Perspective

WSJ – Tech Wealth Turns Attention to Affordable Housing in Seattle – Nour Malas 2/7

WSJ – Why Even ‘Ordinary’ Homes Sell for $500,000 Over the List Price – Nancy Keates 2/8

• “Nowhere is demand more pent up than in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the past four months, 39 homes in Silicon Valley have sold for $500,000 or more over the listing price, says Mark Wong, a real-estate broker with Alain Pinel Realtors, based in Saratoga, Calif..”
• “That figure includes a ‘lovingly cared for and well maintained home’ (read: not updated). The 53-year-old, three-bedroom, one-story house on 0.197 acre in West San Jose got 15 offers and sold to an all-cash buyer for $2.5 million—$815,000 over asking. A three-bedroom, 2,040-square-foot house in the Glen Park neighborhood sold in October for $2.6 million—nearly $1 million over its listing price of $1.675 million.”
• “Seattle is another hot spot. Over the past year, the city has seen the greatest increase in the country in the share of sales above the asking price, surging to 52% of home sales in 2017 from 20% of sales in 2012, according to Zillow.”

Worthy Insights / Opinion Pieces / Advice

NYT – One Cause of Market Turbulence: Computer-Driven Index Funds – Landon Thomas Jr. 2/9

WSJ – BlackRock’s New Ambition Is a Sign of Froth – Aaron Back 2/8

• “One can’t begrudge BlackRock for putting out its hand for a small slice of the money on offer. Even if the experiment somehow goes awry, it won’t make much of a dent in a company with $6.3 trillion of assets under management.”
• “But the sheer imbalance between the supply of investable funds and suitable outlets for investment that gave rise to this move should ring some alarm bells for investors generally. At market tops when money is desperate to find a home, it often winds up in places it shouldn’t.”

WSJ – When Investing in Stock Makes You Feel Like Throwing Up and You Do It Anyway – Jason Zweig 2/9

Markets / Economy

Bloomberg Businessweek – The Breakneck Rise of China’s Colossus of Electric-Car Batteries – Jie Ma, David Stringer, Yan Zhang, and Sohee Kim 1/31

Real Estate

WSJ – Gig Economy Grows Up as Lenders Allow Airbnb Income on Mortgage Applications – Laura Kusisto 2/8

• “Homeowners soon will be able to count income they earn from Airbnb Inc. rentals on applications for refinance loans.”
• “A new program—expected to be announced on Thursday by Airbnb, mortgage giant Fannie Mae and three big lenders—will allow anyone who has rented out property on Airbnb for a year or longer to count some or all of that money as income.”
• “The mortgages will be backed by Fannie Mae, an acknowledgment that Americans today increasingly are earning money through the ‘gig economy,’ such as renting out rooms or ride-sharing.”
• “Initially, three lenders, Quicken Loans, Citizens Bank and Better Mortgage, will participate in the program. Fannie will evaluate the initiative and could decide over time to back mortgages from any lender that chooses to count Airbnb income in a refinancing, as long as the short-term rentals aren’t against local laws.”
• “Still, the move raises worries about encouraging homeowners to borrow more based on the unpredictable tourism industry.”
• “Executives at the three lenders said one crucial difference between the housing bubble and today is technology, which makes it easy to keep track of how much income homeowners are earning from Airbnb.”

WSJ – eBay Finds Unlikely Fans in Luxury-Home Sellers – Leigh Kamping-Carder 2/8

Energy

WSJ – Venezuela’s Pain is OPEC’s Gain – Spencer Jakab 2/9

• “The cut in oil production engineered by OPEC and Russia is now in its second year, defying skeptics and helping to boost crude prices. But the cartel’s compliance owes a big debt these days to a single member: Venezuela.”
• “A founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Venezuela pumped only 1.64 million barrels a day last month, well below its 1.97 million barrel a day allocation, according to estimates by S&P Global Platts. That gap of 330,000 barrels a day is marginally more than the amount that the entire cartel is undershooting its 32.73 million barrel-a-day target.”
• “Calling even the decline so far in Venezuela’s petroleum industry historic is almost an understatement. Just last year, output was down by almost 30%. In percentage terms, that is worse than in major producing countries that broke apart and saw their economies collapse, such as the former Soviet Union, and Iraq in 2003.”

