Menu
|
|
The Industry Insider - June 16, 2009
|
|
Headlines
Top Story
Fair Housing Complaints Increase Nationwide
Industry News
North Texas Rents Suffer as Apartment Vacancies Drop
Recession Hits San Diego Apartment Owners Hard
Zacks Rates Equity Residential a Buy
Southern Nevada's Apartment Vacancies Increase
Cousins Chairman, CEO Bell to Retire July 1
Apartment Construction Delays Persist in Boston
Thousands of Soldiers Relocating to Fort Carson
Big Investors Show 95 Percent Less Love for O.C. Property
Apartments.com Survey Shows Residents Are Living for Their Pets
Legislative/Legal News
Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone
San Francisco Recycling Law Affects Apartments
Top Story
Time Warner Cable Community Solutions has proven success partnering with MDU owners, providing quality voice/video/data products to their residents.
Fair Housing Complaints Increase Nationwide
Digested From "Fair Housing Complaints Increase"
Clarion-Ledger (06/14/09) by Chris Joyner
Newly released HUD research shows a dramatic increase in the number of fair housing complaints in the past fiscal year. The figures show that nationwide complaints of discrimination increased 44 percent in fiscal 2008. John Trasvina, HUD assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, remarks, "Discrimination still persists. It may be more subtle in cases, but it still persists. There is still a lot of hatred in society, and we have to have our eyes open to that." He adds that the increase in complaints nationwide was paced by a more dramatic increase in complaints involving disability and family status. HUD reports receiving more than 10,000 discrimination complaints in fiscal '08, a one-year record for the Department. Looking at individual states, complaints in Mississippi soared 65 percent from 54 complaints in fiscal 2007 to 89 in the past year. Statewide, complaints were filed in 35 different counties.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Industry News
North Texas Rents Suffer as Apartment Vacancies Drop
Digested From "Rental Rates Suffer as Apartment Vacancies Drop"
Dallas Business Journal (06/15/09) by Katherine Cromer Brock
According to M/PF Yieldstar, North Texas apartment rents have been stagnant for the past year as owners have seen vacancy rates skyrocket almost 50 percent. Apartment vacancies in the region currently stand at 9.6 percent. While some parts of the Metroplex have been able to achieve modest rent hikes due to more stable occupancy rates, many areas have seen rents slashed considerably. M/PF Yieldstar is a Texas-based firm that monitors apartment communities with a combined total of more than 600,000 rental units.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Recession Hits San Diego Apartment Owners Hard
Digested From "County Landlords Bitten by Recession"
San Diego Union-Tribune (06/13/09) by Emmet Pierce
In California, the recession is having a negative effect on San Diego County's apartment owners, as more and more residents double up to save money or abandon the rental market altogether to take advantage of bargains on foreclosed homes. The San Diego County Apartment Association's latest half-yearly study shows a 5.4 percent vacancy rate for the region, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from its fall 2008 survey and 0.6 points from the same period a year ago. As residents search for rental units with lower rates, apartment communities less than six years old posted the highest number of vacancies in the recent survey. Communities more than 25 years old reported the highest occupancies. Meanwhile, the average rental rate countywide was up slightly from $1,188 a month in the fall 2008 survey to $1,192, but down 0.7 percent from a year earlier. The survey, which polled nearly 6,000 apartment owners and managers countywide, received responses representing more than 33,000 units. Michelle Slingerland, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Apartment Association, blames higher vacancies on high unemployment. She comments, "Historically, the job market affects vacancy rates. People are having to take on roommates or they are moving in with family. If supply increases, rental rates will go down accordingly."
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Zacks Rates Equity Residential a Buy
Digested From "Equity Residential (EQR)"
Zacks Equity Research (06/10/09) by Greg Sukenik
Equity Residential recorded 1Q 2009 funds from operations of $0.57 per share compared to $0.58 in the same period a year earlier. As is typical in a recession, operations are steadily declining for all apartment REITs with job losses continuing to have a negative impact on results. Despite the slowdown, Zacks Equity Research continues to rate Equity Residential a "buy." Analyst Greg Sukenik writes: "The company's balance sheet is in relatively good shape, [and] EQR has enough cash and debt availability to take care of maturing debt over the next couple of years. We think multifamily will be one of the better performing REIT sectors in 2009, largely due to continued problems in the for-sale housing market."
