Atlanta
The inventory of unsold homes in the greater metro Atlanta area skyrocketed in every county between May 2006 and May 2007, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. Suburban Cobb County had an eight-month supply of homes on the market, a 21 percent increase from a year ago, while Rockdale County saw a 70 percent increase in inventory from the previous year to more than a one-year supply. Still, there may be cause for optimism: Metro Atlanta is gaining about 500 new residents every day.
Cushman & Wakefield is relocating from One Atlantic Center in midtown Atlanta to the Allen Plaza project at 55 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard in downtown. The move is another indication of downtown’s growing appeal as a business center, boosters say. The commercial real estate company will be moving its 110 or so employees into its new headquarters in the spring, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. Barry Real Estate Cos. is developing the nine-block mixed-use Allen Plaza project, which calls for more than 2 million square feet of Class A office space. Investment in the development is projected to reach $1.95 billion.
Boston
After peaking in 2005, home prices continue to slide in counties north of Boston, the Boston Globe reported. The number of single-family home sales in Essex County dropped 3.9 percent from January to May, the most recent figures available, while the median price declined 2.8 percent to $343,000, according to data compiled by the Warren Group. Home sales throughout Massachusetts fell 2.9 percent, while the median price fell 3.6 percent to $313,000. A bright spot was Gloucester: The city saw its median home price rise to $412,500, a 17.5 percent increase from January to April.
The long-stalled Waterside Place development on the South Boston waterfront was approved in late June by city officials. Developer John Drew, president of Drew Co., is heading the 1.1-million-square-foot project, which will include an urban shopping plaza, a hotel and a residential complex. Construction is expected to begin in early 2008. It would be the second major mixed-use project to get started on the waterfront, following an office building on Fan Pier set to break ground this fall, the Boston Globe reported.
Chicago
Vacancies at office properties in downtown Chicago dropped in the second quarter, according to a report from CB Richard Ellis. Vacancy dropped to 13.7 percent from 16.8 percent a year ago. The second-quarter figure is the lowest since the first quarter of 2004. Job growth and the lack of new office buildings have driven up rents. A total of 40,300 jobs have been added in the region since May 2006, according to the Chicago Tribune. Space in the West Loop is said to be the most expensive in the city, with rents as high as $55 per square foot.
Chicago-area home sales dropped 20.7 percent between May 2006 and May 2007, while statewide sales declined 18.6 percent and national sales were down 10.3 percent in the same period, the Chicago Tribune reported. The median price of a Chicago home rose to $252,388, up 1.2 percent from a year ago, while prices statewide remained flat compared to a year ago at $205,500. Still, despite the year-over-year numbers, the number of sales rose for four straight months, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.
Detroit
More buyers in Michigan’s sluggish housing market are opting to acquire homes through an untraditional method called rent-to-own, the Detroit Free Press reported. There are two types of rent-to-own deals: option contracts, which require the buyer to make a down payment and pay monthly rent, portions of which are applied to the home’s mortgage and asking price; and land contracts, which send portions of lease payments to the landlord for other housing fees, while the asking price stays the same. The new trend is fueled in part by a rise in foreclosures, a decrease in subprime mortgage lending and some buyers’ inability to make down payments.
Las Vegas
The Las Vegas housing market may be slumping compared to a year ago, but month-to-month home sales figures show signs of strength, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. New home sales dropped 43.8 percent in the first half of 2007 from a year ago, with median prices down 4.4 percent from 2006. But new single-family home sales rose 11.7 percent to 1,751 from April to May, though the median price slipped 3 percent in the same period to $308,874.
Los Angeles
A Beverly Hills mansion hit the market last month with an asking price of $165 million, becoming the most expensive listing in the country. The Beverly House, once owned by publisher William Randolph Hearst and actress Marion Davies, sits on 6.5 acres and contains three swimming pools and 29 bedrooms. The H-shaped complex, now owned by attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, includes six residences, including four houses, an apartment and a cottage for security staff. No U.S. home sale has ever reached the $100 million mark; the $94 million paid by Gary Winnick for a Bel Air estate in 2001 holds the current record, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Despite fears of a slumping housing market in the Los Angeles area, the county’s property tax assessment rolls for 2006 topped the $1 trillion mark for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported. The county’s assessed value rose by $88 billion, up 9.3 percent from a year ago, compared to the average annual growth of about 7 percent over the last three decades. The city of Los Angeles had the largest tax rolls; Long Beach, Torrance, Santa Clarita and Glendale trailed by large margins.
Philadelphia
A landmark shopping center in the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore sold for $210 million to one of the country’s largest real estate developers, New York-based REIT Kimco Realty Corp., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The 360,000-square-foot retail center, known as Suburban Square, has 53 stores and is anchored by a Macy’s. Built in 1928, it was among the nation’s first shopping centers. It is said to command the highest rents in the area. The property sold for more than $500 per square foot, with a capitalization rate under 6 percent.
Phoenix
Metropolitan Phoenix ranked third in the nation for the number of single-family home building permits issued for the year to date, the Arizona Republic reported. Only Atlanta and Houston placed ahead of Phoenix, even though Phoenix’s housing permits dropped 22 percent in 2007 from a year earlier and the city’s housing market remains sluggish. Phoenix was ranked as the top homebuilding market in 2004 and 2005 but slipped to fourth place last year, behind Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
San Francisco
The San Francisco hotel market is poised to have its best year since the start of the decade following a solid winter and strong spring, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Average room rates in the first quarter, the latest period for which figures were available, rose to $167, up 2.9 percent from the same time last year. Occupancy fell slightly during that period, to 76.9 percent from 77.6 percent in 2006. Northern California hotels had an average room rate of $133 in the first quarter, up 5.8 percent from a year ago.
Seattle
In a deal between two corporate pillars of the Puget Sound area, Microsoft purchased an unused 28-acre parcel of land in Redmond from Nintendo of America, the Seattle Times reported. Though the sales price was not disclosed, the property is worth more than $26.5 million, according to King County assessment records. Nintendo bought the land for $601,277 in 1987. The game giant plans to keep its North American headquarters in Redmond, but Microsoft’s long-term plans for its new property are unclear. The 300-space parking lot on the site will help ease congestion at Microsoft’s RedWest campus.
Washington, D.C.
The sale of a small retail building in Georgetown set a big per-square-foot price record, the Washington Times reported. A two-story property at 1329 Wisconsin Avenue NW sold to a New York-based firm for $1,597 per square foot, exceeding the old record of $1,034 by more than 50 percent. Sivan Properties paid a total of $6.7 million for the 4,195-square-foot building. The property is fully leased through 2016 to Jones New York’s Easy Spirit and Bandolino shoe stores.
Officials in Rockville, a suburb northeast of Washington, D.C., hope last month’s opening of the new Rockville Town Square will revitalize the city’s downtown district, the Washington Post reported. The 12-acre, $370 million development features 27 shops and restaurants; all of the storefronts have been leased, with 20 more stores and eateries expected to open by year’s end. In the past year, 100 luxury condominiums had been sold, with prices ranging from $350,000 to $1 million. An additional 496 units will be rented. The city invested $50 million in the project, Montgomery County contributed $46 million, and the state added $6 million.