Isn’t this the American Dream?

Posted on February 25, 2022 by grim

From Yahoo Finance:

New Jersey’s American Dream Megamall Is Once Again Sinking in Debt

Since its groundbreaking nearly two decades ago, the megamall built in New Jersey’s Meadowlands has done little except hemorrhage cash. Now, less than two years after its much-delayed opening, the complex known as American Dream is threatening to dash the lofty ambitions of yet another developer.

The Ghermezian family, which runs some of the biggest and most successful malls in North America, can’t keep up with the bills on the shopping and entertainment megaplex, which helped drive its original developer to the brink of bankruptcy and later was seized by lenders from the team that came next.

Revenue from the stores has been so scarce amid the surging pandemic that the Ghermezians have hired legal and financial advisers to help them ease the crushing $3 billion debt load, and perhaps retain some role in running the project, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The family members aren’t the only ones who stand to lose big money. Lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Soros Fund Management and Starwood Property Trust Inc. could face losses on $1.7 billion in construction loans. About $1.1 billion of municipal debt is also backing the project.

“It’s been like watching a train wreck that goes on forever,” said Neil Shapiro, a New York real estate attorney and senior partner at Herrick Feinstein. “There aren’t a lot of projects that lose at least $3 billion that we’re still talking about as projects,” said Shapiro, who’s not involved with the mall.

Outwardly, the 3-million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex on about 90 acres in New Jersey’s Meadowlands is almost fully opened, charging weekend crowds as much as $115 for day passes to the DreamWorks Water Park and $80 for its Big Snow indoor ski slope. Luxury stores including Hermès, Tiffany & Co. and Dolce & Gabbana are coming in September.

But it all may be too little, too late for the Ghermezians and their company, Triple Five Group. They’ve hired financial adviser Houlihan Lokey Inc. and the law firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges to represent them in restructuring talks, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the private negotiations. This month, American Dream dipped into reserves to make a $9.3 million municipal bond payment.

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 326 Comments

Welcome Back

Posted on February 23, 2022 by grim

From CNN:

Home prices skyrocketed last year. Two regions saw the biggest increases

Home prices rose 18.8% in 2021, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, the biggest increase in 34 years of data and substantially ahead of 2020’s 10.4% gain.

All regions saw price gains last year, but increases were strongest in the South and the Southeast, each of which were up over 25%.

Phoenix, Tampa and Miami reported the highest annual gains among the 20 cities in the index in December. Phoenix led the way for the 31st consecutive month with prices 32.5% higher than the year before. It was followed by Tampa with a 29.4% increase, and Miami, with a 27.3% increase.

“We continue to see very strong growth at the city level,” said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “All 20 cities saw price increases in 2021, and prices in all 20 are at their all-time highs.”

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 218 Comments

Sorry New York

Posted on February 22, 2022 by grim

From Fox News:

Wall Street’s hybrid work model likely to squeeze New York’s budget

Wall Street’s hybrid work week is here to stay and the economic implications on New York City and New York State’s budgets could prove to be devastating.

Some of Wall Street’s top financial firms are preparing for the implementation of a more permanent hybrid work week in the post-COVID era, where many employees can spend a couple of days working from home depending on the job, FOX Business has learned.

The rollout comes as New York City Mayor Adams calls for workers to get back to the office immediately because continued remote work is ultimately taking much-needed business away from the city.

But with remote work now fully embraced by the big banks, tax revenues in the city could fall dramatically; for the foreseeable future well paid brokers, bankers and salesmen will spend more time — and their disposable income — where they live in New Jersey, Connecticut and Westchester County, budget analysts concede.

If employees are only coming in a couple of days a week, renting a big office space in Manhattan doesn’t make much sense. In fact, investment management firm State Street recently announced it plans to close its two New York offices in order to transition to a hybrid work model.

“When you’re collecting a total of $5 billion a year in taxes from NJ and CT residents, losing even a small percentage to firms following State Street’s lead could ding (city and state budgets) by a few hundred million dollars,” said E.J. McMahon, Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

…

Morgan Stanley is taking a much softer approach than it did last summer when CEO James Gorman demanded New York employees get back to the office if they wanted to continue getting paid a New York salary.

