Atlanta
Residential
The metro Atlanta office market continued to head toward recovery during the first quarter, according a report from Cushman & Wakefield. Overall vacancy in the 131-million-square-foot market dropped 3.2 percent over the past year to 21.1 percent, while positive absorption for the first quarter totaled 703,829 square feet. While vacancy is nowhere near what it was two years ago, there is still oversupply, albeit with stable rental rates, the report said.
Boston
Residential
Prices of single-family houses and condos in Massachusetts grew at double-digit rates in March amid strong sales activity. In March, the median price for a single-family home in Massachusetts rose to $350,000, up 12.7 percent from $310,500 a year earlier, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported. The median price of condos in the state rose 10.9 percent, to $265,000 from $239,000. Despite the year-on-year gains, however, condo prices actually dipped in March from February, when the median price was $269,000. Part of the reason is that condo inventory is more plentiful, brokers said.
Residential/Commercial
Sales of multifamily homes in 2004 climbed 20.3 percent from 2003, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. In many parts of the state, two- and three-family houses are being sold to developers who are converting them to condos to meet the continued demand in that market segment. With the rental market soft in recent years, rental income is not enough to cover the annual costs of owning a multifamily house, brokers say. In many communities, buyers are making more money splitting two-family houses into condominiums and reselling rather than renting them out.
Chicago
Commercial
Celebrated architect Frank Gehry has made an unsolicited, top-dollar offer to acquire the landmark Inland Steel Building, an icon of skyscraper design. Gehry, who has dabbled in real estate, is part of a small group of investors that includes Chicago real estate executive Harvey Camins. The exact amount of their bid could not be determined, but sources said it was substantially more than $200 a square foot, or roughly $50 million. The negotiations are expected to reach a decisive point within weeks.
Commercial
Chicago saw its largest office leasing deal so far this year when law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP signed a 294,175 square foot lease at Bank One Corporate Center. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, asking rents in the building begin at $22 per square foot. The law firm begins its 15-year lease at the 1.5-million-sf office tower in January 2007.
Las Vegas
Residential/Commercial
In a study of 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas, Marcus & Millichap Research Services found Las Vegas has one of the highest condo conversion rates in the nation. About 7,500 apartment units are in the conversion pipeline in the city and another 10,000 changeovers have been proposed. In addition to low mortgage rates and skyrocketing single-family home prices, the conversion boom is being spurred by retirees who are buying because condos are more cost-effective than a house, according to Marcus & Millichap.
Residential
The rising cost of living in fast-growing Las Vegas has real estate experts concerned. In the fourth quarter of 2004, the cost of living in southern Nevada was – except for California markets – greater than that of the top 10 metro areas from which people most commonly migrated to Las Vegas. It marked the first time Las Vegas passed those areas, which include Utah, Arizona and Texas. Also adding intrigue to the fate of the real estate market is the soaring price of land. The price of vacant land currently sits at about $12 a square foot, a 149-percent increase from a year ago, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
Los Angeles
Commercial
Los Angeles County’s office market continued to tilt in favor of landlords last quarter, as businesses expanded and pushed the vacancy rate down 3 percentage points, to 14.1 percent, from the same period a year earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported. Nearly 1.2 million square feet of office space were taken off the market in the quarter that ended March 31, according to Cushman & Wakefield. About 4.3 million square feet have been absorbed in the last year, part of a huge absorption trend in the market, brokers said.
Commercial
In what could mirror the battle over the proposed Jets stadium in Manhattan, the city of Anaheim outlined plans last month for a new 70,500-seat stadium on the Angel Stadium parking lot to house a National Football League franchise in as soon as three years. But opponents of the project have asked why the city should consider donating part of the 35-acre site to the NFL when the parcel could fetch $150 million from developers. Anaheim is one of four sites in greater Los Angeles being considered for an NFL franchise. The others are the L.A. Coliseum, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and a proposed stadium in Carson.
Residential
Latinos account for 31 percent of Southern California households, according to research by the Center for Real Estate at UCLA. They also make up one-quarter of the region’s homeowners, and 50 percent of Latino homeowners have bought their residences during the past .ve years, Realtor.org reported.
