Michael Bach Atlanta | Toyota rallies the troops, waves the flag

CEO headlines dealer meeting, emphasizes U.S. commitment

In an effort to dispel any doubt about how seriously Toyota takes its commitment to the U.S., CEO Akio Toyoda himself made an appearance at the brand's annual dealer meeting last week in Las Vegas.

Toyoda sought to assure the more than 4,000 attendees that the Toyota brand is meeting the demands of U.S. consumers now while also setting itself up for success in the future through its electric-vehicle and artificial intelligence units, according to a Toyota spokesman and several dealers in attendance.

Toyoda also looked to give dealers an extra dose of motivation ahead of the critical launch of the redesigned, eighth-generation Camry that's due by early fall.

Much of the focus at the national dealer meeting beyond Toyoda's remarks was on emphasizing the "American-ness" of the Camry and the automaker's vast U.S. manufacturing and research footprint.

With Toyota celebrating its 60th year in the U.S., such messaging was inevitable. But it has taken on added urgency within Toyota in the wake of President Trump's often withering criticism of automakers that import vehicles to the U.S., including from Mexico and Canada. As a candidate, he targeted Ford, and just last week he reportedly denounced German automakers.

Dealers were reminded of previously announced initiatives that Toyota sees as reaffirming its commitment to the U.S. These include an expansion of its Princeton, Ind., light-truck plant and its Toyota Connected data hub in Texas, near the company's new North American headquarters.

Yet Toyoda's pep talk was also a reflection of the troubles his company is currently facing. Toyota's U.S. sales this year are down 3.6 percent through April to 650,420 units; that decline is entirely due to slowing car sales, which have dropped 10 percent on the year.

Globally, the automaker reported that net income dropped 21 percent in the fiscal year ended March 31; Toyota expects a decline of 18 percent for the current fiscal year, which would mark the first back-to-back profit decline in more than 20 years.

Toyota has plenty riding on the success of the next-generation Camry, and made that clear to dealers in Las Vegas.

The 2018 model rides on the same modular platform as the current Prius and new C-HR subcompact crossover. Toyota plans to emphasize its sportiness as well as its popularity among Americans. It has been the best-selling car in America for the past 15 years, although it's being eclipsed within Toyota's lineup by the RAV4 compact crossover.

"With the new Camry, we think we have the opportunity to re-ignite the midsize segment," Bill Fay, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota, said in a statement to Automotive News.

Yet the Camry will face the same headwinds as all cars currently: Consumers just like crossovers better. On that score, Toyoda also underscored efforts to boost light-truck capacity and tilt the brand's mix away from cars.

In other product news:
The redesigned Camry will be the first Toyota to get Entune 3.0, a new version of the infotainment system that will include cellphone-activated features such as remote locking/unlocking and vehicle locator. V-6 models will also have an option to wirelessly update navigation systems.

Toyota is adding two new trim lines to the C-HR, which was initially planned as a single-spec Scion vehicle. Toyota will add a base LE trim and a top-end Limited trim to the current version, dubbed XLE.

The RAV4 Adventure, Tundra TRD Sport and Sequoia TRD Sport models will go on sale in September. Toyota is targeting 40,000 annual sales of the more rugged RAV4 Adventure model, 1,300 sales of the new Sequoia model and 11,500 of the new Tundra model.

Michael Bach Atlanta | U.S. Health Care Lags Rest of Developed World

A new study that looks at the effects of highly treatable diseases, ones for which greater access to continual medical care can mean the difference between life and death, finds that the American health care system lags behind much of the developed world.

Americans grumble all the time about the quality of our health-care system, but when we’re dealing with serious issues, such as injuries from an auto accident or cancer, we often count our blessings that we live in a wealthy country that has well-trained doctors with access to the latest medical technology.

Yet those factors don’t always correlate with staying alive. That’s the distressing finding from a global study of what researchers call “amenable mortality,” or deaths that theoretically could have been avoided by timely and effective medical care.

Christopher Murray, a researcher at the University of Washington, and his collaborators looked at 32 causes of death in 195 countries from 1990 to 2015 to create a health-care quality index they used for rankings. Murray described the findings as “disturbing.”

“Having a strong economy does not guarantee good health care,” he said. “Having great medical technology doesn’t, either. We know this because people are not getting the care that should be expected for diseases with established treatments.”…

As might be expected, many highly developed nations, such as Norway, Australia and Canada, scored well. Those in more-remote areas in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean scored poorly…

The United States measures well for diseases preventable by vaccines, such as diphtheria and measles, but it gets almost failing grades for nine other conditions that can lead to death. These are lower respiratory infections, neonatal disorders, non-melanoma skin cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and the adverse effects of medical treatment itself.