JPMorgan is also preparing for more of its bankers to engage in a hybrid workweek as the summer approaches. An internal memo sent out last Friday said many JPMorgan employees were back in the office but did not specify whether that was on a full-time basis.

Wells Fargo says it’s encouraging employees to return to the office in mid-March and American Express will start inviting employees back to its Manhattan office March 1st under a hybrid work-from-home model.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 82 Comments

NJ’s No-Stop Centers

Posted on February 20, 2022 by grim

From NJ1015:

NJ lawmakers want to force Murphy administration to open unemployment offices

Lawmakers will be introducing legislation to force the Murphy administration to open the Department of Labor’s One-Stop Career Center offices as soon as March 1 to resolve outstanding unemployment claims.

The move comes after New Jersey 101.5 news reports this week about how thousands of state residents are still in limbo, unable to resolve their claims and get help in person.

State Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Antwan McClellen and Erik Simonsen, all Republicans representing South Jersey’s 1st Legislative District, released a statement Friday afternoon saying unemployment offices and One-Stops have been closed for more than 700 days.

“The constant failures have left many filers waiting months to receive any benefits while Labor Department employees are working from home, still receiving a check,” they said.

The lawmakers said the legislation would require the Department of Labor to reopen their facilities for in-person appointments with “long-suffering constituents who cannot access their unemployment benefits via the NJDOL’s failing system or face financial consequences for the failure to serve the people of New Jersey.”

Posted in Economics, Employment, Politics | 62 Comments

Why does NJ think it’s even part of the conversation?

Posted on February 18, 2022 by grim

From NJBIZ:

NJ rolls out roadmap for 21st century ‘future of work’

State officials on Feb. 17 published a long-awaited slate of recommendations laying out how the New Jersey workforce of the 21st century needs to change in the decades to come.

The 179-page report, which was first ordered by the Murphy administration in 2019 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, delves into “how technological advancements will shape the future of New Jersey’s economy and workforce.”

Future of work has been something that the tech industry has been tinkering with for years, especially following a global pandemic that gave enough people a taste of telecommuting arrangements, which has fostered resistance from many to the return to a 40-hour, in-office workweek.

“In a rapidly changing economy directly impacted by the development of new technology, inequality, and the challenges of the climate crisis, we have an important and urgent role to play in equipping our workers to be successful,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in the Thursday announcement.

“Creating opportunities for new industries, well-paid work, and paths for career growth will be essential to our economy and to easing the fear and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had an enormous impact on the state labor market and work environment,” he continued in a message accompanying the report.

The recommendations range from state financing for continuing education and training programs for low-income workers, to education workers’ rights and employee misclassification laws; expanded access to low and no-cost higher education tuition assistance programs; and upgrades to the state’s pandemic-ravaged, beleaguered unemployment system.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 135 Comments

Electrify the USPS? Might be the dumbest option.

Posted on February 17, 2022 by grim

If we want to reduce the carbon footprint and resource consumption of the USPS, ban junk mail instead. It’s that simple. We could probably cut the USPS fossil fuel consumption in half, at NO cost to the taxpayer. Why bother with a discussion about modernizing a typewriter company? Junk mail represents 48% of all mail delivered today. This is the equivalent of us investing in the email infrastructure used to send spam email. This doesn’t even include the positive environmental impact of the reduced paper and trash. Junk mail goes right from my mailbox into my trash, it’s a complete misuse of resources. Fix the junk mail problem first.

From Newsday:

USPS Can’t Buy All-Electric Delivery Fleet Due to Money Woes, DeJoy Says

The U.S. Postal Service can’t yet follow through on its commitment to buying and using an all-electric delivery fleet because of its “dire financial condition,” Postmaster General and USPS Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy said in a statementSunday.

Instead, the service is initially ordering 5,000 electric vehicles, with “the flexibility to increase the number of electric vehicles introduced should additional funding become available.”

“Absent such funding, we must make fiscally responsible decisions that result in the needed introduction of safer and environmentally cleaner vehicles for the men and women who deliver America’s mail,” the statement read.

Posted in General | 141 Comments

Huh?

