Archive for January 2008

Washington, D.C.–For the second time in just over a week, the Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates Wednesday, the New York Times reports. Announcing it was now more concerned about slowing economic growth than inflation, the Fed reduced the benchmark Federal funds rate by half a point to 3 percent at its two-day January policy…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C–The Federal Open Market Committee today lowered its target for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 3 percent. This is the second rate cut in just over a week.It followed a three-fourths of a percentage point cut on Jan. 22, a day after financial markets around…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHartford, Conn.–Farmington Apartments LLC has bought the Mark Twain Apartments in Hartford, Conn. for $3.25 million. The Mark Twain Apartments, previously owned by MT Associates LLC, contain 65 apartment units located adjacent to the historic Mark Twain House and Museum.Mark Twain and his family moved to Hartford in 1871. While…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorCincinnati –Green Park Financial provided a $3.79 million refinance loan to Magnolia Pointe Apartments located in on Old State Route 74 in Cincinnati.Magnolia Pointe (pictured), built in 1964 and renovated in 2003, is a two- to three-story garden-style apartment complex with 110 units. The property had 90 percent occupancy at…

Havana–Cuba’s capital city is controlled by the socialist state–but that hasn’t kept its residents from buying and selling property using an active underground sales system, the New York Times reports.In Cuba, selling property is illegal. However, the underground housing market twists the island’s condoned practice of trading apartments and homes by infusing illegitimate agents, price…

New York–U.S. home prices are falling at record rates, with prices in 10 major urban areas down 8.4 percent from a year ago, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price indexes, released Tuesday by New York-based credit-rating firm Standard & Poor’s.Prices dropped 6.7 percent in October. The previously biggest year-to-year decline was 6.3 percent, coming on the…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Red Stone Partners, a privately held national multifamily finance company, has achieved its 2007 origination goal of $400 million and has invested over $1.5 billion in multifamily properties throughout the U.S.“Despite the challenges arising from the dislocation in the capital markets, we have demonstrated success during the last year,”…

London–During a credit crunch meeting in London Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to call for new structure in the global financial system, the Financial Times reports.The leaders of Europe’s four largest economies–France, Germany, Italy and the U.K.–want to show they have control despite the possible U.S. recession, recent Société Générale rogue trader incident and…

Chicago–Building product supplier USG Corp., the nation’s leading producer of gypsum wallboard, saw a fourth quarter net loss of $28 million due to the housing decline, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.In the fourth quarter of 2006, Chicago-based USG’s net income was $100 million. Sales fell by 10 percent, sinking from $1.29 to $1.20 billion.USG has…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWhitewater, Wis.–The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has hired Cannon Design, an international architectural, engineering and interior design firm, to plan and design its new suite-style “Universal Design” residence hall near the central academic zone of the university’s 400-acre campus in Whitewater. Universal Design tries to achieve a broad spectrum of solutions…