Commercial & Residential Property Blog

Never mind end-of-life care discussions for senior citizens. We need to have one right now about the homebuyer tax credit. The powers that be need to let this program die with dignity when its time comes rather than letting it linger. As anyone buying or selling a home knows, the government will give you a tax credit of 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to $8,000, provided neither you nor your spouse has owned a home in the past three years. Your new digs have to be your primary residence for three years, and you can’t make more than $75,000 a year (double that if there’s two of you).

U.S. single-family home prices in July rose from the previous month, surpassing forecasts and bolstering the case for housing market stability after a three-year plunge, Standard & Poor’s said on Tuesday.

Home prices nationwide improved yet again during the month of July, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, but still remain down double digits from a year ago.

According to the Case-Shiller index, home prices in the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas rose 1.2% in July compared with June, considerably better than the 0.5% monthly rise that economists had forecasted.

The fundamentals that drove the increase in housing values for the last century – increasing population, incomes, and household wealth – may not follow in the United States in the future. Some housing experts speculate this will change the economics of homeownership.

The International Council of Shopping Centers expects holiday sales among U.S. retailers to rise 1 percent this year compared with last year, when retail sales fell off a cliff (down 5.8 percent compared with the pre-recession holiday season of 2007). It’s a slightly more optimistic forecast than some other organizations that track retail activity, such as the flat 2009 holiday sales predicted by Retail Forward, as previously reported by CPE.

Many multifamily investors are sitting on the sidelines, at least in certain markets, as they expect prices to drop further.

In an interview with MHN, Tony Thompson, CEO of Thompson National Properties, observes that investors are still not purchasing in Florida, as they think there will be even better deals in the future.

NorthMarq Capital has arranged an $8 million permanent loan for a 222-unit garden apartment community in Morris County, N.J.

NorthMarq’s New Jersey office secured the financing with a regional bank. The 15-year, fixed rate, self-liquidating loan was secured at the rate of 6.125 percent.

In the wake of the steep drop in values in European property markets, investors are reassessing their relationships with property-fund managers and other asset managers.

Institutional investors in private-equity funds are rebelling and in some cases are forcing managers to hand over responsibility for property funds or direct assets to new fund managers, also known as general partners, who have the investors’ confidence. “Some investors are blaming their general partners,” says Alex Price, CEO of Palmer Capital Partners, a private-equity property-fund manager registered in Jersey.

Overall, student housing is recession-resistant because of U.S. demographics, which are producing an increasing number of high school graduates, says Jim Arbury, senior vice president of National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) which recently released a report that seeks to determine whether the dramatic U.S. economic downturn has had an impact on enrollment and on-campus dormitory vacancy rates.

Rosen Associates Management Corp. has arranged the $30 million sale of 30 West 70th Street, a luxury high-rise apartment building in New York. The sales price represents an approximate 4 percent capitalization rate on the in-place income.