Posted on February 16, 2022 by grim

From the AP:

Biden has long-term inflation plan, but voter patience short

President Joe Biden came into office with a plan to fix inflation — just not the particular inflationary problem that the country now faces. 

His belief is that a cluster of companies control too many industries, which reduces competition for both customers and workers. That leads to higher prices and lower wages in what the White House says is an average cost of $5,000 annually for U.S. families. Biden is now trying to remedy the situation with 72 distinct initiatives — everything from new rules for cell phone repairs to regulations on meatpacking to more merger reviews.

“The dynamics of the modern American economy — the increased consolidation and lack of competition — has distorted market incentives in important ways,” said Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council. “The president gave us the direction that he wanted us to come back and say what could we do to address this issue of consolidation across industries in a way that would be durable.”

But even administration officials acknowledge that the initiatives outlined by the president’s seven-month-old competition council aren’t designed to quickly stop the 7.5% inflation that’s frustrating Americans and damaging Biden’s popularity. Furthermore, business groups dispute the fundamental premise that competition has faded within the U.S. economy and they are prepared to challenge the administration’s new initiatives in court.

“It will strangle economic growth,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Ironically, what this will do is actually lead to more inflation.”

Posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate | 116 Comments

Up Up Up

Posted on February 15, 2022 by grim

From the APP:

NJ inflation: Energy, furniture, food soar, and retirees may need jobs to pay for it

As Valentine’s Day approached, Lou Smith, the owner of Blend on Main in Manasquan, last week found the wholesale price of a 2-pound lobster was $39, nearly twice as much as it was before the pandemic.

The price increases, he said, don’t stop with lobster. Chicken, beef and anything made with flour is surging, too.  

“Something had to give,” Smith said of the impact of rising prices on his restaurant. “So my sanity is first.”

Inflation has climbed at its highest rate in nearly 40 years, forcing New Jerseyans to dig deeper to pay for everything from cupcakes to automobiles. 

…

The Consumer Price Index rose 7.5% from January 2021 to January 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week, the biggest annual gain since February 1982.

The CPI in New York City and Northern New Jersey, which includes Monmouth and Ocean counties, was tamer, rising 5.1% during the past 12 months, the agency said.

Still, the increases hit all sorts of items regionwide. Energy was up 28.5%; durable goods like furniture was up 17.2%; meat, poultry, fish and eggs were up 16%; and new vehicles were up 14.6%, according to BLS.

…

Business owners said they aren’t sure what to expect any given week. Food Circus, a Middletown-based company that owns five Super Foodtown supermarkets, recently was hit with higher prices for chicken cutlets, whole milk and mayonnaise, Lou Scaduto Jr., the company’s president, said.

And there are signs that the supply chain remains bottled up; the grocer ran into trouble getting deliveries of Gatorade and Capri Sun juice boxes, Scaduto said.

“Those costs have to be passed on; we can’t afford just to eat it,” Scaduto said last Wednesday. “I got another notice today just on Hellmann’s mayonnaise. It’s going up $10 a case for the 30-ounce jar. They are blaming it on oil. They can’t get the (cooking) oil to produce mayonnaise.”

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Where's the Beef? | 90 Comments

Housing survived the pandemic too

Posted on February 14, 2022 by grim

From Mortgage News Daily:

MBA Says Delinquencies Fall Below Historic Levels

For the second time this week a major report on loan performance has confirmed that homeowners are recovering rapidly from the pandemic. The National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) put the nationwide rate of non-current mortgage payments at 4.65 percent of outstanding loans at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. This is down 23 basis points (bps) from the third quarter and 208 bps lower than a year earlier. The figure includes delinquent loans that are in forbearance programs.

“Mortgage delinquencies descended in the final three months of 2021, reaching levels at or below MBA’s survey averages dating back to 1979,” said Marina Walsh, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “The fourth-quarter delinquency rate of 4.65 percent was 67 basis points lower than MBA’s survey average of 5.32 percent. Furthermore, the seriously delinquent rate, the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due or in the process of foreclosure, was 2.83 percent in the fourth quarter, close to the long-term average of 2.80 percent.”

Added Walsh, “The quarters right before the COVID-19 pandemic represented some of the lowest delinquencies ever recorded. Delinquencies are now approaching levels not seen since the first quarter of 2020, which is a testament to the strength of the U.S. labor market.”

