News

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Despite dismal national trends, the real estate market in Manhattan remains strong, with the average condo price rising 36 percent from a year ago to $1,663,533, according to a second quarter market report recently released by Halstead Property. Even the median price, which is not impacted by the high-end sales, hit a new record of $979,000 during the second quarter of this year, reflecting an increase of 23 percent from a year ago. “The tightening of credit markets does not affect the luxury market much, and that is what most of the New York condo…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorCarrolton, Texas–The National and Texas Apartment Associations, Blue Moon Software and RealPage Inc., recently formed a partnership to integrate eSignature technology into the official leases of the National Apartment Association (NAA) and the Texas Apartment Association (TAA). With the new agreement, RealPage users can offer prospects the ability to electronically execute a secure and legally binding lease.eSignature, a component of online leasing systems from RealPage, will enable a prospective resident to complete a lease application online at his or her personal convenience. The eSignature inserted into the lease conforms to the June 2000 Electronic Signatures…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–The Citi Foundation, which has supported Habitat for Humanity International projects for nine years, recently made a $2 million grant to the organization that will go toward supporting the construction of affordable housing in the United States.The grant from Citi will provide more than 50 Habitat affiliates across the country with partial to full-project sponsorships. Each grant ranges in size from $15,000 to $125,000 and will go toward multifamily as well as single-family projects. In New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., the Habitat for Humanity projects are mainly multifamily.“This is part of a longstanding…

New York–The upcoming Trump SoHo is being marketed by a unique team–instead of Donald Trump, his children Donald, Eric and Ivanka will be promoting the residences.And Trump SoHo is being marketed to a unique clientele: Businessmen and wealthy foreigners who own several homes–and can foot the price for a unit in the condohotel, where studios will be priced starting at $1.2 million, the Times Online reports.”People in the U.K. and continental Europe are buying at a 30 percent to 40 percent discount,”  Donald Trump Jr. told the Times Online. “It’s probably not benefiting at the low end and the middle…

Washington, D.C.–Recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation information is causing regulators to become concerned that, as home values plummet, small U.S. banks may have too high a concentration of real estate development loans, the Financial Times reports.Banks’ real estate development loan losses in the first quarter were more than 15 times the amount of losses in the first quarter of 2007, the Washington, D.C.-based FDIC said. In addition, more than half of banks with assets worth between $1 billion and $10 billion have commercial real estate loan portfolios that are more than 300 percent of their capital.Nearly 30 percent of U.S….

London–As borrowers face tighter lending restrictions, fewer homes will change hands in Britain this year, the Guardian reports.An overall lack of mortgage availability could keep potential buyers out of the market, driving prices down further.In fact, the mortgage decline could drag the number of transactions down to 750,000 for all of 2008–which would be almost a 40 percent drop from 2007, according to Consultancy Capital Economics. Home prices could fall 35 percent.

San Francisco–Tens of thousands of San Francisco homes and businesses could fall in the next large earthquake–a problem that building and city officials haven’t dealt with for decades, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A large number of the buildings in question are classic San Francisco apartment buildings, which contain a business on the first floor or a home built over a garage.Because there is a glass window, garage door or other space on the ground floor instead of a wall, the wood frames of the “soft-story” buildings are especially susceptible to earthquakes.San Francisco has more soft-story buildings than any other…

Online News EditorSparks, Nev.–The Orange County office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) recently arranged a $29.5 million construction loan and $9.5 million joint venture equity for the development of Pioneer Meadows, a 300-unit Class A multifamily development to be built in Sparks, Nev. HFF Director Mark Erland worked on behalf of Fore Property Co. to arrange the three-year construction loan.

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHouston–Gables Residential Trust has recently topped out Memorial Hills, a 286-unit rental project located at the intersection of Scott and Jackson Hill Streets in Houston.The eight-story infill project is spread across 2.2 acres of land and is surrounded by hills and several parks. It is expected to be complete in the spring of 2009.“The location of this project is key,” Scott Ziegler, senior principal and principal-in-charge of the Living Place Studio at Ziegler Cooper Architects, which designed the project, tells MHN.“Lush green foliage makes the apartments off Memorial Drive a prime location for people wanting…