Commercial Association of REALTORS® - CARNM New Mexico
CCIM Foundations for Success Course 10 CE Credits!
April 30 – May 1, 2015 | 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Albuquerque, NM
This two-day, case study-driven course provides agents, brokers, students, and allied professionals with an understanding of the skills, resources, and business practices that pave the way for success in commercial real estate.
On Friday, the University of New Mexico released its long-awaited request for proposals for the Innovate ABQ site.
The RFP is looking for a developer to work within the framework that the UNM regents approved last month. The school is looking to forge a long-term public-private partnership with a developer that offers a variety of services, from real estate development to marketing and financing. The developer is expected to construct the laboratory, incubation, living and retail spaces envisioned at the site.
In the RFP, the school asks that the developer would spend 90 days to determine the first steps of the development, which include finding an anchor tenant. The deadline for submissions is June 1, and UNM’s target date to notify the selected firm would be June 30.
The school will be holding a presubmittal conference on May 5 for companies that are interested.
The school released a preliminary request for information in January. In March, the regents approved the framework for the site, which was designed by Perkins + Will. That approval meant UNM has an official plan for the seven-acre site Downtown after nearly two years of working on the project. Still, it will be 10 to 20 years before it’s finished, the school said.
The RFP doesn’t say when construction is expected to start.
By: Dan Mayfield (Albuquerque Business First)
Click here to view source article.
In this March 18, 2015, photo, visitors tour an apartment at the Gibson Santa Monica, a new luxury apartment building in downtown Santa Monica, Calif. The average U.S. rent has climbed 14 percent to $1,124 since 2010, according to commercial property tracker Reis Inc. Thats four percentage points faster than inflation and more than double the rise in U.S. home prices over the same period. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
LOS ANGELES — Living in an apartment? Expect your rent to go up again.
Renting has gotten increasingly expensive over the last five years. The average U.S. rent has climbed 14 percent to $1,124 since 2010, according to commercial property tracker Reis Inc. That’s four percentage points faster than inflation, and more than double the rise in U.S. home prices over the same period.
Now, even with a surge in apartment construction, rents are projected to rise yet another 3.3 percent this year, to an average $1,161, according to Reis. While that’s slower than last year’s 3.6 percent increase, the broader upward trend isn’t going away.
“The only relief in sight is rents in the hottest markets are going to go up at a slower pace, but they’re still going to go up,” says Hessam Nadji, chief strategy officer at Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real estate services firm.
The main reason: More people than ever are apartment hunting.
Young people who have been living with their parents are increasingly finding jobs and moving out. Rising home prices are leading many long-time renters to stay put.
In addition, most of the new apartments coming on the market are aimed at affluent tenants and carry higher-than-average rents. That’s especially true in cities where new buildings are going up in urban core areas, which means builders need to recoup higher land and development costs.
Consider Denver, where rents have increased more than 5 percent a year since 2010 — 9.2 percent in 2014 — according to Marcus & Millichap. Of the 9,400 new apartment units added last year, 23 percent were in urban core areas.
Competition for apartments means renters are less likely to be able to negotiate with landlords, or win concessions such as a free month’s rent.
Here’s a closer look at why apartment dwellers will probably see rents go up for a sixth straight year.
–MORE JOBS, MORE COMPETITION
During the last recession many workers who lost their jobs moved in with relatives or took on roommates. About 32 percent of U.S. adults were living with roommates or adult family members in 2012, up from 27.4 percent in 2006, according to Zillow, an online real estate firm.
Stepped-up hiring has begun to reverse that trend. About 2.8 million more Americans have jobs than 12 months ago.
“The share of young adults with jobs has climbed in the past year, and that will help many of them move out of their parents’ homes,” says Jed Kolko, chief economist at online real estate firm Trulia. “Most of them will be renters first.”
More people vying for apartments helps drive rents higher. And metropolitan areas with faster job growth are generally seeing higher-than-average rent hikes as well.
The three metro areas with the biggest annual increase in rent in January, according to Trulia: Denver (14.2 percent), Oakland, California (12.1 percent), and San Francisco (11.6 percent).
Job growth in each of those cities also eclipsed the national growth rate of 2.3 percent over the 12 months ended in January. Employment grew 3.7 percent in Denver, 2.7 percent in Oakland and 4.5 percent in San Francisco.