Walsh credited economic forces, including the low rate of unemployment, growing labor force participation, wage growth and accumulated home equity for the low delinquency rates. Forbearance programs and subsequent loan workouts have also contributed to the current outcomes.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 117 Comments

Sorry about your savings

Posted on February 11, 2022 by grim

From CNN:

America’s annual price increase was worse than economists had forecast

A key measure of inflation climbed to a near-40-year high last month. Economists are hopeful that America will reach the peak of the pandemic-era price increases in the early months of 2022. Here’s to hoping.

The consumer price index rose 7.5% in the 12 months ending January, not adjusted for seasonal swings, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. It was the steepest annual price increase since February 1982 and worse than economists had forecast.

Stripping out food and energy prices, which tend to be more volatile, prices increased by 6% between January 2021 and January 2022, marking the largest increase since August 1982. Food prices rose 7% over the same period, while energy prices rose 27%, led by fuel oil and gasoline prices.

In January alone, prices rose 0.6%, including seasonal adjustments, the same rate as in December and more than economists had predicted. That served up some bad news for people who hoped the monthly data would indicate a slowdown of the price hikes.

White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein acknowledged that the administration has “way more work to do” on inflation.

Posted in Economics | 251 Comments

Experts offer milquetoast predictions, nothing you didn’t already know.

Posted on February 10, 2022 by grim

This is all you’ve got? Talk about bold predictions. From MarketWatch:

‘Home price growth may return to normalcy.’ 5 economists and real estate pros predict what will happen in the housing market in 2022

Prediction 1: Mortgage rates will rise

“Mortgage rates snapped upward in January as mortgage investors realized what the Fed intends to do, which is raise interest rates aggressively this year,” says Holden Lewis, home and mortgage expert at NerdWallet. “Now, mortgage rates are rising more gradually as markets wait for the Fed to clarify their timetable.”

Prediction 2: Home price growth may ‘return to normalcy’

Heym says the market is suffering from record-low inventory levels, which has driven prices to new highs even as the number of sales has declined. “I don’t expect this to change in the next few months as home builders can’t build houses fast enough to help the supply issue,” says Heym. Specifically, Yun says home prices are solidly higher by double-digit percentages compared to one ago. “However, with mortgage rates moving up and some home buyers getting priced out, home price growth will return to normalcy, to around 5% for all of 2022,” says Yun.

Prediction 3: Expect near-term bidding wars

The clock is also ticking as 2021 interest rate locks with 60-90 day expirations are set to mature any day. But what does this mean for buyers? Essentially, they’re rushing and overbidding on properties in the hopes of securing a low interest rate before the next Fed increase. “This is causing bidding war frenzies,” says Pierre Debbas, managing partner of real estate law firm Romer Debbas LLP. 

Prediction 4: It will still be a tough market for buyers though

Buyers will continue to have limited options in most areas as inventory will remain scarce, pros say. “Prices will continue to rise, which combined with higher mortgage rates, will drive some buyers out of the market,” says Heym. That said, it will continue to be a strong seller’s market, which means if you’ve been thinking about listing your home — there’s no time like the present. 

Prediction 5: But there are still wildcards

The big wildcard is the permanency of work-from-home policies or even hybrid models of employment. “That will lead to changes in residential locational choices with more households willing to buy a home farther away from job locations and home price growth therefore will be stronger in small towns and exurbs compared to downtown locations,” says Yun.

Prediction 6: Spring will bring more activity

With the spring home shopping season right around the corner, expect activity to heat up. “It’s likely inventory and sales will pick up over the next few months,” says Bachaud.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 143 Comments

Who? Why?

Posted on February 8, 2022 by grim

From the LA Times:

Joe Pesci sells extremely 1980s New Jersey mansion for $5 million 

On the coast of New Jersey, an Art Deco-style mansion that screams Joe Pesci has been sold by the man himself for $5 million.

The Oscar-winning actor, who grew up in the Garden State, bought the property in 1994 for $850,000. He’d been shopping it around for the last three years for $6.5 million before finally finding a buyer. The sale closed on Wednesday.