And yet we spend more per capita on health care than any other country. But spending more per capita when tens of millions of people lack access to affordable medical care means enormous inequality in the provision and effectiveness of that spending. I’m sure Trump would say that this is all because of Obamacare, but this has been true for decades, long before the ACA existed. And the Republican replacement plan would make it far worse, stripping coverage from nearly 30 million more people.

Michael Bach Atlanta | How Will Emerging Markets Real Estate Respond To A Rising US Interest Rate Environment?

 

Following the cataclysmic disruptions triggered by the subprime crisis, real estate markets in the US, and other major economies across the world were left in a tailspin. A prolonged economic slowdown and contracting job markets resulted in a flattening of real estate prices in major cities globally. As seen in the graph below, price movement over the past ten years has been somewhat uninspiring in some cases across North America, Europe and Asia.

Due to an extended low interest rate environment, real estate in the US and other parts of the developed world have showcased signs of recovery in recent years. However, with the recent federal rate hike in the US, the path to recovery may not be without jolts. With frequent rate hikes in the US expected in the coming quarters, the mortgage rate could be up to 5.5% by 2018 — a significant rise from the present value of 4.2% (30-year fixed).

A surge in mortgage rates will translate into a higher equated monthly installment (EMI), and hence not a very healthy sign for a recovering real estate industry. It will also increase the cost of capital for developers, which could impact the momentum of new projects.

A surge in rates will also be inimical to REITs and their borrowing bandwidth. As rates climb it could also render REITs and other dividend driven instruments less attractive, with capital potentially being reallocated to the bond market in search of better returns.

Given the fact that US federal rates are believed to be one of the most significant benchmarks in the global economic environment, the ramifications may soon be felt in other developed economies as well. The central banks of the UK, Australia, and Canada all could follow suit with rate increases in the near future.

Michael Bach Atlanta | Chinese ambassador says relationship with US is improving, and that’s good for NYC real estate

China’s ambassador to the United States said the relationship between the two countries has improved markedly since Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping met in Florida earlier this month.

“Frankly, maybe many of you were a bit concerned at the end of last year and the beginning of this year about where this relationship was going,” Cui Tiankai told the audience Monday at the International Finance & Infrastructure Forum, hosted by Bloomberg L.P. and the China General Chamber of Commerce. “I think for a while the word uncertainty dominated discussions about this relationship. But fortunately, thanks to the joint effort of so many people, things have turned for the better.”

The prospect of Trump starting a trade war with China rattled many in New York’s real estate industry, which has grown dependent on Chinese investments. “Entering into a trade war is the fastest way to get us into a recession,” Chris DeMuth, founder of the Connecticut-based investment firm Rangeley Capital told The Real Deal in January. In his early days as U.S. President, Trump repeatedly railed against China’s trade policy and vowed to brand the country a currency manipulator, but recently pulled a 180.

Tiankai took a subtle stab at Trump’s zero-sum view on trade, which holds that China has been “winning” at the expense of the U.S., countering that growth in trade “has brought tremendous benefit to people in both countries.”

“Continued strong growth of such economic and trade relations,” he said, “would certainly make both countries winners.”

Meanwhile the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Yi Gang, acknowledged that the country’s central bank is still embroiled in a “fight to control the asset bubble” in China and that “quite high” real estate prices in major cities are part of the problem.

“Although the overall picture for the Chinese economy has been fairly good and improving,” he said, “in terms of the financial system we still have some risk.”

Michael Bach Atlanta | Luxury housing marks the latest trend in stadium amenities around the country

By the time it’s completed in 2019, the new stadium complex for the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams will span almost 300 acres with free-standing concession stands encased in glass and a 50-foot-tall video board covering the length of the playing field.

Premium suites inside the 70,000-plus seat facility will include up to 20,000 club seats and loge boxes, including Lux Cabanas, a beach-themed club at field level hovering above one of the end zones.

Yet the $2.6 billion project just south of L.A. in the city of Inglewood will also include another coveted amenity for any die-hard sports fan: luxury homes.

In addition to a hotel, casino and 620,000 square feet of retail space, the new stadium complex will include Hollywood Park, a residential property development with up to 3,000 homes.

While some of the new dwellings are aimed at middle-income residents who have been increasingly squeezed by L.A.’s soaring real estate market, most will target the luxury sector with sprawling apartments overlooking the stadium outfitted with wedge hardwood flooring, sliding glass doors and soaring beamed ceilings. The project’s developers, Wilson Meany and Stockbridge Capital Group, have yet to reveal prices.

“We’re building a year-round community, not just a sports stadium,” says Gerard McCallum II, project manager for Wilson Meany who is overseeing Hollywood Park. “This will give fans and Los Angeles residents a great opportunity to be a part of the sports environment and connect with a real community.”

