Research

Here you can find articles & video with the latest news that's important to real estate investors, charts to make the information clear and papers from the best minds in the industry. Click on the headlines to open the full story.

Economists: Housing recovery finally here

Posted: October 10th, 2012


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — It’s been a long time coming, but economists surveyed by CNNMoney believe the nation’s housing market has finally turned the corner.

Of the 14 economists who answered questions about home prices in the survey, nine believe that prices have already turned higher or will make that turn later this year. Only three months ago, half of the economists surveyed by CNNMoney believed a turnaround in prices would not take place until 2013 or later.

Housing recovery blossoms

Posted: October 10th, 2012


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The U.S. housing industry — crucial to any jobs recovery — showed more signs of strength, according to two reports issued Wednesday.

The Census Bureau said housing starts and permits rose substantially in August. Separately, sales of previously occupied homes climbed 7.8% from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Builders started on new homes at an annual rate of 750,000, up 29.1% compared with a year earlier. They applied to build another 803,000 new homes on an annual basis, a 24.5% jump compared with August 2011.

Economists bullish on housing recovery

Posted: October 10th, 2012


Home prices will see steady increases through 2016 starting this year, according to a quarterly survey of more than 100 economists, real estate experts and investment strategists.

The survey, conducted by research and consulting firm Pulsenomics LLC on behalf of real estate search and valuation portal Zillow between Aug. 30-Sept. 14, 2012, asked 113 participants to project the path of the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index over the next five years.

Fed to keep interest rates low through 2014

Posted: August 13th, 2012



The Federal Open Market Committee said it will keep interest rates low at least through 2014 but will not yet act on further stimulus to a slow-growing economy.

“The Committee will closely monitor incoming information on economic and financial developments and will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability,” according to the FOMC release Wednesday.

Homeownership likely to be delayed for ‘Generation Now’ members

Posted: May 27th, 2012


Most consumers in their 20s are stuck in a holding pattern, a retail industry consultant says. ‘Everything is delayed for them,’ she says.
CHICAGO — Maxine Lauer calls the group of consumers 15 to 34 “Generation Now” because they want what they want and they want it now.

Trouble is, “now” isn’t happening for them, especially for those in the middle of that range, their 20s, who might reasonably be expected to be thinking about buying their first homes.

Generally, though, that’s not something they’re doing, because most of them just can’t, said Lauer, whose Sphere Trending retail industry consulting firm in Waterford, Mich., has studied their attitudes in depth. Basically, she said, they’re stuck in a holding pattern.

“Everything is delayed for them,” Lauer said. “Homeownership is delayed, and they will rent longer. They’re delaying marriage, delaying kids. It’s because their peak earning years are being delayed.”

A Market Builds for Single-Family Rentals

Posted: January 14th, 2012



Waypoint purchased this Antioch, Calif., home for $140,000 and is marketing the rental at $2,049 a month.
SREP: The big money is starting to figure it out. This rental generates over 10% a year in net cash flow.
Private-Equity Fund GI Partners Is Investing in Waypoint, Which Buys Foreclosed Homes and Then Rents Them Out

A private-equity fund that generated big profits by scooping up empty data centers after the technology-stock bust in 2000 is now making a big bet on foreclosed homes.

The fund, GI Partners in Menlo Park, Calif., plans to announce on Wednesday a $250 million investment in Waypoint Real Estate Group, an Oakland-based company that buys foreclosed homes at discounts and rents them out to tenants. The investment is among the largest to date by an institutional investor in the nascent single-family rental space.

2011 Q4 Update and 2012 Forecast

Posted: December 31st, 2011



UPDATE & OPINION
The fourth quarter was a busy one for Pacific Value Opportunities Fund I, as we acquired two additional assets: a 24-unit apartment building located in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles, and another single-family home in South Los Angeles. The Fund now owns two apartment buildings (85 units total, including one non-conforming unit) and four homes. Of the original Fund equity, we have invested approximately 95% to fund the acquisitions and various capital improvements made to the acquired assets. As discussed in more detail below, we anticipate monetizing one or more Fund assets in the next 12 to 18 months. Details of the Fund assets are as follows:

Cash Buyers Lift Housing

Posted: February 11th, 2011



ARTICLE, WALL ST JOURNAL
Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from real-estate portal Zillow.com. In the fourth quarter of 2006, they represented just 13% of deals. Meanwhile, downtown Miami prices rose 15% in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority. WSJ’s Mitra Kalita reports more and more homebuyers are selling investments to pay cash for real estate, sensing a bottom in the housing market.

Donald Bren’s spending spree

Posted: December 15th, 2010



Irvine Co. billionaire boss Donald Bren has been making some big real estate gambits in recent weeks, a billion-buck-plus bet on an economic recovery ahead …
“It strikes me as a prudent move from a fearless leader. The recovery is underway. Conditions in Orange County indicate that economic growth is accelerating. Mr Bren is clearly convinced that investment at this stage of the recovery will be necessary to capture the rise in demand that is coming. We also believe there is an inevitable expansion of economic activity that will occur in Orange County by the end of 2011 and throughout 2012. …”

Home Prices in U.S. Will `Bounce Along the Bottom,’ Case Says

Posted: December 1st, 2010


ARTICLE, BLOOMBERG, 11.30.2010
U.S. home prices are unlikely to fall much further in the next year even after a “discouraging” report on values in September, said Karl E. Case, the co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller Index.

“If I were betting even odds, I’d bet that we don’t have much further decline, but that we bounce along the bottom,” Case, a retired professor of economics at Wellesley College, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview on “Surveillance Midday” with Tom Keene.

A Dim View of Betting on Venture Capital

Posted: November 23rd, 2010


ARTICLE, NY TIMES, 11.23.2010
“There’s too much money chasing too few deals.”
Sean Parker, the entrepreneur behind Napster and Facebook now turned investor, was talking about the state of the venture capital industry last week over coffee. At 30, Mr. Parker, who was recently portrayed by Justin Timberlake in “The Social Network,” has been thinking a lot about innovation — or the lack of it — in the United States.

U.S. companies hoarding almost $1 trillion cash: Moody’s

Posted: October 28th, 2010


ARTICLE, REUTERS, 10.26.2010
U.S. companies are hoarding almost $1 trillion in cash but are unlikely to spend on expanding their business and hiring new employees due to continuing uncertainty about the strength of the economy, Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday.