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Bethesda, Md.–The potential for high returns and low prices–byproducts of the U.S. housing slump and credit crisis–have prompted investors to consider U.S. real estate, the Financial Times reports.At least $30 billion has been raised or is in the process of being raised to invest in U.S. real estate since last August, according to Bethesda, Md.-based commercial real estate researcher Costar Group.As the real estate market has weakened, property investors have been looking for opportunities in housing and commercial developments.Homebuilders have been liquidating land and homes at low prices as the housing slump continued; home prices in the top U.S. cities…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPhiladelphia–The Residences at Dockside recently teamed up with the Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors to host a fashion show event to find “Philly’s Hottest Realtor,” as well as raise $12,000 for a non-profit organization, The Career Wardrobe. The organization serves thousands of women in transition throughout the greater Philadelphia region by providing free professional-looking clothing and educational opportunities.Eleven realtors from the Greater Philadelphia community took to the catwalk to compete for the crown with more than 200 colleagues, friends and family present at the event. Barbara Capozzi of Capozzi Real Estate was named Philly’s Hottest…

Washington, D.C.–EverGreen Solutions recently launched AptBudget.com, a Web-based budget tool for the multifamily industry that is designed to reduce errors experienced with spreadsheets by utilizing a streamlined budgeting process.An overwhelming majority of property managers are currently building budgets within spreadsheet workbooks on a property-by-property basis, according to the company. The spreadsheet process is labor-intensive and requires property managers to manually input data. Additionally, the spreadsheet process exposes budgets to errors when complex calculations are deleted.“The industry has a great need for a budgeting tool,” says Georgianna W. Oliver, CEO of EverGreen Solutions. “It’s easy for management to use, and it…

Hong Kong–Two of China’s biggest banks were negatively affected by their U.S. subprime-related securities holdings, the New York Times reports.However, despite their subprime exposure, both the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China both announced higher fourth-quarter profits on Tuesday.The Bank of China–which was most affected by the subprime collapse–said it held $5 billion in asset-backed securities at the end of last year, comprising 2.13 percent of its investment securities.However, the bank said it did not expect to post any future losses if it is able to dispose of its subprime holdings.Industrial & Commercial Bank held…

New York–Single-family home prices were down 11.4 percent in January from a year ago in 10 major metropolitan areas, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price indexes released Tuesday by New York-based Standard & Poor’s.The overall 20-city composite index dropped 10.7 percent from 2007 in January, The Wall Street Journal reports.Home prices in Miami and Las Vegas showed the largest decline, dropping 19.3 percent in January from the year before. Phoenix posted an 18.2 percent drop and Washington and Minneapolis fell 10.9 percent and 10 percent. Separately, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Tuesday that home prices dropped 3 percent…

Philadelphia–Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton presented a plan Monday in during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania to slow foreclosures, increase lender transparencies and allow for $30 billion to assist homeowners and communities.Clinton said federal government should use resources similar to those it used to bail out Bear Stearns to help individuals, according to the Washington Post. “Let’s be clear: When families are losing their homes, that’s also a financial crisis,” Clinton said. Clinton’s main competitor, Barack Obama, also has proposed measures to help troubled homeowners. However, the two Democrats differ on whether or not to cap mortgage interest…

Washington, D.C.–Consumer confidence sunk to a five-year low in March, increasing concern that the economy could be sliding into a recession, according to the Conference Board’s confidence index.Driven by consumer concern about the weak labor market and higher food and energy costs, the index dropped from 76.4 in February to 64.5 in March, the Financial Times reports. Economists had expected a smaller decline to around 74. “Consumers’ outlook for business conditions, the job market and their income prospects is quite pessimistic and suggests further weakening may be on the horizon,” said the Conference Board’s Lynn Franco.The index is at its…

Athens, Ga., Lancaster, Pa.–KeyBank Real Estate Capital has recently closed a $200 million Fannie Mae structured credit facility on behalf of Campus Apartments. The credit facility has a 15-year term, and Campus Apartments has two years to make advances from the facility. At closing, Campus Apartments made two advances: $12,565,000 for the acquisition of Abbey West Apartments (pictured), a 568-bed property located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., and $26,425,000 for the acquisition of College Row, a 393-bed property located at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. Both fixed and floating rate advances are available.

Milwaukee–The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp. (MLKEDC) and Enterprise Community Investment Inc. recently celebrated the opening of King Commons II, a 24-unit affordable housing project located on nine scattered sites between 2nd and 4th St., near Martin Luther King Drive and West Hadley Streets in Milwaukee.Mayor Tom Barrett, Antonio Riley, executive director of WHEDA, and Ben Johnson from the MLK Economic Development Commission were present at the opening. The project includes duplex units, three-family units and single-family homes, all with garage parking. Rents range from $450 to $650 per unit.“It’s very rewarding…

Washington, D.C.–The multifamily mortgage market faces limited exposure to refinance risks stemming from the current credit crunch, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. MBA’s Research DataNote reports that relatively few multifamily mortgages will mature in the next two years.  “There’s been a general impression that a large volume of multifamily mortgages are coming due this year and next,” says Jamie Woodwell, senior director of Commercial/Multifamily Research at MBA. “The reality is that 2008 and 2009 will see a relatively small volume of maturing mortgages, with the majority of CMBS loans not maturing until 2015 or later.” Capturing data from JPMorgan and…