Month: July 2020

(iStock) Mortgages in forbearance fell for the fourth consecutive week as many Americans returned to work after being furloughed or laid off. Home loans in forbearance made up 8.18 percent of servicers’ portfolios for the week ending July 5, according to figures released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. That’s down from 8.39 percent for…

Osei Van Horne and (inset) Jamie Hodari Flex-office startup Industrious is beefing up its board, the company’s latest step toward a potential public offering. The New York-based startup said it added Osei Van Horne, a managing director at Wells Fargo, as its first Black board member. Van Horne, an alum of Goldman Sachs, co-founded Wells…

Gov. Gavin Newsom (Credit: Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images) California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reclosing part of the state’s economy as reported coronavirus cases surge. The governor announced at a news conference Monday that he was not turning off the economy but putting on a “dimmer switch” including banning dine-in at restaurants…

(iStock) Churches, whose already declining attendance plummeted during the pandemic, are now looking to development for extra cash. Places of worship are offering up their excess land to developers, Bloomberg reported. The prospect is a particular draw for institutions looking to combat homelessness. Before the coronavirus hit, more than 550,000 people were homeless in the…

Matthew Perry and the apartment (Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images and Compass) Los Angeles luxury brokers like to say the coronavirus has created pent-up demand in the local market, but not at the prices sellers are asking. That may have been the case for “Friends” star Matthew Perry, who just slashed the asking price on his…

Marcelo Claure (Getty, iStock) WeWork’s business model may have been called into question by the coronavirus pandemic, but its executive chairman says the company is now near profitability. The flexible-office startup, founded in 2010, is now on track for positive cash flows by the end of 2021, Marcelo Claure told the Financial Times. In fact,…

Eric Samek Seizing on potential opportunities in a distressed real estate market, Brasa Capital Management has closed a $100 million credit vehicle for value-add acquisitions and developments, mostly in Southern California. The vehicle, which will provide debt and equity on multifamily, industrial, office and retail properties, is a first of its kind for the Century…

The custom-built home (Credit: WSJ) Got $49 million to spare, love Aspen, but sick of all that altitude sickness? There’s a solution for you. A custom-built, 15,000-square-foot mansion in the chic Colorado ski town has hit the market for $49 million and it’s got quite a suite of luxe amenities, according to the Wall Street…

Hong Kong Foreign companies are vacating Hong Kong offices at a blistering pace. Multinational companies vacated 61 percent of the 577,000 square feet of office space that was vacated in the second quarter, according to Bloomberg. That’s compared to a 47 percent share of surrenders in the first quarter. Total surrenders jumped 55 percent from…

Lisbon, Portugal (Unsplash) The city of Lisbon launched a program this spring to get vacant short-term rental units back onto the long-term rental market, and landlords appear to be taking them up on it. The Portuguese capital is encouraging landlords to rent long-term by essentially taking on all of the risk of being a landlord…