Sky High and Going Up Fast: Luxury Towers Take New York

Posted on May 19, 2013 by admin

(NYT)  Only 10 floors have been completed in what is intended to be the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — a slender, 84-story tower on Park Avenue at 56th Street in Manhattan. But the top penthouse is already under contract for $95 million.

Other buyers have snapped up apartments on lower floors for prices that are almost as breathtaking. While their identities are not known, it is likely that many are the rootless superrich: Russian metals barons, Latin American tycoons, Arab sheiks and Asian billionaires.

Ultraluxury housing and construction is booming across Manhattan, which is now beginning to rival London in popularity with the world’s wealthy. The number of condominium buildings in the borough with apartments selling for more than $15 million has risen to 49, up from 33 in 2009, according to CityRealty.

More:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/nyregion/boom-in-luxury-towers-is-warping-new-york-real-estate-market.html?hp

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Savvy Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong Takes the Lead in Bid for for St. John’s Health Center, the Storied Santa Monica Hospital

Posted on May 15, 2013 by admin

(LAT)  A high-stakes bidding war has erupted for St. John’s Health Center, a storied Santa Monica hospital, with a local billionaire teaming up with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles on an unsolicited offer.

hospital

The latest bid, expected to be formally announced Wednesday, comes from former drug-company executive and healthcare entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, who said in a statement the bid has the support of the archdiocese. This offer is competing against at least two other bidders’.

One bidder is a group that comprises UCLA Health System and two large Catholic hospital chains. Another potential buyer is Providence Health & Services, another Catholic hospital company.

St. John’s is owned by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, a nonprofit chain based in Denver. Officials there began soliciting offers for St. John’s this year. No dollar figures have been disclosed publicly.

Whoever wins would inherit a hospital rich in history but one that is steadily losing ground in a market that increasingly favors bigger institutions. Roman Catholic nuns founded St. John’s in 1942 and oversaw the rebuilding of the hospital after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Hollywood stars Jimmy Stewart and Julie Andrews raised money for the hospital. St. John’s celebrity patients have included Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and President Reagan.

This latest development in the bidding adds another chapter in a months-long drama playing out at St. John’s. In November, its Denver owner abruptly fired most of the local board members and ousted the top two executives.

In a statement Tuesday, Soon-Shiong discussed the proposal and described his offer as a “community bid that would further enhance [St. John's] capabilities, bringing world class physicians and potentially historic advancements” in medical care.

“Soon-Shiong has the doctor and community support and a boatload of money to support the hospital. This option cannot be ignored.”

More:  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-st-johns-hospital-bid-20130515,0,1639574.story

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Eisman: US Housing Recovery in Early Stages, Many Opportunities

Posted on May 11, 2013 by admin

(Barron’s)  STEVE EISMAN made his reputation with his short bet against subprime mortgages prior to the credit crisis and for identifying abuses in for-profit education three years ago when Wall Street loved the sector. Eisman, founder of Emrys Partners, said the U.S. housing recovery is in its early stages and offers plenty of investment opportunities. He noted that some of the strongest housing markets, including California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, were formerly among the weakest. Low housing inventories are fueling a boom in land prices in these markets; some have had 30% gains since the end of 2012.

He ticked off a list of “land rich” home builders like PulteGroup (PHM), Lennar (LEN), and Standard Pacific (SPF), as well as Fortune Brands Home & Security, a maker of kitchen cabinets, faucets, locks, and doors for homes. He recommended Forestar Group (FOR), a landowner recently profiled in Barron’s (“Rich Assets, Cheap Shares,” March 4) that he says could be worth $30, versus its recent share price of $23. He also likes Colony Financial (CLNY), a mortgage REIT that owns 25% of Colony American Homes, single-family rental-home outfit that recently filed to go public. Another play he likes: Ocwen Financial (OCN), the largest nonbank mortgage servicer. Its price/earnings is just seven on expected 2014 profits.

Eisman is bearish on the Canadian housing market, however, saying that it’s starting to crack after showing resiliency throughout the U.S. housing downturn. If it continues, the trend could hurt big Canadian banks like TD Bank Group (TD) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY), which trade for more than twice tangible book value, way above the valuation of most large U.S. banks. Particularly vulnerable, he asserts, is Home Capital Group (HCG.Canada), a lender specializing in high-risk mortgage loans that aren’t eligible for guarantees from the Canadian equivalent of Fannie Mae. At about $53, it trades for twice tangible book. “If housing rolls over, this company will have problems.”

More:  http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704253204578472841993782954.html?mod=BOL_hpp_mag#articleTabs_article%3D0

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

ZH: Las Vegas Housing: 8% Of Single Family Homes Vacant, Yet New Construction Permits Up 50%

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin

(Zero Hedge)  If there is any market that demonstrates the complete and total misallocation of capital that results from Banana Ben Bernanke’s money printing and artificially low interest rate policy, it the latest phony American housing bubble.

With a record numbers of citizens on the food stamp electronic breadline, with unemployment stubbornly high no matter what data you use, billionaire financial oligarchs are running around bidding up “homes for rent” and pricing out the random average person that actually has the capacity or desire to bid. What follows below demonstrates the degree of insanity that has now been unleashed upon the streets of Las Vegas – in their QE-forever induced delirium, homebuilders have gone Chinese and in Las Vegas “permits for new home construction are up 50 percent, twice the national average.”

More: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-04/las-vegas-housing-8-single-family-homes-vacant-yet-new-construction-permits-50

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Blacktone Buys Atlanta Homes in Largest Bulk Rental Trade (SFRs)

Posted on April 25, 2013 by admin

Blackstone Group LP (BX) bought 1,400 properties in Atlanta, many eligible for federal low-income housing subsidies, in the biggest bulk purchase for the fledgling homes-for-lease industry.

Blackstone Sidesteps Auctions in Largest Rental Trade

The private-equity firm, which has spent more than $4 billion on 24,000 rental properties in the last year making it the largest buyer in the U.S., purchased the residences from Building and Land Technology, said Marcus Ridgway, chief operating officer of Invitation Homes, Blackstone’s single- family rental division.

More:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/blacktone-buys-atlanta-homes-in-largest-bulk-rental-trade.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off