Real Estate Sales Are Booming; Estimated to Exceed $160 Billion in 2021

FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global pandemic shattered the world order and the US economy suffered its biggest blow since the Great Depression in the second quarter. Although the housing market briefly hit a pause in spring due to uncertainty and widespread stay-home orders, 2020 was still a record-breaking year in the residential real estate market.  Despite the pandemic-induced recession, house prices in all the major markets continue to rise. According to economists and market watchers, the residential real estate sector has been highly supportive of the economic recovery of the country so far. It has emerged as a pillar of support for the economy.  Although millions were laid off or furloughed it didn't prevent house hunters from buying homes across the nation. As a result, the housing market saw the highest pace of sales growth since the height of the unprecedented housing boom in 2005.  Active Companies in the markets today include Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQFT), Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL), Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN), VORNADO REALTY TRUST (NYSE: VNO), SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG).

That expansion was driven by negligent lending in the subprime mortgage market and the current housing boom is driven by the intense demand and record-low mortgage rates.  Both of these factors were driven by the coronavirus pandemic. Housing prices had already started rising before the pandemic arrived but the pandemic created a rapid acceleration in double-digits. The housing market has seen record-breaking growth since June after briefly put on hold during the outbreak of the pandemic this spring. As prices keep climbing month-over-month, it just shows the resilience of the US housing market in the face of an ongoing economic recession.  A report from IBISWorld sad that the market size, measured by revenue, of the Real Estate Sales & Brokerage industry will reach $164.8 Billion in 2021 and expected to increase 0.7% during 2021. It said that: "The market size of the Real Estate Sales & Brokerage industry in the US increased faster than the economy overall… (and) the market size of the Real Estate Sales & Brokerage industry in the US increased faster than the Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector overall."

Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQFT) BREAKING NEWS:  Presidio Property Trust Reports 2020 Model Home Sales Activity - Presidio Property Trust, Inc, an internally managed, diversified real estate investment trust, announced today that, through its affiliated entities, it sold 46 model homes during 2020, and had eight homes for sale in escrow at year-end. 100% of the homes sold in 2020 resulted in a positive investment return. Home sold in 2020 were located in the states of Texas, Florida, Arizona, California, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The average sales price per model home sold was approximately $400,000, and the average holding period was approximately 3 years.

"Our model home business delivered solid performance in 2020," said Jack Heilbron, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We saw positive model home returns in all geographies and averaged a sale of almost one home per week throughout the year," said Heilbron. "We collected 100% of the lease payments that we billed to our homebuilder tenants in 2020, showing the strength of the purchase / leaseback model home business, even in the time of COVID. Amortizing mortgages on these properties, coupled with a 3-year holding period, further reduces our risk."

"Companies such as Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and Tesla chose to move to more business-friendly, lower-tax environments in 2020," remarked Larry Dubose, President of Dubose Advisors, which manages and operates the purchase / leaseback model home business and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Presidio Property Trust. "With a more reasonable cost of living and more affordable quality housing options, we are not surprised that the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 population estimates are that Texas had the highest population growth of any state. Having the bulk of our business in Texas and Florida, we expect the larger American population trends to translate into continued strong demand for housing in our core markets."   For more information about Presidio Property Trust please visit https://presidiopt.com/  

Other recent developments in the real estate industries include:

Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL), the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, recently announced results for its fourth quarter ended October 31, 2020.  Douglas C. Yearley, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, stated: "In these challenging times, our team delivered on all fronts in our fourth quarter, exceeding our expectations for sales, revenues, margins and earnings. I am tremendously proud of how we have adapted to a rapidly changing environment.

"We are currently experiencing the strongest housing market I have seen in my 30 years at Toll Brothers and we continue to increase prices in nearly all of our communities as we focus on driving profitability and managing growth. The strong demand began for us in mid-May and has continued through today. In our fourth quarter, net signed contracts of 3,407 homes and $2.74 billion were the highest totals for any quarter in our history, up 68% in homes and 63% in dollars compared to one year ago. In FY 2021's first six weeks ended December 6, demand has remained very strong compared to one year ago, with our non-binding reservation deposits, which are a precursor to contracts, up approximately 48%.

"We attribute the strength in demand to a number of factors, including historically low interest rates, an undersupply of new and resale homes, and a renewed appreciation for the home as a sanctuary. The work-from-home phenomenon is also enabling more buyers to live where they want rather than where their jobs previously required. And since most of our customers have a home to sell, the tight resale market gives them confidence they can sell their home quickly at an appreciated value that can then be re-invested in their new home."

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) (NYSE: LEN.B), one of the nation's leading homebuilders, recently announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share for both Class A and Class B common stock payable on February 12, 2021 to holders of record at the close of business on January 29, 2021.

It also announced that its Board of Directors authorized the Company to repurchase from time to time up to the lesser of $1 billion in value, or 25,000,000 in shares, of the Company's outstanding Class A or Class B common stock. The repurchase authorization has no expiration date. The purpose of the authorization is to enable the Company to purchase shares from time to time when its officers deem it appropriate for the Company to do so. Under a prior stock repurchase authorization, which was approved by the Board in January 2019 and was replaced by the current one, the Company repurchased 14 million shares of its Class A and Class B common stock for a total of $781 million.

VORNADO REALTY TRUST (NYSE:VNO) recently announced a dividend on its recently issued Series N Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares for the partial period of November 24, 2020 (settlement date) through December 31, 2020 of $.1348958 per share. This dividend is payable on January 4, 2021 to shareholders of record on December 15, 2020.

The company also recently announced the pricing of a public offering of $300 million perpetual 5.25% Series N Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, at a price of $25.00 per share, pursuant to an effective registration statement. The offering is expected to close November 24, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. The Company may redeem the Series N Preferred Shares at a redemption price of $25.00 per share on and after November 24, 2025. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo Securities, acted as joint book-running managers. The Company will use the net proceeds for general business purposes.

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG), Manhattan's largest office landlord, recently announced that it will release its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2020 on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 after market close.

The Company's executive management team, led by Marc Holliday, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will host a conference call and audio webcast on Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET to discuss the financial results.  Simultaneous with the earnings release, supplemental data will be made available in the Investors section of the SL Green Realty Corp. website under "Financial Reports".

SL Green Realty Corp., an S&P 500 company and Manhattan's largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of September 30, 2020, SL Green held interests in 93 buildings totaling 40.6 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 29.2 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 10.3 million square feet securing debt and preferred equity investments.

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