Archive for April 2008

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York–According to Standard & Poor’s most recent results for the S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices (SPCREX), the apartment sector has reported an annual price gain of 5.8 percent from last January. However, from December to January, the growth rate was 0.6 percent.”While prices were up slightly for December to January,…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAs executive director of Community Housing Innovations (CHI), Alexander Roberts has overseen the acquisition of 500 houses and apartments in Westchester, Ulster, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, with a budget of $15 million a year. Roberts founded CHI in 1991, after spending nearly 20 years as a television news correspondent. After…

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorNew York–Today marks the opening day for the 36th annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which receives as many as 20,000 visitors during its four-week run. For the first time in this popular event’s history, it is being held in a multifamily building, as opposed to a townhouse. Its 2008…

New Haven, Conn.–Yale University economist Robert Shiller, creator of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, said Tuesday that U.S. housing prices could drop more than they did during the Great Depression, BusinessWeek reports.During a speech to the New Haven Lawn Club, Shiller called for more bailouts to prevent foreclosures and forecast price declines more…

Washington, D.C.–U.S. bank failures could spiral higher than historical records due to poorly underwritten loans, according to John Dugan, who oversees about 1,700 national banks as comptroller of the currency.Dugan said that for the four years prior to the current lender situation, nearly no institution regulated by his agency had collapsed, the Financial Times reports.“We’re…

Zurich–Switzerland’s second-biggest bank–Credit Suisse Group, based in Zurich–will eliminate 500 investment banking and administration jobs because earnings dropped for the third consecutive quarter, Bloomberg said.Since the subprime mortgage crisis began, Credit Suisse has cut 1,320 jobs, including 320 in September and October and 500 investment banking positions in January.Overall, banks and brokerages on a global…

Charlotte, N.C.–Bank of America Corp. will cease offering certain risky mortgage loans once its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. is complete, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said Tuesday.Bank of America hasn’t offered subprime mortgages since 2001; once it folds Countrywide into its business, it will no longer allow the lender to offer adjustable-rate mortgages that allow…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorLansdale, Pa.–GPX Realty Partners L.P., a Philadelphia-based private real estate investment and advisory firm, recently acquired Lansdale Village Apartments in Lansdale, Pa., in an off-market transaction for $3.2 million. GPX plans to make significant capital investments to upgrade the 41-unit property. “We are pleased to add Lansdale Village to our expanding…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorLos Angeles–The Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a partnership of Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and retired basketball player, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, recently closed its $1 billion Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund III.The third fund, which is more than the $900 million combined equity of the two predecessor funds, will facilitate more than $4 billion…