting money trying to grow, because if you hadn’t noticed that’s not happening anymore, and start sending that money to us.
Of course, no CEO likes to find out that Paul Singer just made his biggest-ever initial bet on his company. But it could have been so much worse…
Gold Slides to 10-Month Low as Fund Selling Binge Haunts Market
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Holdings in bullion-backed funds decline for 14th day in a row
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Report Thursday shows U.S. manufacturing expanded in November
Gold sank to the lowest in almost 10 months and funds backed by the metal continued to shrink as a strengthening U.S. economy drives investors into higher-yielding assets.
Assets in exchange-traded funds backed by bullion declined for a 14th day, the longest run since March 2015, amid speculation the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates at least twice in the next year. Traders are optimistic about the economic outlook as a report Thursday showed U.S. manufacturing expanded in November at the fastest pace in five months, and data Friday is forecast to show payrolls increased by 180,000 in November…
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It looks like Bridgewater is finally going to put that whole “We videotaped employee sexual harassment complaints, pressured said employess and created a “cauldron of fear” culture, but – like- so what?” thing behind it.
According to DealBook, the most radically transparent financial firm in the history of the world has settled with the National Relations Board on an agreement that makes it way more clear that employees of the fund have – like – rights. And since it’s Bridgewater, we’re sure they’ll be super open and honest about what that agreement looks like…
Treasuries Slump in Oil-Driven Rout While Banking Stocks Rally
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Dollar retreats versus yen as U.S. payrolls, Italian vote loom
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Brazilian assets tumble on politics; Asian index futures fall
The selloff in global bonds extended into December, while financial shares built on their post-U.S. election gains amid speculation Donald Trump’s policies will fuel inflation and spur growth. Crude oil climbed above $50 a barrel in New York.
Turkey Hires Advisers to Sell $10 Billion of Seized Companies
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Almost 600 companies seized in allegations of terrorism
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Businessman Akin Ipek has seen several of his companies seized
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Turkey hired three local institutions to advise on the sale of 596 companies it seized because of alleged links to terror organizations.
The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, known by its Turkish acronym of TMSF, picked Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi AS, or TSKB, Vera Varlik Yonetim AS and Garanti Yatirim Menkul Kiymetler AS to advise on the sale of companies grouped in three packages, the Istanbul-based fund said in a statement on its website on Wednesday…
The Bank of England Knows How Many People Are Eating Its Cash
Posted by: | CommentsWhy it matters that the new bills aren’t vegetarian.
Fury broke out amongst the vegetarian community in the U.K. yesterday when it emerged that the new polymer five-pound note contains traces of animal fat.
The discovery prompted an online petition for the Bank of England to make the new notes meat-free — it boasted more than 100,000 signatures at the time of writing.
While in the grand scheme of things the outrage of the vegetably-inclined may seem something of a minor issue, there is serious data showing the scale of the risks the new fivers pose to the meat-averse…
SAC Capital to Pay $135 Million to End Last Insider Case
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Steve Cohen’s old firm agrees to settle with Elan shareholders
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Investors sued over Mathew Martoma insider trades at SAC
Steven Cohen.
Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
With a little more than a year to go before he’s free to manage other people’s money again, Steven A. Cohen closed the book on the last insider-trading claim still plaguing his SAC Capital Advisors.
Cohen, 60, and SAC Capital agreed to pay $135 million to a group of Elan Corp. investors, resolving what may be the last major legal claim against his old firm, which was a target of the biggest insider-trading investigation in U.S. history…
CBRE Handles $121M Sale of Four Seasons in Vail
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The Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Vail, Colo.
Vail, Colo.–The Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Vail, Colo., an ultra-luxury property in the heart of one of North America’s top ski destinations, has been sold for $121 million in a deal arranged by CBRE Hotels.
Bernard Van der Lande of CBRE Capital Advisors, along with Mark Darrington and Larry Kaplan of CBRE Hotels, represented the seller, Barclays Capital, in the transaction. The buyer’s name was not released.
