It is of course important to keep up to date with the economic news from Western New York and Detroit. This helps not only to see where upstate New York is fairing in the midst of a global recession, but also forms part of the due diligence process that is essential in forming the decision of whether YOU believe this part of the USA housing market is financially viable.
The answer to that is categorically YES, and this area still represents the hottest place on the planet to find low cost property investments with 40%+ yields, but you can't just take my word for it, can you??
I have some headlines below that have been in the financial news from Summer 2008 to the present date, summer 2010. If you wish to read the full articles on any story headlined below, contact us at martin.b@dollarpropertyinvestment.co.uk These are independantly sourced by professional news agencies in the USA.
It makes for interesting reading, let me tell you. With all the depressing news from the UK and of course globally, it is refreshing to read about good news in the property investment business!
- Big Business Buffalo
- Buffalo Area Tops for Job Growth!
- Buffalo Business First- comments on US recession
- Buffalo fares better than most on jobs
- Buffalo Housing market amongst USA best- January 2009
- Buffalo on upswing for internet job ads
- Buffalo commercial property news is good
- Buffalo foreclosures- bargain hunter frenzy
- Buffalo Harbour news
- Buffalo house prices up!
- Buffalo job growth defies national trend
- Buffalo has top hotel occupancy rates
- Real Estate transactions remain high in Erie County
- Buffalo is Tourist hotspot for 2009
- Construction activity UP in Western New York
- Deal done for Niagara Falls Ethanol Plant
- Key bank shifts jobs to Buffalo site- Jan 2009
- List of Buffalo building projects, past, planned and in progress
Buffalo Mayor Brown recently addressed the City on the current USA economic climate and how Buffalo was fairing.. The following text passage from him can be found at Buffalo Buisness First, or on the Buffalo City Official Website. 30th January 2009!
Upbeat Brown updates Buffalo (Business First of Buffalo - by James Fink )
Offering a checklist of accomplishments, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown delivered a “State of the City” address that offered a sneak preview of his anticipated bid to seek re-election this fall.
He is expected to announce his intentions to seek re-election soon, sources said.
Brown, throughout his 25-minute speech, alternately sounded mayoral and, at times, like a candidate for a second four-year term. A crowd of more than 1,100 people listened to his speech, delivered Thursday afternoon at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
Brown used a “safer, stronger and smarter” city as the backdrop for his annual address.
The mayor acknowledged the global recession is having its impact on Buffalo with federal and state cutbacks looming in the background, a growing unemployment rate and general economic concerns.
Still, Brown remains upbeat.
“I am confident we are moving in the right direction, despite the statewide and national challenges we face,” he said. “I believe Buffalo is in a good position to withstand the current crisis and is ready for further investment and development.”
Brown said he, in conjunction both private- and public-sector leaders, is working on a blueprint for “investment and job growth for our region.”
Two weeks ago, he and Erie County Executive Chris Collins delivered a wish list of projects they hope to fund with President Obama’s federal bailout plan. Their total package covers $1.9 billion worth of projects including $622 million in Buffalo.
The Buffalo projects could produce more than 14,000 new or spin-off jobs, Brown said.
Brown said even with the slow economy, Buffalo has $4.3 billion worth of public- and private sector-driven projects in its economic development pipeline. That includes Uniland Development Co.’s $85 million Avant building on Delaware Avenue and the $380 million Canal Side project being coordinated by the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp.
In the past few months, the $33 million Burchfield-Penney Art Center opened on Elmwood Avenue and the Buffalo Zoo welcomed its $16 million M&T Bank Rainforest Exhibit.
“Positive change continues to occur in the city,” Brown said.
“Changing the rules of the Empire Zone retroactively is bad for business and bad for Buffalo,” Brown said.
Brown used a significant portion of his speech to highlight how Buffalo’s crime rate has dropped, including a 50 percent decrease in homicides and a 24 percent drop in arsons.
Brown also focused on a wide range of projects that have aided all city neighborhoods, from assistance to Gigi’s restaurant on the East Side to aid to the struggling Broadway Market to demolishing 1,692 vacant and dilapidated properties.
Brown further pledged to revamp Buffalo’s out-of-date zoning regulations and announced a partnership with Computer Task Group that will see the creation of national center for electronic records and health infomatics as part of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
“I think the mayor set the right tone,” said Jonathan Dandes, Rich Baseball Operations president. “You can’t argue with the projects he has announced.”