[High-rise luxury apartments near Nationals Park in D.C.’s Navy Yard ready for move in]

As more cities across the United States break ground on expensive new sports stadiums and arenas, some are including real estate components either directly on the complex grounds or nearby. From Atlanta to Minneapolis, Sacramento to Miami, developers are rushing to add condominiums and rental apartments to the long list of amenities available to ardent sports fans.

The move to add real estate is fueled, in part, by wanting to bolster the fan experience, but it is also an attempt to offset the soaring price tags to build new stadiums in some cities, say real estate experts.

In some cases, developers are also being pressured by city governments and local residents to add affordable housing to these massive stadium projects.

Residents have begun moving into First, a 325-unit apartment building at 1263 First St. SE in the District near Nationals Park. The mixed-use project is being developed jointly by Grosvenor Americas and McCaffery Interests and will include more than 24,000 square feet of retail space and a Residence Inn by Marriott.

Rents for the studio, one- and two-bedroom units range from $1,815 to $4,520.

The new property includes a swimming pool, a hot tub and a key selling point — stadium-style seating on the roof with views into Nationals Park.

“I can watch batting practice from my apartment. I make something to eat and go on the roof and watch the game,” said Bob Lind, 52, a software developer, who moved into First in early April.

“There’s stadium seating with a big screen,” added Lind, who also goes to the games. There’s also a “panoramic view of the city — there’s the [Washington] Monument, the [National] Cathedral, the Capitol and the Anacostia River. You see everyone partying in the bullpen — it’s pretty cool.”

After more than a decade of delays and lawsuits, a major development around Barclays Center in Brooklyn — the home of the Nets and Islanders that opened in 2012 — is finally accelerating construction of affordable housing.

[Near Nationals Park, a neighborhood of many names is emerging]

While the $1 billion arena is the centerpiece of the Pacific Park project, thousands of apartments are also being built aimed at working- and middle-class families who are shut out of a rapidly gentrifying area near downtown Brooklyn.

Nina Maluenda says being close to Barclays Center was only part of the reason she and her husband, Mehdi, moved into 461 Dean Street, one of several new towers in Brooklyn overlooking the sports complex.

Developed by Forest City Ratner Cos., the 32-story building has 363 rental units that are designated as 50 percent affordable, 50 percent market rate. “It’s nice to be so close to the sports arena, but we really liked being in the center of culture and the arts in Brooklyn,” says Maluenda, a marketing associate. “The building is right next to a lot of art and performance spaces in this part of Brooklyn, and that really appealed to us.”

But the push in Brooklyn to build affordable housing as part of a sports complex is largely an exception rather than the rule.

“Some developers see a real financial upside to adding middle- and upper-income housing to these projects,” says Selma Hepp, chief economist at San Francisco-based Pacific Union. “They are creating communities that they think will deliver financial reward in the long term.”

In Sacramento, the new state-of-the-art home of the National Basketball Association’s Kings cost nearly $600 million to build. The 17,608-seat arena opened last fall and includes 82 luxury suites and year-round access for its owners. An in-arena app also allows fans to help control the temperature in their section.

But developers of the Golden 1 Center are also set to open a 16-story mixed-use office tower including a 250-room hotel in the summer and residence on the complex grounds later this fall. The Sawyer overlooks the new arena and includes 45 condominiums with some of the highest prices in the city.

The Atlanta Braves moved into their new $672 million ballpark this season. Yet beyond the 4,000 premium seats and 18,000-square-foot hospitality club, the project at SunTrust Park also includes Home at the Battery Atlanta, three new residential communities under construction on the complex grounds.

Totaling 531 units, the three rental properties will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with amenities ranging from exclusive clubhouse access to rooftop bars and lounges with wraparound balconies with ballpark views. Developer Pollack Shores says one of the three communities, Residences, was ready Opening Day on April 14 when the Braves hosted the San Diego Padres. The other two communities, Parkside and Flats, will open in May and July, respectively. Rental prices range from $1,225 to $4,505.

“We’ve created this unique opportunity to not only tailgate from your patio but also to enjoy other qualities residents look for like walking and biking trails and easy access to major highways,” says Steven Shores, president and co-founder of Pollack Shores.

The new residential developments arrive amid another boom in stadium and arena construction around the United States. At least a dozen new professional sports complexes are under some form of development, with twice as many in the planning stages, according to the CoStar Group, an online marketplace for commercial real estate. This is on top of the dozens of professional ballparks and stadiums erected during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Despite putting up with the noise, crowds and traffic (to say nothing of losing seasons), adding residential property near or on a sports complex can add value to a home, housing data indicates.

According to real estate website Trulia, the areas around major league baseball stadiums saw home values rise 15 percent higher than the greater metropolitan areas in which they were located. While those values vary widely based on stadium location, Trulia data showed that the areas around 18 of the 29 stadiums had higher median home values compared with the cities in which they are located. Rents in those 18 neighborhoods were either higher or equal to those in the surrounding towns, Trulia says.

Homes around newer baseball stadiums — which tend to be in pricier neighborhoods — fared better, Trulia notes. Of the 14 stadiums built since 1999, only two neighborhoods — around Marlins Park in Miami and Miller Park in Milwaukee — had home values lower than the metros in which they were located.

Opened in 2008, Nationals Park in Washington is perhaps a prime example of a ballpark fueling residential development and lifting home values. Once home to one of the District’s grittier neighborhoods, the area around the ballpark is today booming with new construction, including upscale apartments, restaurants and bars.

Since 2012, more than 2,300 residential units have been added to the area around Nationals Park, and 3,727 are in the pipeline, according to RealPage, a maker of property management software. The influx of development makes the area the fifth-busiest submarket in the United States for apartment construction, RealPage says.

And the area is getting more property development. Construction is expected to begin soon in the nearby Buzzard Point neighborhood on a new D.C. United soccer stadium and two apartment projects with a combined 869 rentals and condos.

“The Nationals’ stadium has been an absolute property boon to that area,” says Michael Rankin, managing partner of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in the District. “The city hasn’t seen anything like it in decades.”

The Baltimore Orioles helped usher in the stadium-building boom in 1992 when they opened Camden Yards. But Trulia found that home values around that ballpark were 16 percent lower than the greater metro area: $211,724 near the stadium vs. $251,724 for the city.

But Seema Iyer, an assistant professor of real estate at the University of Baltimore, says the Trulia data doesn’t consider the longer view of housing around Camden Yards.

“If you look at what home prices were like in that area of Baltimore before the park was built and compare that to today, you’ll see fairly sharp housing appreciation,” Iyer says. “Camden Yards was a pretty depressed area before the park arrived, but since then it’s seen a tremendous level of commercial and retail activity, so the park literally created a housing community that didn’t exist before.”

Michael Bach Atlanta | How Two Entrepreneurs Created a New Real Estate Culture

Sam Khorramian and Oliver Graf give us their three tips on what to do when an enterprise goes south, and how you can turn your vision into a reality.

After years of honing their craft as master salesmen, Sam Khorramian and Oliver Graf have turned the business of real estate on its head by introducing a brokerage that not only lets agents keep 100 percent of their commission, but also provides 24/7 support. At Big Block Realty, the agents are the customers, and the customers are treated like family.

Clearly, this all-new business model is working! Big Block Realty has been named San Diego’s Best Real Estate Brokerage four years running. While munching on the epitome of comfort food (a tantalizing Mac ’N’ Cheeseburger) at Grub Burger Bar, Khorramian and Graf give us their three tips on what to do when an enterprise goes south, and how you can turn your vision into a reality.

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Michael Bach Atlanta | Obama talks about Israel, Syria and Trump in his final interview as president

In his final interview as U.S. president, Barack Obama touched on his sometimes controversial approaches to foreign policy in Israel, Russia and Syria, and the "unusual" transition between his administration and that of president-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking to CBS' 60 Minutes, the outgoing president reflected on his legacy and his biggest challenges during his eight years in office during the hour-long interview.
A number of Obama's policies — from health care to his contentious relationship with Israel — could be short-lived as president-elect Donald Trump becomes the 45th president later this week and vows to reverse some of those policies.

The increase of Israeli settlements has "gotten so substantial" that it is inhibiting the possibility of an "effective, contiguous Palestinian state," Obama said.
He dismissed the idea that there is a "major rupture" in the relationship between the United States and Israel after last month's decision by the U.S. to abstain from a United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements.

"Because of our investment in the region, and because we care so deeply about Israel, I think [the U.S.] has a legitimate interest in saying to a friend, 'This is a problem,"' Obama said. "It would have long-term consequences for peace and security in the region, and the United States."
Don't 'underestimate' Trump

Trump has been vocal about his disapproval of many of Obama's policies, often voicing his disagreement on Twitter. Most recently, Trump lashed out over hypothetical comments Obama made that he would beat Trump if they ran against each other in a general election.

Over the holidays, Trump accused Obama of throwing up "inflammatory" roadblocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with "total disdain."

Russia and the Syrian civil war

With that, he said he's been "disturbed" by intelligence reports about Russia hacking the U.S. election.

"I have been concerned about the degree to which, in some circles, you've seen people suggest that Vladimir Putin has more credibility than the U.S. government," he said. "You're not going to be able to make good decisions without building some relationship of trust between yourself and that community."

Obama also reflected on his approach to the civil war in Syria, as it approaches its sixth year with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced around the world. Read More...