Author: ipgocorp

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – The Bascom Group of Irvine, California and Village Partners of Newport Beach, California announced the formation of a joint venture called Village Partners Ventures, LLC. Village Partners Ventures will target transit-oriented and mixed-use multifamily development opportunities in Southern California with plans to invest $200 million over the next four years.   

Village Partners Ventures will implement its vision utilizing a talented multi-disciplinary development team with a broad understanding of the target demographics and sub-market dynamics. Village Partners Ventures will capitalize on the region-wide shift towards expanding public transportation in Southern California, filling the current market gap in transportation-oriented multifamily development.

The new venture has under contract and is processing entitlements on a six acre transit oriented development site near the I-210 tech corridor in the San Gabriel Valley. The new venture is also negotiating to acquire a number of other sites including a smaller transit oriented development site in north Orange County.

“We are excited to be working with Bascom, whose entrepreneurial culture and successful track record of investing in value add multifamily makes them an ideal partner to help execute the business plan of acquiring, entitling, and developing multifamily sites in Southern California,” said Don Henry, Principal of Village Partners, Inc. Michael Morris, Principal of Village Partners, Inc., added “We believe the timing is right as many urban infill markets have had limited, if any, new multifamily development resulting in vacancy rates at all-time lows and escalating rental rates due to strong demand.”

(RECAP: As we head into Independence Day weekend, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced today that HU) and Veterans Affairs (V-A) will award $166,336 to the Hampton Redevelopment and Housing Authority (HRHA) to help homeless veterans find affordable and stable housing. The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines rental assistance voucher programs for homeless veterans administered by HUD with case management and clinical services provided by the V-A. The awards will assist with the administrative costs incurred while providing support services for veterans at medical centers and community-based outreach clinics, and decrease the amount of time it takes for a veteran to locate and move into a housing unit.)

(RECAP: A historic structure in Richmond’s Fan District that served as a residence, hospital, law school and office has entered its newest iteration as an apartment building. The three-story brick Columbia house — with two above-ground stories and one partially underground basement — at the northeast corner of West Grace and North Lombardy streets is now Columbia Apartments. Its first residents move in this weekend. Twenty-three of the 25 apartments are leased. One- and two-bedroom apartments in the newly renovated building range from 410 square feet to 924 square feet. Monthly rents are $749 to $1,399. Historic tax credits were used to offset the cost of renovations.)

CHICAGO, IL – Berkshire Group announced the purchase of Eight O Five N. LaSalle in Chicago, Illinois, from Smithfield Properties. The 32-story, 292-unit River North high-rise was designed by Berkelhamer Architects and completed in 2015.

Anchored by the Merchandise Mart and home to iconic architecture including Marina City and 330 N. Wabash designed by Mies van der Rohe, River North features high-end dining and retail as well as a vibrant night life scene. The neighborhood is within walking distance of the Loop and the financial district as well as Oak Street and Magnificent Mile shopping.

“It is not always easy to find a property with the quality and amenities of Eight O Five in such a desirable location,” noted Jack Dent, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Berkshire Group. “Demand in the River North area and the superior appointments of the property are ultimately why Eight O Five fits so well into our core investment strategy.”

Eight O Five is located near train and bus lines and features a rooftop outdoor pool and sundeck, parking and bicycle storage, and an outdoor dog run. Apartments feature floor-to-ceiling windows, spacious balconies and terraces, and high capacity internet connections.

Berkshire Group is a real estate investment management company primarily known for its multifamily investment and operational experience. In addition to deploying capital through equity, debt and development in the multifamily arena, Berkshire invests in opportunistic ventures in other real estate sectors through its Venture Investments group.

IRVINE, CA – CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, released its CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast data for May 2016 which shows home prices are up both year over year and month over month.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 5.9 percent in May 2016 compared with May 2015 and increased month over month by 1.3 percent in May 2016 compared with April 2016, according to the CoreLogic HPI.

