Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
The Bush administration on Tuesday unveiled a new program to modify mortgages and stabilize the battered real estate market, but the plan stops short of providing direct government financial help to at-risk homeowners.
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
The flurry of announcements by the government and major banks that they are engaging in a massive campaign to modify mortgages that are in or are hurtling toward default and foreclosure will certainly give rise to predictions that the housing market has been stabilized and disaster averted. If only it were so.
Make no mistake, policymakers and banking executives had to launch this concerted campaign to try to stop the wave after wave of foreclosures that seems to feed on itself. As lenders foreclose on one delinquent borrower, and then sell the home at what is invariably a steep discount, that just pushes a number of nearby homeowners so far underwater that they just move out and mail their keys in, which just sets the cycle in motion again.
But anyone hoping that this synchronized effort to modify millions mortgages that are in trouble is likely to be disappointed. Because behind the splashy headlines, there are limits to what the government and banks can hope to achieve. And trying to slow the free-fall in housing markets is akin to the government trying to put its finger in the dike.
The fact is that despite the double-digit declines in housing values in most cities, housing remains significantly overvalued in many markets by all of the traditional benchmarks: One key ratio – the median cost of a new home vs. median income – suggests that home prices nationwide still need to drop another 15% to 20% on average, as you can see in this chart compiled by money manager Barry Ritholtz. And the equilibrium price is far more than that in bubble markets like southern California and Florida. According to this “fair value” calculator, one suburban neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. that I checked (Alexandria, Va., where I lived in the mid-1990s) is now 47% overvalued. Ditto for a few communities in Los Angeles that I surveyed.
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
CB Richard Ellis arranged more than 80,000 square feet of retail and garage leases at the Manhattan House on behalf of O’Connor Capital Partners. Read more »
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
ING Clarion Partners L.L.C., the North American investment management division of ING Real Estate, has leased 62,000 square feet at Metropolitan Center to travel retailer Hudson Group. Read more »
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
Environmental remediation has been completed on the 132-acre Riverbend District, formerly known as Harrison MetroCentre, in Harrison, N.J., which will allow owner-developer Advance Realty Group to move forward with construction of infrastructure such as roads and utilities. Read more »
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2008
Viacom has decided to keep its global headquarters at 1515 Broadway in Times Square, renewing and extending its lease for 1.3 million square feet of space at the 54-story Midtown Manhattan skyscraper that is home to MTV studios and the Nokia Theater. Read more »
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