Credit Suisse Said to Freeze Accounts in Search for U.S. Assets
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U.S. prosecutors now asking why $200 million was hidden
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Bank said to be looking for indicators of U.S. accounts
Credit Suisse Group AG has frozen dozens of accounts as it tries to determine if U.S. clients are hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service after the firm pledged to come clean about secret assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The bank is looking at indicators such as phone numbers or powers of attorney to determine whether Americans are the true owners of accounts not disclosed to the IRS, according to the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Any client activity on these accounts now requires approval by a group within Credit Suisse, the person said…
KeyBank Lends a Helping Hand in Washington
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Villas at Auburn
Cleveland, Ohio—AVS Communities, a real estate development company active in the greater Seattle and Puget Sound region, recently received $95.2 million in tax-exempt bond financing from KeyBank’s Community Development Lending & Investing (CDLI) group to create more affordable housing in the area.
Wall Street Strategists Are Taking a Very Different Tone After Trump’s Win
Posted by: | CommentsPrior to Nov. 8, analysts were issuing dire warnings about what could befall markets across the globe should Donald Trump pull off a surprise upset in the U.S. presidential election.
“A Trump victory could lower global GDP growth by around 0.7-0.8 percentage points, according to our estimates, pushing GDP growth easily below our benchmark for a global recession,” Citigroup Inc. Chief Economist Willem Buiter cautioned in August, using criteria of 2 percent global growth at market exchange rates to measure a contraction…
Wall Street Strategists Are Taking a Very Different Tone After Trump’s Win
Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Increased 0.1% in October
Posted by: | CommentsContracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes increased marginally in October as a strong labor market and growing wages continue to support demand, according to figures released Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Key Points
- Pending home sales gauge rose 0.1 percent (matching the median forecast) after rising 1.4 percent the prior month
- Index increased 0.2 percent from October 2015 on an unadjusted basis
- Pending sales climbed in three of four U.S. regions on a month-to-month basis…
Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Increased 0.1% in October
CVMC REIT II Grabs Data Centers in Northern VA
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John Carter, CEO, CVMC REIT II
McLean, Va.—Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT II Inc., which focuses on the data center and health care sectors, recently expanded its holdings in the former category with the acquisition of the McLean Data Center Portfolio, a 128,000-square-foot campus in the Northern Virginia city of McLean. CVMC REIT II shelled out $85 million in cash for the two-building asset, which marks the company’s entrée into the incessantly hot Northern Virginia data center market.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
The pro-growth proclivities of the Trump administration and continued accommodative monetary policy will propel the S&P 500 index to fresh records in 2017, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists including Dubravko Lakos-Bujas and Marko “Gandalf” Kolanovic.
“Equity upside will be closely linked to improving earnings delivery,” they write. “Prospects of expansionary fiscal policies under a relatively easy monetary backdrop are likely to help support further re-rating of the equity multiple.”
JPMorgan is calling for the S&P 500 index to end next year at 2,400, which represents upside of 9 percent. That matches Societe General SA’s forecast for next year as the highest on the Street…
Court Filings Suggest Prince’s Estate Is Worth $200 Million
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Prince performs in Los Angeles, on March 28, 2009.
Photographer: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images for Lotusflow3r.com
Minneapolis (AP) — Prince’s estate is worth about $200 million, a new court filing suggests.
It’s the first time a specific estimate has emerged publicly from court proceedings following Prince’s April overdose death. Since he left no known will, the rock superstar’s sister and five half-siblings are in line to inherit equal shares of the estate — after taxes gobble up about half of it. By comparison, David Bowie’s estate was worth about $100 million when he died in January, according to his will.
Self-Storage Demand Outpaces Supply in Northwest Florida
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Patriot Self Storage of Bobcat TrailDon’t Blame House Price Surge on Foreigners, CMHC Chief Says
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CMHC’s Siddall calls for ‘more aggressive’ supply response
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Foreigners own only about 2% of Vancouver, Toronto condos
Foreign buyers aren’t the main culprit behind skyrocketing home prices in Canada, said the head of the nation’s housing agency.
“Foreign investment is a thing, not the thing that’s driving demand,” Evan Siddall, president of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Canada in Vancouver on Wednesday. “We pay attention when people who look different from us buy houses next door. We don’t pay as much attention when people like us buy the same houses for the same prices.”…
Wall Street Wins Again as Trump Picks Bankers, Billionaires
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Mnuchin would be third Goldman Treasury secretary since 1990s
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‘I think Donald Trump conned them,’ says hedge fund manager
Hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson was feeling happy Wednesday morning.
