HUD announced this week that the FHA had exhausted its multifamily commitment authority for the fiscal year. They will process insurance applications received after September 16th, but can’t issue commitments until Congress provides more funds. Congress, of course, can’t even agree on a temporary resolution continuing current funding for the entire government beyond October 1st.
Another deadline is looming in March 2015. That is when the State Brownfield Tax Credit expires and it would not be a big deal now except that redeveloping brownfields takes so long that if you started today you probably could not complete the approval process in time to get the credit. ABO members can get discounted admission to a panel on What Developers Need to Know About New York State’s Brownfield Programs organized by New Partners for Community Revitalization on October 17th. Register by clicking here.
Perhaps developers won’t need any government assistance with financing if the plans for crowdfunding construction work. Prodigy Network , which raised $171 million in $20,000 increments to build a skyscraper in Bogota, Columbia is planning to raise $31 million in equity in $100,000 chunks to build a hotel here. Under new rules effective next week, implementing the 2012 federal JOBS Act, it is simpler to advertise investments that aren’t registered with the SEC. Some real estate firms are planning to solicit funds in $100 increments.
If no one cannot finance anything, there are still plenty of old buildings in New York. How old? Check out this interactive map that shows the age of every property and color codes neighborhoods by age. Zoom in for details. Some of the data is wrong due to problems with Department of Buildings Records, but this is another great example of how to manipulate newly public data sets.