WASHINGTON—A little over a week after first proposing a controversial 0.5% Adverse Market Refinance Fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on Aug. 25 that it would delay the fee’s implementation until Dec. 1, 2020. The FHFA first announced the Adverse Market Refinance Fee on Aug. 12 and…
Read MoreNEW YORK—Real estate firm Helmsley Spear, LLC, which was founded in 1866, reported on Aug. 26 it had signed a new four-year sublease with Lincoln Financial comprising almost 16,000 square feet for its headquarters office, in conjunction with Swig Equities, LLC, and Falcon Pacific Construction/Builders, LLC. “Helmsley Spear and the related Swig Equities companies have…
Read MoreNEW CITY—Rockland County Executive Ed Day and Commissioner of Finance Stephen DeGroat announced on Aug. 24 that Moody’s Investors Service increased the rating to Rockland’s Various Purposes Bonds and Refunding Bonds to A1 from A2. Moody’s also upgraded to A1 from A2 the county’s issuer and general obligation limited tax ratings. “To receive this type…
Read MoreRYE BROOK—A majority of Westchester businesses from a good cross section of the county’s economy say they are slowly recovering from the pandemic and expect to continue to struggle for some time, according to a survey released today (Aug. 24) by the Business Council of Westchester’s Economic Recovery Task Force. Some of the key findings…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—A majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the U.S. economy is in recession and do not expect the downturn to end until the latter part of 2020 or the early stages of 2021. On a darker note, NABE President Constance Hunter, CBE, chief economist, KPMG, said that 80%…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—Proof that the local home sales market is very strong despite the COVID pandemic can be found in the latest statistics released today by the National Association of Realtors. NAR reports that existing-home sales in the Northeast rose by a record 30.6% in the month of July. NAR reported that nationwide home sales continued on…
Read MoreNEW YORK—Moody’s Analytics released its new forecasts for commercial real estate rents and vacancies on Aug. 17 and predicted that office and retail rents will drop sharply due to COVID-19 in 2020 and beyond. Noting that the office property sector was already experiencing downward pressure on the usage intensity of office space even before the…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—The Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Aug. 17 that the share of late FHA loans rose to nearly 16% in the second quarter, up from about 9.7% in the previous quarter. The second quarter FHA delinquency rate was the highest level on record dating back to 1979. The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit…
Read MoreIn launching the new Real Estate In-Depth regular feature “Five Questions With,” the editor and publisher of the print and online newspaper seek to interview key newsmakers of the day and ask probing questions on matters that affect the readership’s business and day-to-day lives, but also provide insight into how and why certain decisions were…
Read MoreALBANY—As the New York State economy continues its reopening process and the state continues to post low COVID infection numbers, local sales tax collections are improving, although still down compared to last year. Sales tax revenue for local governments in July fell 8.2% compared to the same period last year, according to New York State…
Read MoreWASHINGTON— In the era of COVID-19, the value of homes seems to have some immunity to the virus. The overwhelming majority of the nation’s metro areas enjoyed home price increases in the second quarter of 2020, according to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors released today. Median single-family home prices rose…
Read MoreWHITE PLAINS—The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors’ 104th Annual Meeting & Member Appreciation Day will be like none other in the association’s history. The October gathering, which normally draws more than 1,200 Realtors and related professionals to the DoubleTree Hotel in Tarrytown, will be held virtually this year, via Zoom webinar, for safety concerns as…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—Foreign buyers purchased $74 billion worth of U.S. existing homes from April 2019 through March 2020, a 5% decrease from the previous 12-month period and the second consecutive annual decline in foreign investment in U.S. residential real estate, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors. Foreign buyers purchased 154,000 properties, down…
Read MoreNEW YORK—Corcoran Group, LLC announced recently the launch of its newest affiliate, Corcoran Country Living, which is based in the Hudson Valley. The announcement was made virtually by Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of The Corcoran Group. This is the sixth Corcoran affiliate to launch in the U.S. since the start of the year, and…
Read MoreNEW YORK—Fort Schuyler House, Inc., MDG Design + Construction, LLC, Smith & Henzy Advisory Group, Inc., Concord Management of New York, and partners recently celebrated the completion of the $52.7-million revitalization and refinancing of Fort Schuyler House, an affordable senior housing development in the Bronx. The project preserves the affordability of Fort Schuyler House’s 138…
Read MoreBLAUVELT—Commercial brokerage firm CBRE announced on Aug. 4 that it has secured a 200,775-square-foot lease across two buildings in the Hudson Crossing Industrial Park in Blauvelt. The unnamed e-commerce tenant will occupy 123,999 square feet of space at 400 Oritani Drive and 76,776 square feet of space in the neighboring building at 200 Oritani Drive.…
Read MoreNEW YORK—New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a report on Aug. 3 on New York City’s Fiscal Year 2021 Adopted Budget that found an overreliance on one-time actions in the adopted budget to close the $8.33-billion shortfall brought about by the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With significant budget gaps looming…
Read MoreNEW YORK—Helmsley Spear, LLC, reported recently it had brokered a 20,000-square-foot sublease with Keller Williams for the 10th floor of 99 Park Ave. Gould Paper Corp., the current tenant, will continue to occupy 8,718 square feet of the space. The sublease term runs through December, 2023. The Helmsley Spear leasing agents for this sublease were…
Read MoreALBANY—The fallout from an investigation late last year by Newsday that uncovered housing discrimination practices on Long Island has led to new harsh regulations imposed by New York State, including possible suspension or revocation of a Realtor’s license if found to have violated the state’s Human Rights Law. Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Aug. 3 signed…
Read MoreWHITE PLAINS—Bonnie Koff, chair of the Hudson Gateway Realtor Foundation Fundraising Committee, recently donated her winnings from the NYSAR Community Service Award to the Hudson Gateway Realtor Foundation (HGRF). Koff received a check for $1,500 to be given to the charity of her choice, and she chose the HGRF. The NYSAR Community Service Award recognizes…
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