After Donald Trump ridiculed Wall Street on the campaign trail, the President-elect tapped former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Steven Mnuchin to be his Treasury secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to lead the Commerce Department. Trump even met with Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn inside Trump Tower.
It would suit Tilson just fine if voters who backed Trump because he promised to rein in Wall Street are furious now that he’s surrounding himself with bankers and billionaires…
HFF Closes Sale of Self-Storage Portfolio in Texas
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Barbara Guffey, HFF Houston
Houston—HFF announced that it has closed the sale of a four-property, Store Here-branded self-storage portfolio encompassing 2,162 units in Austin, Denton, Fort Worth and Harker Heights, Texas.
The portfolio consists of 201 West Stassney Lane in Austin, 1815 Shady Oaks Drive in Denton, 4772 Golden Triangle Blvd. in Fort Worth and 700 Indian Trail in Harker Heights (Killeen area). It comprises three warehouse/commercial spaces, 77 RV/surface parking space and 420 climate-controlled units, which represents 19.4 percent of the total units. All facilities are sited in highly-visible and accessible locations along the Interstate 35 corridor, a major north-south arterial highway that stretches around 500 miles within Texas and connects four of the state’s major cities: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio…
Choice Hotels Expanding Portfolio to Greece in 2017
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Choice HotelsSteven Mnuchin Is Donald Trump’s Expected Choice for Treasury Secretary
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Steven Terner Mnuchin at Trump Tower in Manhattan this month. CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Steven Mnuchin, a financier with deep roots on Wall Street and in Hollywood but no government experience, is expected to be named Donald J. Trump’s Treasury secretary as soon as Wednesday, people close to the transition say.
Mr. Mnuchin, 53, was the national finance chairman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, and his selection would elevate a wealthy loyalist to a pivotal economic post. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner, before creating his own hedge fund, moving to the West Coast and entering the first rank of movie financiers by bankrolling hits like the “X-Men” franchise and “Avatar.”…
Easterly Government Properties Acquires FBI Office Space
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Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany, N.Y.
New York—Easterly Government Properties Inc., a fully integrated REIT focused primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties leased to the U.S. government, recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of a 98,184-square-foot Federal Bureau of Investigation office space in Albany, N.Y.
With the closing of FBI – Albany, Easterly Government Properties now owns six of the 56 FBI field offices located throughout the country and 42 properties with a 100 percent-retained occupancy rate. The company’s portfolio totals 3.1 million square feet of Class A space…
Singapore Office Rents to Rebound End-2017, CapitaLand REIT Says
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Office rents to remain ‘a little soft’ in 2017, CEO Says
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Supply from 2018 will amount to quarter of 2016’s new space
Singapore’s office rents will remain “a little soft” in 2017 and may pick up only at the end of the year when the amount of new supply of space shrinks, according to CapitaLand Commercial Trust, one of the city-state’s biggest landlords.
About 2.3 million square feet of space were added this year, driving rents down by 15 percent, said Lynette Leong, chief executive office of the real estate trust’s manager. Less than 500,000 square feet are being planned annually starting in 2018, with no supply in sight from 2020, she said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday…
Hedge Fund Settlement With Labor Board on Worker Rights Stays Secret
Posted by: | CommentsThe resolution of an action by the National Labor Relations Board against Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, regarding the rights of employees will remain a mystery — at least to anyone outside of the firm.
Details of the final agreement are being kept confidential at the request of Bridgewater, whose founder, Ray Dalio, promotes its atypical culture and practice of “radical transparency” when it comes to airing grievances internally.
The agreement stems from an action brought by the labor board this year challenging some confidentiality provisions in the contracts that Bridgewater requires each of its more than 1,500 full-time employees to sign…
Mortgages Set to Debut in Taliban-Hit Afghan Housing Market
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Strong demand for mortgage loans among urban renters in Kabul
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Tiny finance sector ready to expand despite security concerns
Bank-e-Millie Afghan, the nation’s oldest state-run lender, is planning to roll out the country’s first mortgage product as regular attacks from Taliban militants fail to stem a surge in home constructions.
The lender’s plan, to offer loans under Sharia law that prohibits charging interest, is expected to expand the banking sector, boost the amount of cash in circulation and open up access to mortgages to those who strictly adhere to Islam, economists said…
Wyndham Grand Selects Manager for Upcoming Clearwater Resort
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David Yamada
Clearwater, Fla.—David Yamada has been recently appointed general manager of Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach, a new luxury resort in Clearwater Beach, Fla., slated to open in January 2017.
In his new role, Yamada’s focus will be on delivering an elevated guest experience that is consistent with the Wyndham Grand name. In addition, Yamada will oversee all property operations, including hotel programming and services, sales, marketing and employee relations…
Wyndham Grand Selects Manager for Upcoming Clearwater Resort
$1.4B Expansion Planned for Hong Kong Disneyland
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Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Co.
Hong Kong—Hong Kong Disneyland is about to get a lot more fun. The Walt Disney Co. and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region recently revealed plans for the expansion of the 310-acre amusement park. The two entities will share the $1.4 billion development cost.
The multi-phase, multi-year expansion project will enhance HKDL with new themed areas, including a Frozen-themed area, and various attractions. Construction activity will involve the transformation of the property’s Castle and Hub area, and the development of a new entertainment venue for live performances…
Small-Business Lender CAN Capital Replaces CEO, Promotes Sanz
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CAN says it has underperforming assets, must fix collections
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Sanz, a lawyer, joined in 2004 and heads executive committee
CAN Capital Inc., one of the first and biggest online small-business lenders, promoted Parris Sanz to acting chief executive officer as it identifies underperforming assets and moves to improve its collection processes.
CEO Dan DeMeo and “two other members of his team” are on leave of absence, Kayla Muller, a spokeswoman for the company at Prosek Partners, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. Ritesh Gupta was promoted to chief operating officer…
Greenwich Secures $53M for SC Office Parks
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The Dorchester Building in Park East, Greenville, S.C.
Greenville, S.C.—The Greenwich Group International, a New York-based real estate capital advisory firm, recently announced that it has secured $52.9 million in financing for the purchase and restoration of Park Central and Park East, two Greenville properties totaling approximately 570,000 square feet. Greenwich was the exclusive advisor on behalf of the buyer, TWO Capital Partners, in securing a $39 million senior loan, as well as $13.9 million in joint venture equity financing. The properties were acquired in an off-market sale.
Pound Boosted as U.K. Mortgage Approvals Reach Post-Brexit High
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Sterling only major currency to rise versus dollar this month
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U.K. data “continues to surprise to the upside”: Mizuho
The pound rose amid mounting evidence the U.K. economy is weathering the fallout from Brexit better than analysts expected.
Sterling climbed for the first time in three days against the euro as a report showed mortgage approvals reached the highest since March last month, indicating the housing market remains robust following the June vote to leave the European Union. The better-than-expected data are helping to counteract currency traders’ longer-term concerns over the nature of Britain’s exit from the bloc…
Muffley & Associates Real Estate Opens New Atlanta Office
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Mikel Muffley, founder & realtor with Muffley and Associates Real Estate
Alpharetta, Ga.—Muffley & Associates Real Estate, a luxury real estate brokerage firm, has announced the opening of a new office in Alpharetta, Ga., as reported by the Alpharetta Patch. The opening of the new office falls in line with the company’s expansion in the North Atlanta market.
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Climbed 5.1% in September
Posted by: | CommentsHome prices in 20 U.S. cities continued to climb in September, while a gauge of values nationwide exceeded the pre-recession peak, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data released Tuesday.
Key Points
- 20-city property values index rose 5.1 percent from September 2015 (forecast was 5.2 percent) after a similar gain in the year through August
- National home-price gauge increased 5.5 percent from 12 months earlier, to a record 184.8; the previous peak in 2006 was 184.6
- On a monthly basis, the seasonally adjusted 20-city gauge rose 0.4 percent from prior month after a 0.3 percent advance…
In Hillaryland, a Real Estate Billionaire Has Long List of Foes
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Kemper Freeman built property fortune amid Seattle-area boom
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His positions on light rail and Trump draw local criticism
Kemper Freeman runs what he claims is the most-visited retail destination in the Pacific Northwest, lucrative enough to make him a billionaire. What it hasn’t done is make him particularly popular in the Seattle area.
