Bubble Wrap: May 2008

Better rates for bigger mortgages in North Jersey

According the The Bergen Record rates on Jumbo loans have seen a small decrease as a result of the new government package allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase or guarantee loans of up to $729,750, but it is largely seen as not enough.

“I am disappointed,” Frank said in a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association in early May. “We fought very hard to raise the loan limits for Fannie and Freddie, and there have been a lot of problems in implementation.”

This lifting of the cap on jumbo loans is temporary: It’s set to expire at the end of 2008, but Congress is considering making it permanent.

Great Views, Priceless.

Josh Barbanel at the Times sums up the current frenzy at 15 Central Park West

Michel Madie, who runs an independent brokerage company in Manhattan, says the building is still in its infancy, having opened only last summer, which makes pricing something of a guessing game. “It is still at birth,” he said, “and it is difficult to assess where the price will settle” once the “cocoon of services” at the building is completed.

Mr. Madie is asking $21 million for a three-bedroom on the 36th floor with more than 2,700 square feet of space and park views, or about $7,600 a square foot, which would make it one of the most expensive apartments per square foot ever sold.

Nouvel Tower Gets the Nod Of City’s Landmarks Panel

Jean Nouvel’s masterpiece was recently resurrected with the approval of air right transfers according to The Sun

The landmarks commissioners yesterday unanimously approved the transfer of development rights from two landmarks on Fifth Avenue, the University Club and St. Thomas Church, to a site near Sixth Avenue formerly owned by MoMA, more than 500 feet to the west, where the new tower is scheduled to rise.

A break for Bergen sellers

According to The Bergen Record, Bergen County prices are holding up better than other areas of the country although foreclosures and inventory are up, causing property value to come back to 2005 levels.

Median home prices dropped 2.4 percent in Bergen County and 8.1 percent in Passaic in the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago. That compares with a nationwide drop of 7.7 percent, according to price data released Tuesday.

“You’re getting better value for new construction than for resales,” Somerville said. “Builders have no choice but to sell. They’re sitting on inventory they can’t afford to keep.”

State Officials Predict a Deep Recession

The NYTimes reports on government concerns about the slipping economy and implications it might have on the state budget.

Job growth in the state is expected merely to stagnate next year. The downturn appears far worse nationally than previously projected, with more than $200 billion in write-offs so far through April at major financial firms and 63,000 layoffs in the financial and insurance sectors. On Wall Street, which supplies one-fifth of the state’s tax revenue, bonuses are now expected to be down 11 percent this fiscal year, after a small decline last year and a 25 percent increase the year before.