Finance

FT – Investors resume their bets against market volatility – Robin Wigglesworth and Joe Rennison 2/8

Cryptocurrency

WSJ – Bitcoin’s Plunge Weighs on Coin Offerings – Paul Vigna 2/7

Construction

Economist – Wooden skyscrapers could be the future for cities – 2/1

• Video

China

Bloomberg Businessweek – For China’s Wealthy, Singapore Is the New Hong Kong – Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Keith Zhai, and Cathy Chan 2/6

• “Hong Kong is starting to be eclipsed by Singapore as the favorite destination for the wealth of China’s rich.”
• “At stake for banks in both cities is a huge pile of money. China’s high-net-worth individuals control an estimated $5.8 trillion—almost half of it already offshore, according to consulting firm Capgemini SE. For some, the city-state of Singapore is preferable because it’s at a safer distance from any potential scrutiny from authorities in Beijing, according to interviews with several wealth managers. Multiple private banking sources in Singapore, who would not comment on the record because of the sensitivity of the subject, report seeing increased flows at the expense of Hong Kong.”
• “The rich may be feeling exposed by changing banking practices. Hong Kong has signed tax transparency agreements that for the first time last year required all banks to report their account holders’ information to Hong Kong tax officials, in preparation for giving that information to 75 jurisdictions, including mainland China. Singapore will have similar agreements with 61 jurisdictions. But they don’t include either Hong Kong or Beijing, meaning its accounts and account holders aren’t visible to the Chinese government.”
• “Overall, Hong Kong remains the primary destination for China’s offshore money, according to a Capgemini survey, followed by Singapore and New York. Yet the number of Chinese high-net-worth individuals who view Hong Kong as their preferred overseas place of investment is down to 53%, from 71% two years ago, according to a survey in July by Bain & Co. More than 20% favor Singapore, up from 15% two years ago.”
• “‘We see Singapore, not Hong Kong, as the bridgehead of China’s investment overseas,’ says Li Qinghao, co-founder of NewBanker Tech Consulting, which organized the Sentosa conference last year. About 78% of S$2.7 trillion ($1.9 trillion) in assets under management in Singapore comes from overseas sources.”

FT – Wealthy Chinese push racing pigeon prices skywards – Tom Hancock 2/8

• “An elite group of Chinese pigeon fanciers have pushed the prices of racing birds to record highs, reflecting a mood of exuberance among China’s wealthy following a pick-up in economic growth and asset prices that has buoyed luxury spending.”
• “Xing Wei, a property tycoon, paid €400,000 ($490,000) to purchase a Belgian pigeon called Nadine, in what is thought to be the largest deal on record. He followed that with a Rmb3m ($475,000) purchase of a champion bird called Extreme Speed Goddess at a Beijing auction in December.”
• “Soaring pigeon prices are matched by bigger prizes for pigeon-racing competitions. China’s premier 500km ‘Iron Eagle’ race series held by the Pioneer International club in Beijing boasts a prize pot of Rmb450m ($71.2m).” 
• “Higher property and equities prices helped the wealth of China’s 2,000 richest people increase nearly 13% last year, according the country’s top rich list. The number of people known to possess assets above $300m grew faster last year than any other in the previous decade, said Rupert Hoogewerf, the compiler of the list.”
• “After years of declines following the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping in 2012, sales of luxury goods in China grew 20% last year, according to business consultancy Bain. Art auction sales in Shanghai saw 42% growth last year, according to consultancy ArtTactic.”
• “Pigeon industry insiders say just half a dozen enthusiasts are responsible for largest sales. ‘Five years ago Rmb300-Rmb400 ($47 – $63) was a very high price for a pigeon,’ said Zhang Wangbin, who runs a club in the central city of Wuhan whose auctions this winter saw several birds sell for 10 times that amount. ‘It’s the result of economic development,’ he added.”
• “Pigeons are not the only animals to catch the eye of China’s business elite, with Japanese Koi carp prices also seeing a China effect. Kentaro Sakai, president of the Sakai Fish Farm, Japan’s biggest Koi breeder, said a single fish could sell for up to ¥42m ($380,000).”

India

Bloomberg Quint – SBI Posts Surprise Loss A Provisions Surge, Treasury Income Falls – Vishwanath Nair and Azman Usmani 2/9

• “State Bank of India Ltd. reported a quarterly loss for the first time in at least 17 years as its treasury operations turned unprofitable and provisions for bad loans increased. The public lender reported a significant divergence in bad loans from RBI’s assessment which weighed on the bottom line.”

Other Interesting Links

WSJ – Daily Shot: Number of Times a State has Hosted a Super Bowl 2/8

WSJ – CMO Today: Super Bowl Ratings Slump – Lara O’Reilly 2/6