The mayor noted that Buffalo, while still under the eyes of state-imposed fiscal stability authority, has a fund balance of $133 million and a $30.2 million “rainy-day fund.“ Wall Street has also increased Buffalo’s bond rating. Brown took time in his speech to urge the many state lawmakers who attended the gathering to prevent Gov. David Paterson from instituting changes to the Empire Zone program, which has been widely credited for aiding projects in downtown Buffalo — but criticized elsewhere in the state. Buffalo Place Inc. is hosting a summit next week to further lobby lawmakers about protecting the program.
**************************************************MARCH 2009*************************************************************
NY consumers more confident
Business First of Buffalo
Consumers in most areas of New York state see better days ahead — Buffalo included — according to the Siena Research Institute.
The first-quarter report released Wednesday shows an upturn in overall consumer confidence in eight of nine metropolitan areas. Buffalo, up 4.3 points compared to a year ago, had the third-best improvement.
At 63.4, the New York City region had the highest overall consumer confidence of the nine regions. SRI said “current” confidence increased in seven of nine regions while “future” confidence increased in all nine regions, which also include Syracuse, Binghamton, Mid Hudson, Utica, Albany, Long Island.
“Consumers have taken a deep breath and stepped back from the economic cliff,” said Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, SRI Founding Director. “After hitting historic lows last fall amidst chaos in the financial sector, bailout burnout and concern over layoffs and business closings, consumers today feel more optimistic but hardly bullish. Confidence is up and now moving in a more hopeful direction, but consumers newly programmed to practice caution are hardly ready to storm the mall or the car lot.”
The intent of the consumer confidence index is to measure peoples’ willingness to spend, as opposed to their ability to spend.
SRI has been following quarterly consumer confidence trends by metropolitan area since the 4th quarter of 2001.
$120M to be released for Upstate
Business First of Buffalo - by Adam Sichko The Albany Business Review
April 2009
The state will soon release $120 million in unused development funds targeted for Upstate, the head of the state’s economic agency said.
Marisa Lago, president and CEO of Empire State Development Corp., said more details will announced as well as criteria for receiving the funding “within a few weeks.” She was not more specific than that.
The funding was included in the state’s 2008-09 budget, but it was never spent. Last week, the Democratic senators from upstate—including Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Albany — asked Gov. David Paterson to release the funding.
“We should be able to move this revenue quickly. The immediate release of the $120 million would mean more jobs, infrastructure upgrades and investment for the future,” Sen. William Stachowski, D-Buffalo, said in a statement.
“Our goal is to be able to give businesses what they need to succeed: the ability to reinvest in New York and to relocate here from other states,” Stachowski added.
Stachowski is one of five upstate Democratic senators. The other 27 Democrats in the state Senate represent downstate districts.
Upstate municipalities can apply for the funding for two purposes:
• spurring private-sector construction or infrastructure developments, and the creation of business parks;
• funding “signature” or “revitalizing” real estate projects in downtowns or business districts.
“With the economy, projects that were once feasible in the private sector may no longer be,” Lago told a state Senate committee. “We should be able to fill the gap on many projects that haven’t gotten over the finish line.”
Buffalo bond rating keeps rising!!!!!!
Business First of Buffalo- June 2009
The city of Buffalo’s bond rating has been upgraded by Standard & Poor’s — to ‘A-’ from ‘BBB+’ — the highest level in nearly three decades.
The comptroller’s office received the news June 22, marking the fourth upgrade in the last two-and-a-half years.
“And by far, the most significant,” said Comptroller Andrew SanFilippo, who credited both the office of mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council for their budget monitoring efforts.
S & P cited stronger management controls as well as the work of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, the state-appointed control board.
At the conclusion of the 2007-08 budget year, Buffalo had a fund balance of $133.3 million.
BUFFALO HOMES SALES REBOUND IN PAST MONTH- DECEMBER 2009
December 2009 house sales in Buffalo and Rochester jumped 16% and pulled median prices up by 7% compared to the same month a year ago. The number of completed transactions was 830, up from 714 year on year, according to the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors.
The double digit hike follows a month of declining sales and the total dollar volume was up 2% for the month to $90.88 million from 89.23 million.
Rochester ranked second in a recent poll (jan 2010) conducted in Western New York for salary increases and this is attributed to the healthy diversity of jobs both in the professional and commercial sectors. This is excellent news as with more bucks in their pockets Rochester citizens will undoubtedly have the confidence to spend more.