Miami
Residential/Commercial
Developer Leon Cohen is set to submit plans to the city for what could be the world’s tallest condo building in downtown Miami. Two 110-story skyscrapers – a condo tower and apartment-hotel tower – would each rise 1,200 feet along Biscayne Boulevard. If built, they would eclipse what is currently the world’s tallest residential building, the 21st Century Tower in Dubai at 883 feet tall, the Miami Herald reported. Florida’s tallest high-rise is the 789-foot Four Seasons Hotel & Tower on Brickell Avenue in Miami.
Residential
In all of South Florida, the cheapest homes sold last year were in Miami-Dade County, where the average price was $250,000, according to Integra Realty Resources. But Miami-Dade also is where brand-new condominium units are the priciest, averaging more than $308,000. The numbers appear odd because inexpensive new construction in south Miami-Dade brought down the county’s overall average cost, while at the same time, the sale of new waterfront luxury units skewed the average price of a condo upward.
Philadelphia
Commercial
Donald Trump is reportedly shopping for a site for a casino operation in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, after legislation was signed in July creating 14 parlor licenses across the state. Trump is reportedly looking at a potential slots-parlor location at the site of a former plant operated by the Budd Company. Gov. Ed Rendell has called on Trump to bring his business to Philadelphia, but told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he didn’t know if Trump’s interest was “real” and hadn’t spoken to the developer.
Commercial
Office vacancy in Philadelphia’s central business district currently hovers at 15.6 percent, and the first quarter saw approximately 160,000 square feet of absorption, its first positive boost since the third quarter of 2003, according to Grubb & Ellis. But a significant uptick in vacancy is expected with nearly two million square feet of space coming on line in the next few years, Globest.com reported.
San Francisco
Commercial
The University of California is seeking up to 410,000 square feet of space in Oakland, part of a search that could result in the city’s first new office building in three years. A request for proposals by the university is widely expected to draw bids from Shorenstein Co., Prentiss Properties, developer Bill Sumski and others with available downtown parcels. The university has asked for initial bids by June 20, with the selection process wrapping up by the end of the year.
Residential/Commercial
A plan is progressing to transform the scrufiest stretch of San Francisco’s main street – from Fifth to 10th streets along Market – into a thriving arts district. Ten years in the making, and even longer in the concept stage, the redevelopment plan will be evaluated by both the city’s Planning Commission and redevelopment agency in the next few months. Improvements suggested in the blueprints include 1,400 more dwelling units in the area, increasing the number of theaters, performing arts, film and other venues, and improving the pedestrian and bicycle flow in the area while better managing vehicle traffic.
Residential
Despite ever-climbing prices for San Francisco residences, new homebuyers are still rushing to snap them up, as evidenced by the fast-selling apartments in The Beacon – a new two-tower complex acquired by Centurion Real Estate Partners. Centurion converted the apartments to condos only weeks ago and has already sold more than 200 of the 304 units in the west tower. The units range from 550-square foot junior one-bedrooms to 1,653-square foot three-bedrooms, with prices from the low $400,000 range to $1.4 million.
Seattle
Residential
House prices in Bellingham shot up 20.4 percent last year, making the western Washington city the state’s hottest housing market. The strong pricing gains have continued this year. The average sales price in Bellingham for the first four months of the year was $274,333, compared with an average sales price of $223,117 in the same period in 2004. Bellingham’s unlikely emergence as Washington’s fastest rising residential real estate market partly reflects the city’s growing reputation for a good quality of life and affordability. It’s also a product of Bellingham’s status as a retirement destination, brokers say.
Residential
The median price of an apartment saw a 13- percent jump in King County, where Seattle is located, to $355,000 from $315,000 during the year-over-year period ended in April. Inventory plunged 11 percent in King County, partly because homeowners wish to stay put and because builders are finding it difficult to secure condominium insurance, according to brokers.
Washington, D.C.
Residential
The Washington metro area’s condo market is off to an impressive start in 2005, following a record-setting year in 2004, according to Delta Associates’ research. During the first quarter of 2005, there were 3,520 new condominium sales, compared to only 1,690 new sales during the first quarter of 2004, Globest.com reported. The metro Atlanta office market continued to head toward recovery during the first quarter, according a report from Cushman & Wakefield. Overall vacancy in the 131- million-square-foot market dropped 3.2 percent over the past year to 21.1 percent, while positive absorption for the first quarter totaled 703,829 square feet. While vacancy is nowhere near what it was two years ago, there is still oversupply, albeit with stable rental rates, the report said.