Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–Average condo and co-op prices across the country have been falling in the last year, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2008 research on existing home prices.While the average price for condos and co-ops went up from 2005 to 2006, it decreased by 2.7 percent from January 2007 to February 2008. The average price of condos and co-ops in 2005 was $260,800, which increased to $264,300 in 2007. However, in February the average price was down to $251,900.While single-family home prices fell by an average of 7.5 percent, condo and co-op prices faced…

Washington, D.C.–The Economic Stimulus Act includes a bonus for landlords and commercial tenants, according to MSNBC.Congress has upped the amount of construction costs allowed for write-offs in the first year for commercial or residential rental property improvements to help the troubled real estate industry. Just 2.5 percent of improvement costs were allowed to be written off since 2006–the remainder needed to be spread out over 39 years.The new schedule is similar to the depreciation rules put in place after Sept. 11. Landlords and commercial tenants now can deduct 50 percent of the cost for “qualified leasehold improvements” in the first…

Washington, D.C.–To help stabilize struggling mortgage markets, regional U.S. banks will be able to increase mortgage-backed securities holdings by more than $100 billion, according to the New York Times.The Federal Housing Finance Board voted Monday to allow banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank system use existing capital to increase their holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities.Effective immediately, the banks will able to increase their holdings for two years. The 12 Federal Home Loan banks have been a rare liquidity source during the recent credit market tightening, offering affordable real estate loan “advances” to member banks that hold…

New York–Signs of weakness in the U.S. housing data due this week–along with consumers’ reduced faith in the financial markets–could lessen consumer confidence, the Financial Times reports.On Tuesday, the S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas–published monthly by New York-based Standard & Poor’s–is expected to reveal home prices have dropped further, possibly falling from 9.1 percent in December to 10.5 percent last month. The National Association of Realtors report released Monday showed that home sales had fared better than was expected, rising in February. Analysts had forecast home sales would drop from 4.89 million in January to 4.85 million.However, on…

Washington, D.C.–Existing home sales rose for the first time in seven months, according to data released Monday by the National Association of Realtors.Falling prices helped home sales increase to a 5.03 million annual rate–a 2.9 percent increase from January’s unrevised 4.89 million pace, The Wall Street Journal reports.Year-to-year, sales were down 24 percent, NAR said.Median home prices also dropped from their February 2007 level–$213,000–to $195,000 last month. The 8.2 percent decline was NAR’s largest on record. In January, the median home price was $199,700.Home inventories fell 3 percent at the end of last month to 4.03 million, a 9.6-month supply….

Houston–Uniondale, N.Y.-based Arbor Commercial Funding LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC, recently completed funding of a $50,100,000 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS product line to purchase Broadway Square Apartments, a 2,469-unit complex in Houston.Post Investment Group LLC acquired the 69-acre property from developer Harold Farb. The five-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a rate of 5.65 percent.“Broadway Square will be a great addition to our current Texas holdings and gives us a strong presence in one of the nation’s preeminent real estate markets,” says Jason Post, president of Post Investment Group LLC. “Arbor’s…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAnnapolis, Md.–The current models that predict demand, supply, cost etc. in the seniors housing industry have failed to account for several factors, making the projections about the industry less reliable, according to the “NIC Compendium Project: A Guide to Long-Term Care Projection and Simulation Models.” This review and analysis of research on long-term care financing for senior citizens was conducted by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing Care Industry (NIC).The study points out that the models do not address the substitutability of services such as home care and assisted living facilities for nursing…

Aventura, Fla.–Developer Martin Z. Margulies has broken ground on the Bellini Williams Island, a luxury condominium project on Williams Island in Aventura, Fla.The 24-story boutique-style condominium tower features 70 three-bedroom corner units with 2,235 to 2,608 sq. ft. of living space and four 4,636-sq.-ft penthouses. Pre-construction prices range from $1.3 million to $3.2 million. The project is expected to be complete in 2010.“This is the last piece of residential property on Williams Island, so there’s a tremendous demand here for a contemporary luxurious residence,” says Margulies.Each Bellini home features private high-speed elevators, formal foyers, water views from wraparound glass balconies,…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorSan Francisco–Architecture and planning firm Hornberger + Worstell will celebrate the opening of the 53-unit Fairmont Heritage Place at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco in June 2008. The Fairmont Heritage is a landmark adaptive re-use project involving the conversion of the Chocolate, Cocoa, and Mustard Buildings, as well as portions of the Clock Tower and Woolen Buildings, into a fractional ownership hotel. Ghirardelli Square had already been converted for different uses more than once. The most significant conversion took place in the early 1960s when William Wurster, the well-known local architect, adapted the fully operational…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorThe regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, recently eased a major restriction on the companies in an effort to unfreeze credit markets and stabilize housing prices. Starting April. 1, the mortgage limits on loans the two outfits can guarantee will rise from $417,000 to $729,750. The caps on their portfolios have also been lifted.“This is all coming off as positive news for the multifamily market,” Cheryl Patton Malloy,
senior vice president
of Multifamily and Governance at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) tells MHN. “All Fannie and Freddie multifamily loans…