Salient to Investors: Thomas Pulley at Fortress Investment plans to buy real estate debt backed by rental apartments, retail space and business hotels in Japan’s metropolitan areas. Pulley says the deleveraging and asset-cleansing process has occurred more at the mid-size than the larger properties. Pulley is underweight offices because the differential between
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Martin Ellis at Halifax expects continuing broad stability in house prices nationally in 2013 and end the year close to where they begin. Nationwide Building Society says UK house prices may decline modestly in 2013. Blerina Uruci at Barclays expects the subdued trend in 2012 to continue in 2013 and then gradually
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The era of increasingly cheap money is showing signs of ending in the mortgage bond market. Bill Gross at Pimco said bond investors should anticipate reduced returns as bets on mortgage securities are over in terms of the capital appreciation – expect total returns in 2013 of 3 to 4 percent. Brean
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Deepak Narula at Metacapital Mgmt said the Fed’s mission is to drive down the 30-year mortgage rate to let homeowners refinance. Narula uses mathematical models to calculate how long homeowners will make payments at their current interest rates before either refinancing or defaulting – models based on a homeowner’s
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Lumber prices through Dec. 28 have risen 47 percent in 2012, heading for the biggest annual gain since 1993. Paul F. Jannke at Forest Economic Advisors expects lumber futures to tumble as much as 25 percent from a 7-yr high due to output increases in Canada. Scotiabank says lumber
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: At the current pace, the US population will grow by 7.3 percent during the decade, the lowest level since the 1930s. William Frey at Brookings said mountain states in the West were among the fastest-growing places. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-31/u-s-on-pace-for-slowest-decade-of-population-growth-since-1930s.html. Click here to receive free email alerts of articles as soon as they
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 4.3 percent from October 2011, the biggest 12-month advance since May 2010. David Blitzer at S&P/Case-Shiller said the housing recovery is gathering strength, confirmed by strong performances in the southwest and California. Property values will keep rising as record-low mortgage rates, a growing
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: New York Fed President William Dudley said the gap between bond yields and home-loan rates is blunting the economic benefits of the Fed’s record accommodation. Stephen Stanley at Pierpont Securities said banks are disinclined to lower mortgage rates. David Cannon at Royal Bank of Scotland said banks are reluctant to hire
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Toronto has more skyscrapers under construction than any other city in the world. John Andrew at Queen’s University said people buying units purely as an investment and not to live in is a sign that the Toronto market is on thin ice – the luxury market always feels the cracks of a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: askdesigns.com/html_files/ Hometrack said UK house prices will decline 1 percent in 2013 – London will outperform the national market but price growth will slow to 2 percent. Richard Donnell at Hometrack said affordability constraints and a general unwillingness to take on debt will continue to be a drag on the housing market in 2013.
READ MORE... →