The 75-year-old Freeman has vigorously opposed a $54 billion light-rail project, pitting himself against environmentalists, local government and even a business group his father established back in the ’70s. He’s also a Republican and a Donald Trump donor. None of this goes over well in a county that overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton…
John Paulson Obviously Thinks President Trump Is All About That Trade With China Life
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In just a few months, John Paulson will presumably be in Beijing, telling Xi Jinping & co. just how things are going to be in Trumpworld, trans-Pacific trade-wise. All of the bellicose talk on both sides notwithstanding, he must be pretty sanguine about how it’ll go, because he just dumped a whole bunch of money into China’s version of (and soon to be owner of China’s actual) Uber.
John Paulson, who made $15 billion betting against the housing market before the financial crisis, told his investors on Wednesday that at least one of his portfolios had taken an investment stake in Didi Chuxing, a privately owned Chinese company, said people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.
One thing you can bet on is the unexpected. The big bet was that nearly a decade after the housing bubble peaked and then imploded, that young buyers would suddenly enter the real estate market in force. Instead, many are living with parentsor are part of the renting revolution. Of course the housing cheerleaders continue to champion a bubble in real estate yet somehow scratch their heads at the political ramifications that are hitting our country. Just like in politics, we are living in a massively divided real estate market. The difference in real estate however is the group of people that can afford current home prices grows smaller and smaller. Millennials, the next wave of supposed buyers never materialized. What you had is low inventory, investors, artificially low interest rates, and foreign buying taking up the slack. Even in California, we have 2.3 million young adults living at home with their parents. The latest data shows that instead of taking on mortgage debt, Millennials are racking up large amounts of student debt…
Brexit Vote Leads Lender Berlin Hyp to Postpone London Expansion
Posted by: | CommentsBerlin Hyp AG has delayed plans to open an office in the U.K. capital after the Brexit vote.
“We have postponed the creation of an office in London until the modalities of the U.K.’s exit from the European Union have become clear and can be assessed,” the Pfandbrief bank said by e-mail. Berlin Hyp had 27.8 billion euros ($29.4 billion) of assets at the end of September compared with 28.5 billion euros at the end of last year…
Brexit Vote Leads Lender Berlin Hyp to Postpone London Expansion
Can’t Afford Steve Cohen? Perhaps You’d Be Interested In Steve Cohen’s ETF Operation
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When Steve Cohen begins triumphantly cashing checks once again on Jan. 1, 2018, he’s well aware that most people will be left out of the party. After all, SAC Capital Advisors had a minimum investment requirement in the range of $25 million, and even if the Big Guy wanted to boost his capacity, the absolute dearth of aspiring hedge fund managers with anything approaching the right stuff (at least in the U.S.) would make that all but impossible.
Castellum Sells $51M Portfolio in Sweden
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Henrik Saxborn, CEO with Castellum
Göteborg, Sweden—Castellum, one of the largest real estate companies in Sweden, has announced the $51 million sale of four properties in Sundsvall and six properties in Östersund, totaling about 516,667 square feet. The buyer is NP3 and the transaction is slated for completion in March 2017.
“The deal is part of the divestments we announced and means that we continue to concentrate our operations by reducing the number of cities where we operate,” Henrik Saxborn, CEO of Castellum, said in prepared remarks…
Canada Watchdog Warns Against Complacency After Home Price Surge
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Lenders should rely less on collateral in mortgage assessments
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Prolonged economic downturn can lead to price correction
Canada’s financial institution watchdog warned lenders against “complacency” setting in for mortgage lending standards, saying that surging home prices and historically low interest rates can’t be taken for granted.
“Lenders might be led to believe that weak underwriting standards will be mitigated by ever-rising collateral values,” Jeremy Rudin, head of Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, said in a speech Monday in Vancouver to mortgage professionals. “Our view is the opposite.”…
Canada Watchdog Warns Against Complacency After Home Price Surge
Cravath Bonuses for Law Firm Associates Remain Unchanged
Posted by: | CommentsThe prominent Wall Street law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has splashed some cold water on those still hoping for higher year-end bonuses.
