THEY COME TO AMERICA
WASHINGTON (National Association of Realtors) – Nearly one in five Realtors has sold a home to an international client in the past year, according to new research by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Among the other findings reported in the 2007 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity:
- In 2006, most international homebuyers purchased single-family homes or townhomes. Like most domestic homebuyers, they financed their purchase.
- Twenty-two percent of international buyers purchased condos or apartments, versus 12 percent of U.S. buyers.
- Twenty-eight percent of foreign buyers bought their houses with cash, compared with 8 percent of U.S. buyers.
- The median sales price of homes purchased by international buyers was $299,500, which is significantly higher than the U.S. median of $221,900 during the same period.
- Forty-seven percent of all international buyers purchased homes exclusively for vacation, while 22 percent were motivated primarily by investment.
- A third of all international buyers are from Europe, but buyers from Asia and North America (outside the United States) each represent about one-fourth of the total market. Sixteen percent of all international buyers are from Latin America. By individual country, most buyers come from Mexico (13 percent), the United Kingdom (12 percent) and Canada (11 percent).
- Twenty-six percent of sales to foreign buyers in 2006 were in Florida, while 16 percent were in California and 10 percent were in Texas. The South attracted 49 percent of international buyers last year, while the West attracted 31 percent.
US ONCOLOGY CONSOLIDATING
THE WOODLANDS (globest.com) – US Oncology signed a long-term lease that will consolidate its employees in a $35 million build-to-suit midrise at 10101 Woodloch Forest Dr.
The health care services company, employing about 800 to research and treat cancer, will move from two buildings at 16825 N. Chase Dr. in the Greenspoint area to a 200,000-square-foot, eight-story, Class-A building.
Groundbreaking on the new headquarters building will occur by year’s end with move-in scheduled for early 2009.
JUMBO INTEREST-RATE HIKE
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – Wells Fargo has raised the interest rate on big-ticket mortgages, and other lenders are following suit.
The company, one of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders, raised its interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate, non-conforming loans from 6.875 percent to 8 percent. The jump means the monthly bill for a $600,000 mortgage would hit $4,403, compared to $3,942 previously, an increase of $461.
Non-conforming loans, also known as jumbos, are loans of more than $417,000, the limit observed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Neither of the government-sponsored enterprises buys loans above that cap.
BEUCLER BUILDING NEW BRAND
FORT WORTH (globest.com) – Dallas-based Beucler Properties LP has purchased the first of three sites in North Texas to build a new Class-A brand of garden-style apartments.
Beucler will break ground next month on 19 acres at the corner of North Tarrant Parkway and Park Vista Boulevard for a 308-unit complex with the working name Park Vista Apartments.
The land was bought off-market from Lazy F. Inc. of Arlington and Quadrand North Tarrant Partners LP of Dallas. The project is funded with equity from an in-place platform with institutional partners. B&A Architects Inc. and White-Conlee Builders Ltd., both from San Antonio, will oversee design and general contracting, respectively.
Beucler is also scheduled to close by year's end on 23.5 acres for another Class-A project in south Fort Worth and will close early next year on a Class-AA development in Phillips Creek Ranch.
Each project, regardless of brand, exceeds $20 million in costs, with its Class-AA costing about $35 million on average.
NAI Huff Partners in Fort Worth along with Beucler's broker, Steelwood Property Co. in Austin, assisted in the transaction.
In Houston, the company recently broke ground at FM 1960 and I-45 on a 280-unit project with the working name Hollow Tree Apartments. Its units are scheduled to be available next May, the same time as the Park Vista project.
Beucler currently has 2,500 units built or planned. Also under construction is a Class B-plus project in San Antonio.
LEASE ROLL PROMPTS WESTCHASE PURCHASE
HOUSTON (globest.com) – Prompted partly by a 15 percent annual lease roll, Younan Properties Inc. has purchased the more than 202,000-square-foot Westchase Bank Building from a local seller.
The Los Angeles–based buyer paid $26 million for the Class-A office building at 9801 Westheimer Rd. and plans to invest $1 million more in upgrades.
Tenants of the fully leased building include URS Corp., Cumulus Media Inc. and World Cinema. According to Younan Chairman and CEO Zaya Younan, lease rates are, on average, 25 percent below the market, which is $28.92 per square foot in Westchase.
Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. represented the seller of record, 9801 Westchase Ltd. of Houston. Younan will manage the 25-year-old asset, and PM Realty of Houston will handle leasing.
TWO FOREST PLAZA UPGRADE PLANNED
DALLAS (globest.com) – Parmenter Realty Partners has purchased the 11-story Two Forest Plaza office building from CMD Realty Investors Inc. of Chicago.
Transwestern will manage the more than 196,000-square-foot, 64 percent leased building at 12201 Merit Dr.
The Miami-based buyer secured a $19.7 million loan to buy and upgrade the Class-B property. CB Richard Ellis/Melody's South Florida office and CBRE's institutional group arranged the financing through Paris-based Societe General.
