Salient to Investors: Miami’s roller coaster real estate market is booming again. Condo Vultures said the average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment increased 6 percent to $2,568 a month in Q3 versus a year ago. Peter Zalewski at Condo Vultures said any developer building near the water in Florida is likely building rentals for the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Companies are paying special dividends at four times the pace of last year with rates poised to jump in 2013. The calendar is influencing even the payment of regular dividends. Dividends are regaining popularity after falling out of favor in the 1990s. Todd Lowenstein at HighMark Capital Mgmt said
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The World Bank said the world risks cataclysmic changes caused by extreme heatwaves, rising seas and depleted food stocks as it heads toward global warming of 4 degrees Celsius this century. Current national pledges to reduce greenhouse gases won’t do much to change the current trajectory of temperatures.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Rightmove said London asking prices in London’s 9 most expensive districts increased 3.4 percent in November versus a fall of 2.6 percent nationally. Miles Shipside at Rightmove said the prime central London property market continues to attract wealthy foreign buyers, especially the City of Westminster, where a Mayfair or Belgravia address is a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Purchases of existing houses in October exceeded the median economic forecast, property values rose over the past 12 months by the most in seven years, and inventories dropped to the lowest level in almost a decade. Ward McCarthy at Jefferies said housing is cheap, borrowing is cheap, and it’s a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: S&P/Case-Shiller said home prices in 20 large metropolitan areas gained 8.8 percent from February through August. The share of all non-agency loans between 30 and 60 days past due rose 0.44 percentage point to 3.54 percent, the highest since February 2010. JP Morgan said: A record number
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Edward L. Morse at Citigroup said the super cycle of commodity prices gains has ended as China shifts to slower growth and supplies increase, and conditions approximating those of the last decade will not return any time soon. Morse said prices won’t move sharply higher even as global stimulus lifts
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds cut bullish commodity bets for a sixth straight week, the longest slump since the depths of the global recession four years ago, on mounting concern that economies are slowing. Investors turned bearish on copper for the first time since August. Morgan Stanley said weaker growth
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Foreign investors can’t get enough Treasuries despite the fiscal cliff and China’s reduced stake. Aaron Kohli at BNP Paribas said there’s little of a buyers’ strike from the Treasury’s perspective and shows the depth of demand. BNP forecasts the 10-year yield will rise to 2 percent by June 2013 versus the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Competition from state universities’ expanding online programs is pummeling for-profit colleges, once among the fastest-growing U.S. industries. The for-profit companies are closing campuses as enrollment and stock prices plunge. Deutsche Bank said it’s a potent threat because publicly traded for-profit colleges drew 59 percent of their enrollment
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