Decline in sales of new apartments, condos and 'plexes remains steady, study finds

Sales of new homes in subdivisions of 10 units or more were 26% lower this June than a year earlier -- the same level of decline as in May, the California Building Industry Association said in a monthly report.

The "New-Home Sales and Pricing Report," conducted by the association and consulting firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, reports changes in new home sales year-over-year and for consecutive months.

This June, 2,607 new homes and condominiums were sold in housing complexes tracked by Hanley Wood, based in Costa Mesa. In June 2008, the firm reported 3,528 homes sold in developments of 10 units or more.

Single-family home sales were down 38%, and sales of townhouses, duplexes and triplexes were down 16%, the report said. Sales of condominiums were up by 9%, it said.

Compared with the same period last year, the median base price of homes sold dropped 5%.

Overall home sales volume last month was about 25% lower than a year earlier, the report said.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Downtown L.A. micro-lofts for rent may be affordable, but they sure are tiny

 

The Rosslyn Lofts in downtown L.A. announced the availability of micro-loft apartments last week featuring kitchenettes, free utilities and free Internet.

Redesigned to serve the downtown workforce, the 1913 concrete-and-steel building at 451 S. Main St. was largely gutted and now has 297 rentals, 259 of which qualify as "affordable housing." Households earning between 35% and 60% of the Los Angeles area’s median income are eligible to lease the units from $484 to $832.

Now here comes the micro part: The spaces range from 200 to 325 square feet. That's smaller than a standard two-car garage.

Does small mean affordable? You tell me.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments

Photo: The building's exposed brick adds visual interest to a wall of a model unit.  Credit: Parness & Associates

L.A. apartment building foreclosures rise

How foreclosures are affecting low-income renters comes from the Associated Press story datelined Los Angeles, "Renting families forced onto street as landlords lose apartments to foreclosure," at latimes.com:

The foreclosure crisis is hitting inner-cities hard as landlords default on mortgages in record numbers and foreclosures force tenants into the street. Boarded up apartment buildings have become common on impoverished city blocks while emergency shelters are swelling with mothers with children.

"The doors are busting down with people with this problem," said Mercedes Marquez, city housing general manager. "And the wave is still coming."

More on the national and local pictures:

While the nation's default rate on apartment buildings is still relatively low, it is rising quickly. Fannie Mae, for example, said its delinquency rate was 0.30 percent at the end of last year, double what it was at the end of September, and almost four times the rate at the end of 2007.

In Los Angeles, neighborhoods in the city's low-income south and central areas are being walloped.

In 2007, buildings containing a total of 1,690 apartments were foreclosed on. In 2008, owners lost buildings containing 4,789 apartments, according to the city housing department.

That's a lot of lost rental housing.

--Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Anna Siciliano, right, closes her gate after her aunt, Maria Clemente, left, and her husband, Jose Clemente, moved their belongings into her garage in Los Angeles March 15, 2009. Clemente's daughter, Maritza Lopez, center, looks on. The couple's landlord lost their rental property in foreclosure. Credit: Jason Redmond / Associated Press

Santa Monica extends smoking ban to areas of condos, apartments

Missed this Santa Monica item reported in late January at the Argonaut:

Once again, Santa Monica has extended its far-reaching smoking ban.

At a meeting earlier this month, the Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved an ordinance amending the current anti-smoking law to regulate smoking in common areas of multi-unit residential housing.

E-mail in my inbox this week from the Washington, D.C.-based National Multi Housing Council explains what that means:

The law makes it a criminal infraction to smoke in outdoor common areas, including patios, garden and pool areas and parking lots. Victims of secondhand smoke can file a civil action in court to get an injunction or collect as much as $100 in damages. The law requires a resident to try to reach a solution with the smoker before filing a civil action, including providing written notice of the law and a written request to stop smoking in the common areas. The ordinance includes condominiums and does not grandfather smoking rights for existing rent control residents.

So Santa Monica apartment and condo dwellers, let us know how it goes.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Mel Evans / Associated Press

Senior-living apartments sold to New York landlord

FountainGlen Properties of Irvine, the largest developer of age-restricted rental housing for tenants 55 and older, has been purchased by New York developer and landlord the Clarett Group.

The acquisition is part of Clarett's strategy to expand on the West Coast, said Frank Stephan, senior managing director. Clarett will continue to operate FountainGlen's 10 apartment complexes in such Southern California cities as Pasadena, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach.

Clarett also plans to acquire and develop more FountainGlen apartment complexes, Stephan said. Terms of sale were not released. In a separate project in Hollywood, Clarett is planning a $400-million apartment development next to the Pantages Theatre. Construction may begin later this year, Stephan said.

-- Roger Vincent

Photo: The Pantages. Photo: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times