The firm — a trendsetter when it comes to pay for big law firms — disclosed on Monday in an internal firm memo that bonuses for its associates would be $15,000 to $100,000 — the same range as in 2015.
Shortly after Cravath’s bonus scale became public, two major law firms matched the amounts. They are Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison…
Cravath Bonuses for Law Firm Associates Remain Unchanged
Forty Five Ten Brings Luxury Brands to Downtown Dallas
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Forty Five Ten, 1615 Main St., Dallas (by Nathan Schroeder)
Dallas—Forty Five Ten’s new luxury flagship store in downtown Dallas is now open. The project was led by Droese Raney Architecture.
Located at 1615 Main St., the 37,000-square-foot retail destination owned by Headington Co. has floor-to-ceiling windows, custom metal work and a dark brick exterior. The new store features several merchandise categories—rare beauty, a fine jewelry salon, a shoe salon, books and stationery by Smythson, Connor and an Assouline shop, tabletop collections from Hermès, St. Louis, Puiforcat, Georg Jensen, Baccarat and Christofle…
ESRB Warns on Risks From Europe’s Residential Real-Estate
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Macroprudential body sees vulnerabilities in eight countries
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Brexit vote may prove to be a turning point for U.K. market
The European Systemic Risk Board warned eight European Union countries that rapid increases in house prices and mortgage debt could jeopardize their economies.
After an EU-wide assessment, Europe’s macroprudential authority singled out Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. as having “medium-term vulnerabilities” related to their residential real-estate markets. Highly indebted households are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks such as higher unemployment or a drop in incomes, it said in a report published Monday…
James C. Woolery Leaves Hudson Executive Capital Hedge Fund
Posted by: | CommentsThe veteran deal maker James C. Woolery has left Hudson Executive Capital, the activist hedge fund he co-founded, the firm said on Monday.
In a statement, the firm said that Mr. Woolery had resigned “due to personal reasons.” It added, “We are grateful for the help that Jim provided in the successful launch of the firm, and wish him well in all his future endeavors.”
The move signals the latest changeup in the career of Mr. Woolery, 47, a longtime adviser on big transactions. He began his career at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore before decamping to JPMorgan Chase in 2011 to become a co-head of the bank’s North American mergers practice…
Investcorp Expands in US with $250M of CRE Purchases
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Centerpoint I, Denver
Boston and Denver—At the beginning of 2016, Investcorp kicked off a new acquisition initiative focusing on high-quality properties generating cash flow in key U.S. markets, and the Bahrain-headquartered global provider and manager of alternative investment products has been grabbing assets across the country ever since. Acting through its U.S.-based real estate arm, Investcorp recently snapped up 1.8 million square feet of properties in transactions totaling approximately $250 million.
Stripe Founders Are Youngest Irish Billionaires With Funding
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Online payment company is worth $9 billion with funding round
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Brothers Patrick and John Collison founded Stripe in 2010
John Collison
The brothers who co-founded online payments service Stripe Inc. have become Ireland’s youngest billionaires after a $150 million funding round valued the business at $9 billion.
Patrick and John Collison own about 29 percent of the business, based on an analysis of filings by private stock market Equidate. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index net worth calculation splits the founder ownership pool equally between the two, giving them each a $1.1 billion stake…
With a new administration coming into office in 2017, it might be useful to examine what potential policies will be enacted that may have an impact on housing. The market responded to the election results as if it were a Black Swan event. Most of the comments preceding the election almost assumed it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton was going to be the next President. Clearly that was not the case. The bond markets had an immediate sizable reaction. We still don’t have the full details on how things will change but there are some changes planned that may have an impact on housing. It is hard to see how rental Armageddon changes because of this. The overall challenges for housing will continue to persist and the Taco Tuesday crowd will continue to imagine that any move is good for housing. So what does a Trump administration mean for housing?…
Thor Tops Out Office Tower in Houston
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Kirby Collection, Houston, rendering
Houston—New York-based Thor Equities has topped off the office component of the Kirby Collection, its 1-million-square-foot luxury mixed-use development in Houston’s Upper Kirby District, the developer announced last week. The project, on Kirby Drive, is close to four of Houston’s largest employment hubs including the CBD, the Galleria/Uptown District, Greenway Plaza and the Texas Medical Center.