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As the national housing market continues to slow down, a number of condo projects in major cities are being reborn as luxury apartment developments. Take, for example, Chicago. The overall housing market in Chicago hasn’t suffered the big dips areas like California and Miami have seen. While the single-family market has tanked in parts of California, and overall U.S. single-family home prices fell a record 16.35 percent in July compared to 2007 levels, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, Chicago prices only fell 10 percent. However, credit is still hard to come by pretty much everywhere in…

Last week, sales began at the first green development in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood. The 128-unit project, being built by Toll Brothers Inc. and The Kibel Companies, has been designed for LEED certification and features water-saving fixtures, bike storage and reduced parking rates for residents with energy-efficient or hybrid cars. Construction is expected to be complete in the summer of 2009, by which time New York will be just six years away from its big greenhouse gas emission reduction goal—and likely even more invested in green building. The Big Apple isn’t alone in its sustainable thinking. Across the…

A $700 Billion Mistake? Some of the smartest guys I know, economists, CEOs and even housing advocates from sectors usually ignored in the mainstream media are all starting to come to a conclusion that I think may be prescient. The federally managed $700 billion, tax payer financed proposal should fail in Congress. While there is a likelihood it will pass, the more conventional, non-hysterical wisdom is this: The president is not understanding our present economic situation and is getting bad advice from the Council of Economic Advisors and even worse advice from Benny Bernanke. The ability of the new funding…

By Keat Foong, Executive Editor We are going from crisis to crisis. The House voted down the $700 billion bailout plan, and the Dow Jones Industrials plunged by 777.68, or nearly 8 percent—its worst drop in two decades. In the immediate aftermath, it looks as though banks’ short term  interest rates are spiking. That means higher benchmark for short-term, LIBOR-based multifamily borrowing. On the positive side, Treasury yields have fallen further. This is a plus for longer-term, fixed-rate loans, provided spreads do not widen further—which is a big if. If the bailout plan should eventually pass, that should have a…

By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Phew! What a week! Our very own event Multi-Housing World 2008 Conference and Exhibition was held in Denver last week. Within less than a week—a week—prior to the conference starting, the following happened: The government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the sale of Merrill Lynch was announced. And on the day the conference began, on Wednesday, the newspapers were filled with reports of the government bailout of insurance giant AIG. The next day, the stock market plunged. And by the end of our three-day educational and networking get-together, the…

Sooner or later everyone comes to Rick’s Place… Woman: What makes saloonkeepers so snobbish? Banker: Perhaps if you told him I ran the second largest banking house in Amsterdam. Carl: Second largest? That wouldn’t impress Rick. The leading banker in Amsterdam is now the pastry chef in our kitchen. Banker: We have something to look forward to. (c) Casablanca – 1942— The Federal Government is about the embark, one way or another on one of the largest taxpayer led bailouts of the century. I was going to wait to really comment on this until the dust settled because as of…

The Taxman is Hungry For a long time now, commercial properties, especially apartment owners have had a peaceful relationship with most taxing authorities. The cities  recognized that apartments were good housing for their residents and wanted to appear to have a balanced housing policy. Apartment developers obliged by adding units and taking advantage of local subsidies or other incentives. It appears that all bets are off. Acccording to a recent report by the National League of Cities detailing "City Fiscal Conditions," home price declines, increasing expenses at the municipal level and decreasing assessments have wrought havoc with city budgets. In…

By Keat Foong Speakers at a panel at the Multi-Housing World 2008 Conference and Exhibition held in Denver came down squarely against placing apartment properties on the market. The session was titled Apartment Investment Cycle: Is it Time to Sell, Hold or Buy? "Do not sell unless you have to," said Ronald Brock, president and CEO, Pierce Eislen Inc. "This is not the time to be selling." "Do not sell. This is not the time to be a seller," said Keith Rosenthal, co-founder and president of Phoenix Realty Group, echoing Eislen.  Brock, a market researcher, said rental apartment conditions are…

Good news about the real estate market has become less and less frequent. While most in the industry still paint a fairly positive picture for the multi-housing industry, truth is that debt and equity capital is becoming more and more scarce with each new devastating headline coming out of Wall Street. And there are plenty of other concerns in the industry, which we will cover on our website. But we think we have found some good news to share with you… Multi-Housing executives still have a great deal of enthusiasm when it comes their businesses and certainly when it comes…