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Southern Nevada's Apartment Vacancies Increase
Digested From "Local Apartment Vacancy Rates Rise in First Quarter"
Las Vegas Business Press (06/10/09) by Tony Illia
Dropping home prices and rising unemployment are taking their toll on Southern Nevada's apartment sector. The region's vacancy rates rose to 8.7 percent in the first three months of this year, up 1.4 percentage points from the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, Applied Analysis reports that asking rents dipped to $868 per month, a $22 year-over-year decrease from 2008. Analysts say the worsening economy is primarily to blame for the market slide. Nevada's unemployment rate rose to a record 10.6 percent during the month of April, confirms the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Bill Anderson, the department's chief economist, comments, "Even the recession of the early 1980s is beginning to look relatively mild as the current recession deepens. In 1982, Nevada lost 2.4 percent of all jobs. Through the first four months of 2009, Nevada has already lost 5.7 percent of all jobs, with more losses expected as the year unfolds." Researchers further note that the latest apartment occupancy levels are the lowest they have been in over a decade. As average asking rents top 97 cents per square foot, the Southern Nevada market witnessed its second straight quarter of year-over-year declines.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Cousins Chairman, CEO Bell to Retire July 1
Digested From "Cousins Chairman, CEO Bell to Retire July 1"
Business Wire (06/08/09)
Thomas D. Bell Jr. has announced his retirement as chairman and CEO of Cousins Properties Inc., effective July 1. The company's board of directors has moved fast in electing Cousins President and COO Larry L. Gellerstedt III to serve as chief executive and S. Taylor Glover as non-executive chairman. Bell has been Cousins' chief executive since the first quarter of 2002 and its chairman since December 2006. His achievements have included leading the company's effort to sell nearly $3 billion in assets during the market's peak, which resulted in special dividends totaling $12.62 per share. He remarks, "My decision to step aside now allows our extremely talented management team under the guidance of Larry to make important decisions that will prepare Cousins for the next phase of the real estate cycle." Cousins Properties is a diversified property firm that actively invests in office, apartment, retail and land development projects. Since its founding more than 50 years ago, the company has developed more than 3,500 multifamily housing units, approximately 20 million square feet of offices and another 20 million square feet of retail space.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Apartment Construction Delays Persist in Boston
Digested From "Waterfront Ambitions Rise in Boston"
New York Times (06/10/09) by Keith Schneider
The cleanup of Boston Harbor and the infamously protracted "Big Dig" project were expected to set the stage for a 21st-century transformation of downtown Boston. In the spring of last year, the city published a summary of 250 construction projects that were either in the planning stages or had already been approved. They included everything from thousands of apartments and condominiums to office towers and downtown shopping corridors. Fourteen months later, only around 25 percent of the projects from that $12 billion list have made it to the construction phase. Three of the biggest are along the Boston's waterfront. One is Russia Wharf, a $550 million office, residential and retail project that is rising from a collection of late 19th-century mercantile buildings. Commenting on the economic crisis and credit crunch, Fallon Company principal Joe Fallon comments, "We've never lived through anything like this. If money would loosen and banks get back to doing what they are supposed to do -- lend money -- we would start more construction here."