–HOMEBUYING DELAYED
Traditionally, renting has been a stepping stone toward homeownership. When rents rise, tenants are motivated to buy sooner, especially when interest rates are near historic lows, as they are now.
But these days, renters are taking longer to buy. The U.S. homeownership rate ended last year at a 19-year low of 64.4 percent.
Between higher rents taking a bigger bite out of the bank account and sharply higher home prices, potential buyers are having more trouble saving for a down payment and qualifying for a mortgage.
And many millennials, or 18- to 34-year-olds, simply prefer renting.
That’s true for Alyssa Hankins, a marketing and social media strategist in Los Angeles. She moved in February to a newly opened complex where rents range from $2,325 for a studio to $5,920 for a two-bedroom unit. She wants to be able to move quickly if a job opportunity comes up.
“It’s less about affordability and more about flexibility,” says Hankins, 29.
When renters stay put, fewer apartments are available for new tenants, which in turn drives up rents.
–NEW APARTMENTS ARE PRICEY
Developers added 238,000 apartments nationwide last year, a 14-year high, with another 210,000 expected this year, according to Marcus & Millichap.
In theory, more apartment construction should help bring down rents because landlords would compete for tenants. But 80 percent of new complexes, Nadji estimates, are high-end projects aimed at renters willing to pay a premium for amenities like gourmet kitchens and concierge service.
How much of a premium? The average rent for apartments completed last year was $1,721. That’s 46 percent higher than the average apartment rent for older units, according to Marcus & Millichap and data provider MPF Research.
“There’s very little new supply being added anywhere else,” says Nadji, “so that’s why there’s so much pressure on rents and very little choice for the average renter.”
By: Alex Veiga (Albuquerque Journal)
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A high-profile push to approve a New Mexico right to work law stalled during the recent 60-day legislative session, but the issue appears likely to be back next year — both in the Roundhouse and on the 2016 campaign trail.
Business leaders and other backers of the proposed state labor law change say they intend to keep up the pressure, despite strong opposition from state labor unions.
“Nobody locally thinks this issue is dead,” said Drew Dolan, the president of a political committee formed last fall largely to advocate for passage of a right to work law. “It’s something our state can do that doesn’t cost a dime and can create more (economic) opportunities the minute it’s approved.”
The group, called Jobs for All New Mexico, drew the ire of majority Senate Democrats during the legislative session by sending out mailers in at least one senator’s district.
But Dolan, who is also the president of Titan Enterprises, an Albuquerque real estate company, said the group will continue to advocate for a right to work law. “The goal is to make it a campaign issue,” he said Friday.
All 112 New Mexico legislative seats are up for election in 2016, and many races could be expensive.
On the other side of the issue, labor union leaders say they’re bracing for another attempt at passing right to work legislation and also plan to be politically active.
“We absolutely will weigh very heavily where legislators were on basic workplace fairness issues, worker pay and benefits in deciding where we play (in next year’s elections),” said Carter Bundy, political director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in New Mexico.
He also said the push to make New Mexico the nation’s 26th state with a right to work law —Wisconsin became the 25th earlier this year — has galvanized the state’s unions, saying, “We’re united as we have not been in decades.”
This year’s most visible right to work measure cleared New Mexico’s Republican-controlled House, but was derailed in a Senate committee on March 10.
It would have meant nonunion employees — in both the private and public sectors — would not have had to pay union fees as a condition of employment. Though union membership cannot be required under federal law, such fees can be mandated under contracts in unionized workplaces.
Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Logan, who sponsored the House-approved bill, said similar legislation likely will be introduced during next year’s shorter legislative session. The governor has the authority to set the agenda for 30-day sessions.
“It’s something I believe in, and it’s something I’d be interested in doing again,” Roch told the Journal. “I think you’re definitely going to see that show up in the 30-day session.
A spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez said Friday the Republican governor “absolutely” continues to support the concept behind the bill, but is currently focused on reviewing bills passed during this year’s session.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, said any future right to work bills would have to be scrutinized, but said he believes such laws in other states have stifled worker pay levels.
“If this is a priority of the governor, I would expect it to be back,” he said.
By: Dan Boyd (Albuquerque Journal)
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