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.3 percent on a year-over-year basis from May 2016 to May 2017, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase 0.8 percent from May 2016 to June 2016. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

“Housing remained an oasis of stability in May with home prices rising year over year between 5 percent and 6 percent for 22 consecutive months,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The consistently solid growth in home prices has been driven by the highest resale activity in nine years and a still-tight housing inventory.”

“Price appreciation continues to be fairly broad-based across the U.S. From a regional perspective, the Pacific Northwest continues to be the hottest area for home-price growth, with Oregon and Washington leading the way,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The recent turbulence in financial markets should lead to modestly lower mortgage rates, which will provide even more support to the steadily improving real estate recovery.”

(RECAP: Last month, Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, released a summary of “The Financial CHOICE Act,” a bill to replace the Dodd-Frank Act. The summary indicated the bill would include a series of CFPB reforms, including a change in the CFPB’s name to the “Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission,” replacement of the current single director with a bipartisan, five-member commission, funding of the commission through the appropriations process, repeal of the CFPB’s authority to prohibit consumer financial services or products it deems “abusive” and prohibit or impose conditions or limitations on the use of arbitration agreements.)

FREMONT, CA – The Bascom Group has acquired Camden Village Apartments, a 192-unit garden style apartment community located at 38000 Camden Street, Fremont, California 94536.  The $63 million sale closed on June 24, 2016 and marks Bascom’s 36th apartment acquisition in the past twelve months.  Stanford Jones, Salvatore Saglimbeni, and Philip Saglimbeni with IPA were the brokers for the sale.  Brian Eisendrath and Annie Rice with CBRE arranged the $44.7 million loan with CIT Bank N.A.

The community was built in 1966 and consists of 21 buildings, situated on 10.77 acres. Rental offerings include a range of studio through three-bedroom floor plans, with studios accounting for 5% of the total units, one-bedrooms accounting for 35%, two- and three-bedroom units accounting for 53% and 7% respectively. Common area amenities include a beautiful park-like open area, two pools, fitness center, and clubhouse. Additionally the property has five retail spaces located in an adjacent building. Bascom plans to implement a modest renovation program to update the property interiors and modernize the look of the exteriors.

Chad Sanderson, Senior Principal of Bascom, states “Camden Village is an exceptionally well-located property in one of the top East Bay submarkets.  This property offers tenants access to some of the best schools in the area, an incredible breadth of retail options, and proximity to many of the Bay Area’s top employers. Moreover, residents benefit from substantially lower rents, in Fremont, compared to many other Bay Area submarkets.”

Lee Nguyen, Senior Vice President of Bascom, comments “The property consists of a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom floorplans which appeal to both young professionals and families. Camden Village has such a low density that it has an almost park like feel with walking trails, a dog park, a diversity of natural landscaping and units with oversized patios.”

PETALUMA, CA – Sequoia announced the acquisition of Azure Condominium Rentals, a 147-unit building in Petaluma, California. This acquisition brings the company to more than 4,100 units under management in the Bay Area. The property was developed in 2007 and is comprised of 149,753 rentable square feet in five, two and three-story residential buildings.

Petaluma is located 15 minutes from Marin County and 45 minutes from San Francisco. The City’s affordability, revitalized downtown, riverfront access, and easy access to both Wine Country and the Point Reyes National Seashore provide residents with a high-quality of living. Petaluma’s combination of a commuter-friendly location and small town charm have been key in driving demand to the area. Azure’s amenities complement the local culture well; the property features condo quality finishes, a modern amenity complex, farm-to-fork garden boxes, and a dog run.

General Partner, Director of Acquisitions Pat Reilly says, “Azure presented a unique opportunity to purchase additional units adjacent to another Sequoia property, Park Central. While they are two distinct buildings, the upside for us was in consolidating the day-to-day property management operations. As a result, Azure and Park Central will operate as one.” To complete the vision, Sequoia will paint the exteriors of each building and synchronize the marketing name and signage.