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Thousands of Soldiers Relocating to Fort Carson
Digested From "Thousands of Soldiers Relocating to Fort Carson"
CBS 4 Denver (06/08/09)
Fort Carson, Colo., is poised to see a surge in the number of soldiers moving to southern Colorado, with thousands of arrivals expected by the end of this summer. Military officials expect an average of as many as 300 new soldiers a day relocating to Fort Carson in the coming weeks, starting the middle of this month. According to the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado, the military is area apartment owners' biggest source of residents.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Big Investors Show 95 Percent Less Love for O.C. Property
Digested From "Big Investors Show 95 Percent Less Love for O.C. Property"
Orange County Register (CA) (06/09/09) by Jeff Collins
A LoopNet first-quarter report shows that that the dollar volume spent by big investors and other interested parties on commercial real estate in Orange County, Calif., plummeted 95 percent -- or a whopping $4 billion -- from the market's peak in the spring of 2007. The study further found that the county had $203 million worth of sales of properties that sold for $2.5 million or more during this year's January-through-March period. Apartments recorded the biggest plunge in transactions, falling 99.6 percent in the quarter. Office transactions fell nearly as hard, dropping almost 99 percent from their peak to $52 million. The smallest percentage drop was 85 percent in Orange County's industrial sector.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Apartments.com Survey Shows Residents Are Living for Their Pets
Digested From "Apartments.com National Survey Reveals Renters Are Living for Their Pets"
PRNewswire (06/08/09)
A new Apartments.com survey of more than 1,000 apartment residents nationwide shows that nearly 90 percent of respondents have a pet. Of those surveyed that do not currently own a pet, more than half plan to become pet owners within the next year. Researcher further determined that pets are being made a priority by people during their apartment search. Over 80 percent of the survey's respondents said a pet-friendly policy played a major role in where they ultimately to live. At the same time, 30 percent said they sought out apartment communities that were located in close proximity to such desirable pet amenities as dog parks and a veterinary office. While the majority of respondents experienced difficulty finding a community that permitted pets, 89 percent said they were not put in a position where they had to choose between their pet and a place to call home. Those respondents who were forced to give up their pet(s), the two main causes were identified as not being able to find an apartment with a pet-friend policy (65 percent) or not being able to afford the pet deposit (27 percent). Finally, in 2008, more than 11 million searches for rental units that allow cats and dogs were conducted on Apartments.com.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Legislative/Legal News
Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone
Digested From "Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone"
Wall Street Journal (06/12/09) P. A1; by Martin Vaughan; Amol Sharma
Earlier in June, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed employers assign 25 percent of an employee's yearly phone expenses as a taxable benefit. Under that scenario, a worker in the 28 percent tax bracket, whose wireless phone costs the firm $1,500 annually, could see $105 in additional federal income tax. IRS officials report that employees could avoid tax liability if they provide evidence they used personal cellphones for nonbusiness calls during work hours. In addition, the agency could decide on a set number of phone minutes as "minimal personal use" that would be untaxed. The IRS has proposed a third option under which employers could use a statistical sampling to determine what portion of employees' cellphone use is work-related and how much is personal. Workers would then be taxed on the difference. The IRS move has garnered much opposition from the wireless industry and various business groups. Jot Carpenter, vice president of government affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, remarks, "The idea that you should keep a log saying, 'I made a call saying I will be late for dinner again,' that's a totally cumbersome and burdensome requirement that most employers and employees are not going to comply with." If approved, this would mark a stricter enforcement of an existing 1989 law that classifies employer-provided cellphones as a taxable benefit instead of a 24-hour-a-day work tool. The IRS will gather public comments on this proposal through September before issuing a final decision.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
San Francisco Recycling Law Affects Apartments
Digested From "S.F. OKs Toughest Recycling Law in U.S."
San Francisco Chronicle (06/10/09) by John Cote
This past week, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 in favor of Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal for the nation's most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law. The ordinance, which is expected to take effect this fall, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by the end of the next decade. It calls for every residence and business in San Francisco to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost and black for trash. According to Newsom, failing to properly sort refuse could result in a fine after several warnings. Fines for almost all residential customers and many small businesses are initially capped at $100. There is a moratorium on fines until at least July 2011 for owners and residents of multifamily housing in order to get residents used to composting. Apartment communities where recycling carts will not fit could get a waiver. The proposal drew criticism from some apartment owners when details were initially released about a year ago. At the same time, some residents have expressed concern over the possibility of inspectors sifting through their garbage. The San Francisco Apartment Association has taken a neutral stance on the plan after language was dropped that would have held owners responsible for residents' sorting.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Abstract News © Copyright 2009 INFORMATION, INC.
|
|
|