A mish-mash of the over-the-top style of the 1980s and ’90s, the waterfront estate spans a third of an acre in Lavallette overlooking Barnegat Bay. Dramatically different than its neighbors, the mansion looks like a natural fit for one of Pesci’s gangster characters in films such as “Goodfellas,” “Casino” or “The Irishman.”

The cream-colored home flaunts a curvaceous exterior topped by a glass atrium. Inside, a sculptural staircase winds its way upstairs.

Other highlights include a rounded dining room under a gold lighting fixture, as well as a memorabilia-filled media room complete with a “Lethal Weapon” pinball machine. There’s also a gold-colored barbershop chair, a carousel horse, an elevator, an office, eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms — including a primary suite with a private balcony.

Posted in General | 115 Comments

Really Zillow?

Posted on February 7, 2022 by grim

From Fortune:

Zillow: Our 2022 housing forecast is way off—home prices now set to spike 16%

Homebuyers got crushed last year as home prices soared at their highest clip on record. Housing economists saw that price growth—which peaked at a year-over-year rate of 20% last year—as simply unsustainable. Their economic models agreed: Among the seven forecast models reviewed by Fortune heading into 2022, every single one predicted home price growth would slow significantly this year.

But over the past few weeks, that consensus is no longer so unified. Now, more industry insiders are throwing out their previous forecasts and replacing them with more bullish short-term outlooks. Indeed, some experts say the 2022 spring housing market might go down as one of the most competitive on record.

Look no further than Zillow. Back in December, the home listing site predicted that U.S. home values would climb 11% this year. Economists at Zillow now say that forecast is too conservative. Their latest forecast finds home prices are set to spike 16.4% between December 2021 and December 2022. If it comes to fruition, it would mark another brutal year for home shoppers. 

Why is Zillow raising its 2022 home price growth forecast? A lot of it boils down to housing inventory. During the pandemic, inventory has plunged to a four-decade low as more buyers rushed into the market. That trend was predicted to reverse late last year as forbearance protection programs lapsed and mortgage rates rose. But not only has that not happened, the inventory situation has gotten worse. In January, there were just over 923,000 U.S. homes listed for sale on Zillow. That’s down 40.5% from the pre-pandemic level in January 2020, and down 19.5% from January 2021.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 46 Comments

Lawwwnguyland

Posted on February 5, 2022 by grim

From Newsday:

Long Island home prices surged 60% since 2012

Long Island homebuyers today have to spend more, move faster and choose from a vastly smaller roster of listings than a decade ago, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

The median sale price for a Long Island home rose 60% over the past decade to $560,000 last year compared with $350,000 in 2012, according to the data, which excludes the Hamptons and North Fork and wasn’t adjusted for inflation. 

In Nassau County, the median sale price rose 60% to $640,000 over the decade, and in Suffolk increased by about 62% to $490,000, excluding the Hamptons and North Fork. It took 54 days on average between the time a home went on the market and when a sale closed, which is down by more than half from the 128 days it took a decade ago.

The median price of a single-family home sold last year on Long Island, excluding the Hamptons and North Fork, was $580,000, or about two-thirds higher than a decade ago. The median price for condos, which make up about one-eighth of the Long Island home sales market, rose 52% to $365,000 in the past decade. There were 4,430 condo sales last year, which was nearly 73% more than back in 2012.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, NYC | 81 Comments

So how will we spend it?

Posted on February 3, 2022 by grim

From the Record:

New Jersey in line for $641 million from opioids settlement, a lifeline for treatment

New Jersey is on track to receive more than $641 million as part of a nationwide opioid settlement agreement with Johnson & Johnson and the country’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors. 

Every one of New Jersey’s counties and municipalities that are eligible to join the $26 billion settlement have signed on, which is significant because it paves the way for the state to collect the maximum amount, acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Wednesday. 

The agreement with New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson and three pharmaceutical distributors — McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — would resolve claims involving their roles in the country’s opioid crisis. 

New Jersey needed all 21 counties and all 241 municipalities that have populations over 10,000 to approve a settlement in order for the state to be eligible for the maximum amount of more than $641 million. 

Posted in Politics | 280 Comments