The acquisition was facilitated by HFF. Sequoia will provide the day-to-day management services for the building.

(RECAP: Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, showing average fixed mortgage rates dropping to new 2016 lows in the wake of the Brexit vote. At 3.48 percent, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is only 17 basis points from its November 2012 all-time record low of 3.31 percent. Attributed to Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac. “In the wake of the Brexit vote, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond plummeted 24 basis points. The 30-year mortgage rate declined as well, but not by as much, falling 8 basis points to 3.48 percent. This week’s survey rate is the lowest since May 2013 and only 17 basis points above the all-time low recorded in November 2012. This extremely low mortgage rate should support solid home sales and refinancing volume this summer.”)

MCLEAN, VA – Baby Boomers and others aged 55 or older, including several million current homeowners, are poised to move to rental units based on estimates from the first Freddie Mac 55+ Survey of housing plans and perceptions of people born before 1961.

The Freddie Mac 55+ Survey shows an estimated 6 million homeowners and nearly as many renters prefer to move again and rent at some point. Of those that expect to move again, over 5 million indicate they are likely to rent by 2020.

Majorities of 55+ renters (79 percent) and homeowners (83 percent) who expect to rent their next home predict it will cost the same or less than their current one, according to the Freddie Mac 55+ Survey.

“When a population this large expects to move into less expensive rental housing, we have to expect it will create significant new pressure on both the supply and cost of existing affordable rental housing,” said David Brickman, executive vice president, Freddie Mac Multifamily.

Other findings from the Freddie Mac 55+ Survey found just over half of renters (51 percent) prefer renting over owning. This is especially true among existing multifamily renters (60 percent). The survey also underscores the need for additional affordable rental housing. Specifically, 47 percent of 55+ renters say they struggle from payday to payday, while 13 percent admitted they sometimes could not afford basics until their next paycheck.

Conducted by GfK on behalf of Freddie Mac, the Freddie Mac 55+ Survey is based on responses from nearly 6,000 homeowners and renters. The Survey explored other questions related to the housing preferences, retirement plans and financial concerns of Baby Boomers and those older who rent or own.

55+ Renters’ Future Housing Preferences and Predictions

When asked to predict their future housing situation, significant percentages of 55+ renters say:

They plan to rent versus buying their next home. Among those 55+ renters who plan to move again, 71 percent of respondents plan to rent their next home. For many this may be a renter-by-choice decision as 38 percent say they have enough extra money to go beyond each payday including for savings. Further, more than half (59 percent) think it makes financial sense for people their age to be renters. This view is held by 67 percent of multifamily renters.

Their top attractions are affordability, amenities. Among the top “very important” factors influencing their next move, respondents picked affordability (60 percent), amenities needed for retirement (47 percent), living in a community where they are no longer responsible for caring for the property (44 percent) and being in a walkable community (43 percent).

They don’t want to move far. Among those who plan to move again, 55+ renters would like to relocate to a different neighborhood in the same city (31 percent) or a different property in the same neighborhood (23 percent) compared to those who would like to move to a different city in the same state (18 percent) or move to a different state (24 percent).

They want family near (or in) their next home. When asked to predict their retirement housing situation nearly six out of ten 55+ renters prefer to either move closer to their families or in with them. Hispanic single-family renters (44 percent) were most likely to predict they will move closer to family, while multifamily Asian-American renters (40 percent) were most likely to predict they will move in with their children.

The Freddie Mac 55+ Survey also found significant differences between the housing predictions of 55+ers who haven’t retired and the housing choices retirees actually made. For example:

Thirty-four percent of renters predict they will live in their current home for the rest of their lives, but only 7 percent of retired renters say they currently live in the same home.

Forty-six percent of renters predict they will move closer to family in retirement, but of those already retired only 31 percent have done so.

While 12 percent of renters predict they will move in with an adult child, less than half that amount (5 percent) of those already retired are living with one of their adult children.