Bridgewater Associates, the second biggest manager of hedge fund assets in the world, says there's no real estate bubble, and any price corrections in the housing market will have little impact on the overall U.S. economy.
The average institution of higher education endowment earned 9 percent overall on its investments in 2005, but its real estate investments did much better, according to analysts. Endowments larger than $1 billion earned a whopping 36 percent on investments in public real estate. Smaller endowments made less, but still reported an average 27 percent on investments in public real estate. Despite the stellar numbers, the overall allocation to real estate remains small -- 3 percent of all endowments. But with a total of $299 billion endowment money under investment, 3 percent represents a hefty $9.3 billion invested in real estate. Of 108 institutions of higher education reporting investments in real estate, seven have bought properties outright, 27 invested through REITs, and the remaining 74 used private real estate equity funds.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners announced their support for the National Flood Insurance Program as a self-supporting program, but insurers continue to criticize an amendment that would require a government investigation into how they decide if damage is caused by wind or water.
Deed forgery is a problem in Florida because no state law requires county recorders to verify each document's authenticity. Homes that are vacant or behind in taxes are the most vulnerable to deed forgery, since the owner is not as likely to notice that someone illegally took ownership.
Banks have changed their focus to commercial loans as residential sales drop, and many offer good deals. Outstanding commercial and industrial loans grew by a record $21 billion in early August, up about 15 percent from a year earlier.
When Colbert Coldwell founded what would become Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., the average price of a new home was $2,400. The extra room most in demand at the time was a sewing room. Typical annual family income: $486. The year was 1906, and this year Coldwell Banker is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Colbert Coldwell was 23 years old when he launched his business, helping to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake by attracting companies and families through his pioneering real estate business. Benjamin Banker later became his partner. Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate is now part of NRT Inc., the largest U.S. real estate brokerage, with more than 1,000 offices and 64,000 sales associates in more than 35 major metro areas. In Central Florida, it has more than 20 offices and 800 associates.
Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies reports a small drop in the nation's overall homeownership rate to 69.8 percent in 2005. But while minority homeownership rates continue to trail the white homeownership rate, the center's report shows a jump of close to 10 percentage points in Hispanic and Asian-American homeownership from 1995 to 2005. Immigrants could bolster the U.S. housing market; but Nicholas Retsinas, the center's director, says differences in the way mortgages are obtained in other countries need to be considered. If lenders are to remain profitable, Retsinas says they must "find a better way to connect with these markets, because as interest rates go up, they're going to have to find a way to help people buy homes, and the people who need homes are immigrants." Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear to recognize the potential trend, with the former hoping to demonstrate to lenders how the $40 billion that Hispanic immigrants return to family members in their home countries each year reflects their fiscal responsibility and ability to handle mortgage payments.
