Salient to Investors: DataQuick said home sales priced at over $1 million rose an average of 37 percent in half1, 2013 from a year earlier to the highest level since 2007, and versus 11 percent for houses priced under $1 million. Susan Wachter at Wharton said wealthy purchasers are diving into real estate a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeremy Grantham’s GMO claims that of the 36 major bubbles it says it tracks, 33 have completely popped, or returned to their prior trends. GMO’s more recent predictions, the Australian and UK housing market bubbles, have yet to pop. James Montier at GMO says investors are being
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Private-equity managers from Fortress Investment to Blackstone say now is the time to exit investments as stocks rally and interest rates start to rise. Wesley Edens at Fortress said he is preparing holdings for public offerings while struggling to find attractive new deals. Pete Briger at Fortress said the environment extends
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Investors are cooling on the fledgling US homes-for-rent industry. IPO American Homes 4 Rent was little changed in its first day of trading after raising almost 44 percent less than estimated in its initial prospectus in June and at the low-end of the offering range. The two other REITs that have
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate report home sales in New York’s Hamptons in Q2 were up 25 percent from a year earlier and the most since Q2 2006, while the median price rose 8.2 percent to $920,000. The absorption rate was 7 months, the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: ARM applications in late June rose to the highest level since 2008. loan pay Cameron Findlay at Discover Financial Service said we’ve seen a shift in the way people look at adjustable-rate mortgages: they are still skeptical but the sticker shock of fixed rates is making them
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Matthew C. Klein writes: The Wall Street Journal reports that well-to-do young Americans prefer to invest into “safe” luxury real estate rather than “risky” equities. The article could have been written in 2002 or 2003 before the housing bubble and bust. $100 invested at the market peak
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Africa’s growing middle class and rising travel is fueling the fastest pace of hotel development in the world. Africa is buoyed by increasing trade with countries including China and rising demand for services such as lodging. The Economist Intelligence Unit says over half of African countries will post GDP of 5
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: A growing number of companies are offering financing to consumers with irregular incomes, damaged credit or past foreclosures as the housing market recovers and rising interest rates drive down demand for refinancing. Keith Gumbinger at HSH.com said at least a few lenders are starting to dig into the nooks and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Baby boomers are retiring at the worst time in a generation or more, as bond yields and stock dividends have tumbled to 2 percent, and the cohort never saved like their parents and grandparents. Pension plans have largely disappeared from the private sector, home values are the
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