News

Oak Brook, Ill.–Oak Brook, Ill.-based HomePerks, LLC’s new online network utilizes a unique concept to help real estate industry members move property during the housing slump: Reward your clients.Apartment buildings, developers, real estate agents and other professionals participating in the www.HomePerks.com network sponsor a rewards program on the site for their current and prospective customers. The system encourages repeat and referral business by offering points–called “perks”–for certain actions, such as referring a friend, visiting an open house or signing a rental contract. Customers can redeem the points they accumulate via the site’s rewards catalog, which contains more than 12,000 products…

Washington, D.C.–Mortgage restrictions will cause U.S. home sales to hit rock bottom in 2008, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association.In a report released Monday, the Washington-based group predicted previously owned home sales would drop to an 11-year low of 4.94 million and then rise to 5.12 million in 2009, Bloomberg reports. New home sales likely will tumble 15 percent to 666,000 from 2007 and then increase 6.6 percent in 2009.As the U.S. housing slump enters its third year, the credit crisis has worn down mortgage lenders’ reserves, hampering their ability to make new loans, according to MBA chief…

Tampa–The ongoing housing slump has created a number of renters, but in cities such as Tampa–where rent dropped 0.6 percent from the third to the fourth quarter–the rental market isn’t showing the results, The Wall Street Journalreported Tuesday.Potential buyers in many cases are renting because they either can’t get a mortgage under the current restrictions or because they’re waiting to see if home prices drop lower. The situation is making the rental market more lucrative–but not necessarily for landlords, who are seeing competition from unsold properties on the market that are being rented out.In the fourth quarter of 2007, home…

New York–Two of the nation’s biggest financial firms–Citigroup and Merrill Lynch–turned Tuesday to outside investments to help salvage their troubled balance sheets, The New York Times reports. On Tuesday, Merrill Lynch said it had sold a $6.6 billion investment to foreign investors including the Korean and Kuwaiti governments and Japanese investment bank Mizuho Corporate Bank. All will be passive investors. The governments and Mizuho will receive a 9 percent dividend; their class of stock will be convertible to common shares in less than three years.Also on Tuesday, Citigroup revealed it will receive a $12.5 billion investment–and the timing couldn’t be…

London–U.K. mortgage lenders have restricted credit lending further this month as the housing decline continues, according to The Financial Times.A number of lenders have reduced the maximum loan-to-value (LTV) offered over the past month; some also have ceased to lend 100 percent of the property value.Lenders such as Britannia, Egg and Pi have cut the maximum amount they will lend from 95 percent of the property value to 90 percent this month, comparison service Moneyfacts.co.uk reports. Cheltenham & Gloucester made a larger reduction, cutting the amount from 90 to 75 percent.As foreclosures increase and homeowners continue to face higher mortgage…

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorNew York — Construction remains stopped on the Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium after yesterday afternoon’s fatal accident on the 40th floor. A crane reportedly dropped a load of concrete beams, which struck the building and some scaffolding, causing a collapse that sent one construction worker falling to the street where he died. At least three other workers were injured on some of the higher floors. A statement from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stronger called this accident “another example of the dangerous conditions created by rushed construction in Manhattan.” The site, at 246 Spring St. in…

By Anuradha Kher, Online  News EditorChicago — The Chicago Spire sales campaign launched yesterday with the official opening of its sales center in the NBC Tower overlooking the construction site. At 2,000 feet, the Chicago Spire is slated to be the world’s tallest residential building. It is designed by Santiago Calatrava.The Chicago Spire sales team began meeting with interested parties yesterday and are currently scheduling appointments with potential buyers around the world. The global marketing drive begins later this month and will feature an exhibition road show to 15 key cities across Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and South Africa….

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York – GKV (Gerner Kronick and Valcarcel) Architects, a New York City-based architecture and design firm, has been selected to design a 15-story residential and commerical building located at 2 Cooper Square, on the corner of East Fourth Street in Manhattan. The 145,000 sq.-ft. building will house a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as commercial space on the ground and cellar levels. The site also contains the historic Samuel Tredwell Skidmore House, at 37 East Fourth Street, a landmark townhouse which will be restored and returned to its original use…

By Erin Brereton, Content ManagerMerced, Calif.–Growing families in Merced, Calif. have a new housing option–the Sunny View Apartments, a 113-unit affordable apartment community that will celebrate its grand opening Wednesday, Jan. 16.The $20.8 million project was developed by Long Beach, Calif.-based Simpson Housing Solutions LLC and partner AMG & Associates of Santa Clarita, Calif. Western Community Housing, Inc., headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., served as general partner on the project. Maple Dell McClelland Architects, a Solana Beach, Calif.-based firm with a history of creating affordable housing communities that mirror market-rate rental housing, designed the Sunny View complex specifically to meet…

Vista, Calif.–San Diego-based RedHill Realty Investors and AEW Capital Management of Boston recently acquired a 456-unit apartment complex in the San Diego suburb of Vista, Calif. for $69 million.Fairfield Residential, with corporate offices in Grand Prairie, Texas, and San Diego, sold the Waterleaf Apartments. AEW acquired the property on behalf of AEW Value Investors, II, L.P., the firm’s second value-added real estate fund.RedHill plans to redevelop Waterleaf with extensive interior and exterior improvements to enhance the property’s value and provide a greater quality of life for its tenants.Built in 1984, Waterleaf features one- and two-bedroom units. The complex also includes…