TEMPLE INLAND'S TIMBER SOLD
AUSTIN (Business Wire) – Temple-Inland Inc. has sold more than 1.5 million acres of timberland to an affiliate of the Campbell Group for almost $2.4 billion.
Just over 1.1 million acres are in East Texas, with the balance in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia.
The net cash proceeds are anticipated to be approximately $1.8 billion. Temple expects to pay a special dividend, currently estimated at $1.1 billion, or $10.25 per share, to its common stockholders.
The transaction includes a 20-year fiber supply agreement for pulpwood and a 12-year fiber supply agreement for sawtimber. The Campbell Group and its investors have also agreed to continue Temple-Inland's conservation standards and focus on environmental stewardship.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. were financial advisors and Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan LLP were legal advisors to Temple-Inland during the transaction.
Legal advisors for The Campbell Group LLC, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, were Morrison & Foerster LLP and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
CLASS-B BALCONES SOLD
AUSTIN (globest.com) – A Los Angeles-based investment group has purchased the 312-unit Balcones Club Apartments from Equity Residential Properties Trust.
The buyer plans to renovate the 23-year-old, Class-B complex that sits on nearly 13 acres at 9218 Balcones Club Dr. It includes a mix of one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 464 to 1,150 square feet. Monthly rents range from $506 to $859.
Apartment Realty Advisors represented the Chicago-based seller.
BUSINESS CENTERS SOLD
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – GE Real Estate has sold two business parks totaling more than 18.5 acres to a Los Angeles–based investor.
Sentinel Business Center and Blossom Business Center were owned by the Connecticut-based company through Watch Omega Holdings LP, according to state and county records.
The more than 328,000-square-foot, 31-year-old office/warehouse Sentinel Business Center is on Starcrest Drive near Jones Maltsberger Road. Thirty-six tenants occupy the 99 percent leased, six-building complex, according to GMH Capital Partners. Tax rolls appraise the complex at $6.3 million.
Blossom Business Center, near Wetmore Road and Broadway, is appraised on the tax rolls at more than $3 million. It was built in 1983 and totals more than 137,000 square feet in two buildings. At sale time, it was 96 percent leased to 27 tenants, according to GMH.
GMH, a Pennsylvania-based real estate company, represented the seller.
CONCHO RIVER TRIFECTA
SAN ANGELO (San Angelo Standard-Times) – The city’s capital improvements program includes several projects along the North Concho River. One is nearing completion, one is underway and a third is in the bidding phase.
- The $1.4 million El Paseo de Santa Angela extension, which connects the original section of the Paseo with Celebration Bridge, is nearing completion. The project includes a series of waterways and pathways between the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and the Bill Aylor Sr. Memorial RiverStage. The project’s dedication ceremony will take place this fall.
- The $200,000 renovation of San Angelo’s city park should be completed by spring. Improvements to the park, which dates back to 1903, include a Victorian-style pavilion, a new playground, walkways and adult fitness stations.
- The $5 million Rio Concho Sports Complex and Community Park is in the bidding phase. Among the park’s plans are 12 lighted multipurpose fields, two lighted little league fields and a tee-ball field. Construction could begin by the end of the summer.
NEW HOME STARTS LEVELING
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – According to Metrostudy’s second-quarter report, the 3,890 single-family home construction starts from April through June of this year represented a 27.4 percent decline from the same time last year.
For the 12 months ending June 2006, there were 18,861 single-family starts. For the same period ending in June, construction started on 16,382 homes, a 13.1 percent decline.
However, for the past three consecutive quarters, the number of new-home closings (3,991) has outpaced the number of new-home starts, Metrostudy reports.
"Artificial demand stimulated by speculator investors and lax subprime lending standards during much of 2005 and all of 2006 caused the market to appear bigger than it was, and it was ultimately oversupplied," said Jack Inselmann, vice president of the U.S. Central Division of Houston-based Metrostudy.
There is now a 2.2-month supply of new home inventory (3,106) compared to the 1.5-month inventory (1,974) supply at the same time last year. The supply-demand level is more or less at equilibrium when there is about a 1.7-month supply of inventory, Inselmann says.
EXEL RENEWS
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Exel has renewed its almost 104,000-square-foot lease of the building at 8501 North Loop East.
Holt Lunsford Commercial represented the landlord, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. Samuel H. Brown Inc. represented Exel.
TEED UP AT PORT A
MUSTANG ISLAND (Kemper Sports) – The 18-hole Newport Dunes, an Arnold Palmer Signature Course, is scheduled to open next spring.
The course, designed by the Arnold Palmer Design Company, is part of the first phase of the emerging 1,800-acre Newport Beach resort community being developed by Texas Gulf & Harbor Ltd. The development will eventually include residential villages, hotels and a marina.
Illinois-based golf management and development company KemperSports will operate Newport Dunes.
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