Eagle Quest Properties

The Census Bureau today released the Report on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership. This data covered fourth quarter 2009.

From the release…

• National vacancy rates in the fourth quarter 2009 were 10.7 percent for rental housing and 2.7 percent for homeowner housing.
• The rental vacancy rate was higher than the fourth quarter 2008 rate 10.1 percent and not statistically different from the rate last quarter 11.1 percent.
• For homeowner vacancies, the current rate was not statistically different from the fourth quarter 2008 rate 2.9 percent or from the rate last quarter 2.6 percent.
• The homeownership rate at 67.2 percent for the current quarter was not statistically different from the fourth quarter 2008 rate 67.5 percent, but it was lower than last quarter’s rate 67.6 percent.

via Census Bureau: 130.6 Million Housing Units in the US; 18.9 Million are Vacant.

Ontario Works caseloads are growing as employment insurance benefits run out for those who were laid off earlier this year.

“We’re concerned about the fall when people who were laid off in March exhaust their employment insurance benefits,” said Pat Ranford, manager of the Ontario Works division of the Haldimand Norfolk Health and Social Services Department.

“We always anticipate an increase from October to February.”

From March to April, Statistics Canada reported a decrease of 140 people receiving EI Regular Benefits.

The Ontario Works caseload jumped 12 cases in the same time and another 20 from April to May. They’ve seen a 19 per cent increase from June 2008 to June 2009.

via Norfolk, Haldimand brace for welfare spike – Tillsonburg News – Ontario, CA.

Donna Woodman is one of the many people in Vancouver anxiously waiting for council to approve Wednesday the city’s latest effort to cope with high house prices and lack of space: the laneway house.

Like others who have expressed an interest in this new housing form – converting the garage to a home – Mrs. Woodman was considering the option at her son’s east Vancouver residence because it would solve a lot of problems for the family.

Then the economic crash added another compelling reason. In the past year, the 77-year-old retired dietitian lost a quarter of the value of her investments, where she’d put all of the profits from the sale of her White Rock condo. Now, getting an independent place to live in Vancouver for only $150,000-$200,000, where the listings for one-bedroom apartments in the cheapest parts of town start at $202,000, is becoming her only real option.

via The laneway house: A novel solution to Vancouver’s real-estate crunch – The Globe and Mail.

Personally, I think it’s more because of several reasons:

• more competition in the area…Michigan has a number of casinos now, but didn’t before
• Windsor’s downtown is dead, so less local business; nobody feels safe in downtown Windsor after dark
• a lot of people from what I understand have moved out of Windsor, looking for work
• a lot of jobs were lost because of GM and Chrysler’s bankruptcies, so less customers from both Windsor, Detroit and Flint areas
• the economy’s in the toilet, so less disposable income

I think the passport issue is just a red herring.  It’s not the real issue.  Rick Laporte just wants to blame it needlessly on George Bush Jr. because he happens to be an easy scapegoat.

More than 100 workers at Caesars Windsor were laid off Monday, and the union that represents them fears more job cuts are coming.

“We’re working with casino management … to try to save as many full-time jobs as we can. But if business doesn’t pick up, I suspect there are probably going to be more layoffs farther down the road,” said Rick Laporte, president of CAW Local 444.

All the people who received notice of their indefinite layoff worked in the casino’s food and beverage department.

Laporte said he believes the situation is the result of diminished business at Caesars Windsor because of the new U.S. passport requirement at the border.

via Caesars Windsor lays off 100 workers.

How large is Morgan Stanley’s exposure to commercial real estate? It’s very difficult to tell, actually.

As we learned during the horrors of 2008, there are so many ways for banks to hide their exposure to certain asset classes. In fact, many banks were so good at concealing their exposure that their own management had no idea what they owned.

This morning’s Wall Street Journal notes that Morgan Stanley has about $18 billion in exposure in just one unit–the institutional securities unit–to commercial real estate. Some of that might be hedged, although until we know how Morgan Stanley is hedging these risks that’s no much to go on. The days have long since passed when banks could simply announce a position was “hedged” or “hedged with CDS” and expect investors to feel reassured.

via Morgan Stanley’s Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Is The Worst On The Street.

Distress is piling up in the multifamily market, but it’s still not as bad the other real estate sectors, according to the most recent Troubled Assets Radar from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), a New York-based research firm that tracks commercial real estate.

According to the report, which measures assets in default, foreclosure, or bankruptcy, to date in 2009, 588 apartment communities, totaling $8.1 billion, fell into distress. Overall, 1,133 apartment communities, totaling $17.7 billion, were in trouble across the country.

Those numbers don’t surprise Debbie Corson, a principal at Atlanta-based Apartment Realty Advisors. “We’re getting a lot of calls and doing a lot of opinions of values for lenders, special servicers, and owners who are trying to figure out where the market is and what the value of these assets are,” she says.

via Multifamily Financial Distress Doubles – Distressed Assets – Multifamily Executive Magazine.

The debate over cap and trade is leaving a bad taste in some people’s mouths. One group says the legislation would have negative impacts on how utilities pass down savings to customers and won’t have as big an impact on reducing emissions. Another group says the rise in costs will happen whether there is cap and trade or not.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines cap and trade as “a policy tool with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply.”

via Power Engineering – Could consumers end up paying for cap and trade?.

The federal government has funnelled $300 million to train carrier CN Rail, laying the track for faster service along the congested Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor.

Benefiting the most from the expansion will be private company VIA Rail, which sees around 75 per cent of its 4.5 million passenger trips along that one line.

Passenger trains commonly have to pull aside to make way for CN freight since the company owns the 539-kilometre line; this delays trips for sometimes hours.

via Ottawa Business Journal.

Latin American real estate investors and developers are optimistic in Q3 2009

Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Chile all now have credit-grade ratings. Colombia and Argentina, although more risky, also promise long-term growth opportunities. Recent credit policy updates empowering new home buyers and increasing retail activity are credited for stabilizing the region’s real estate market and helping shelter it from the global credit crunch.

via Real Estate Investment World Latin America 2009.

Vancouver has stolen Calgary’s crown as the city with the highest net worth.

In a soon-to-be-published database that looks at how Canadians handled their wealth during the rapid change of fortunes that marred 2008, Environics Analytics exposes profound changes in the way people approach their wealth.

via reportonbusiness.com: globeinvestor.com – Vancouver ousts Calgary as Canada’s highest net worth city.