MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY
Businesswire | April 27, 2023
Turner Impact Capital, one of the nation’s largest real estate investment firms dedicated to social impact, has expanded its efforts to address the country’s urgent housing affordability crisis with the acquisition of its first multifamily housing community in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.
Acquisition of the 207-unit Urbana Court Apartments in Brooklyn Park, Minn., closed today as one of the final investments of Turner Multifamily Impact Fund II. The purchase enables Turner Impact to bring its innovative market-driven housing solution for low- and moderate-income families to a fast-growing Minneapolis community with convenient access to job opportunities, healthcare, and schools.
The Turner Multifamily Impact Funds have acquired, preserved, and enriched approximately $2 billion of critically-needed housing for working individuals and families located in densely populated, ethnically diverse metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. These investments represent nearly 13,000 units of workforce housing nationwide, serving residents earning up to 80% of area median income while generating strong risk-adjusted financial returns for its institutional investors. Residents include community-serving professionals such as teachers, police officers, healthcare workers and others who often earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but struggle to afford higher-cost housing located near job centers.
“As rents rise and recession concerns mount, we must ensure that working families have access to stable, affordable, and high-quality housing in major metropolitan areas,” Turner Impact CEO Bobby Turner said. “We continue to expand our housing initiatives, and Urbana Court presents an opportunity to bring our successful model to one of the most dynamic markets in the Midwest.”
Urbana Court is a newly built apartment complex with a large community center, 24-hour fitness center, pool, pickleball courts, playground, and underground heated parking. The units feature a wide range of appliances and full-size washers and dryers, and as part of Turner Impact’s sustainability initiatives, the Fund has identified ways to reduce energy and water use.
Minneapolis has the largest metropolitan economy in the region after Chicago, where Turner Impact also has significant housing investments. Brooklyn Park is located just north of the city, near the largest health-technology cluster in the country, known as medical alley, and major employers such as Medtronic, Target, and Amazon, as well as easy access to jobs in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Turner Impact’s holistic approach to workforce housing also entails enriching residents’ quality of life with demand-driven essential on-site services in education, health, safety, and other areas that help build a sense of community. These include after-school tutoring programs, exercise and nutrition classes, community watch programs, and more.
“We are excited to expand our impact to greater Minneapolis and are actively pursuing additional investments in the market,” said Gee Kim, President of Turner Impact’s Multifamily Housing Initiatives. “We welcome and look forward to opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way to the housing solution in this key part of the country.”
Housing initiatives are a core component of Turner Impact Capital’s holistic approach to social impact investing. Since 2016, Turner Impact has raised more than $650 million in equity for its first two housing funds – Turner Multifamily Impact Funds I and II – and has recently launched a third fund, Turner Multifamily Impact Fund III. The new Fund is the firm’s largest to date, targeting between $750 million and $1 billion in total commitments. The Fund has already received strong interest from both U.S. and international investors and will build on the work of its predecessor funds to preserve and enrich workforce housing through the acquisition of existing affordable rental housing at scale.
Turner Multifamily Impact Fund III will also pursue the development of new affordable housing through public-private partnerships, as well as opportunistic investments in and recapitalization of workforce housing projects resulting from market dislocations.
Turner Impact has recently accelerated its expansion by hiring Gary Rodney, a national housing leader, as Managing Director for Housing Initiatives. Rodney joined Turner Impact from Tishman Speyer, where he launched the firm’s first affordable housing platform, and earlier served as Chairman of CREA, a national syndicator of low-income housing tax credits, as well as President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
About Turner Impact Capital
Turner Impact Capital is the nation's largest private equity real estate firm exclusively dedicated to social impact. Based in Santa Monica, California, the firm focuses on creating sustainable solutions for many of today's most daunting societal problems by developing and investing in community-enriching infrastructure in densely populated, underserved communities. The firm seeks to generate superior risk-adjusted financial returns by investing in markets with large supply/demand mismatches of core community infrastructure (i.e., workforce housing, public schools, and community-serving healthcare facilities) and a lack of institutional capital. Turner Impact Capital seeks profits with a purpose. Learn more at www.turnerimpact.com or @turnerimpact on Twitter.
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MORTGAGE AND LENDING, ASSET MANAGEMENT
Businesswire | May 12, 2023
First American Data & Analytics, a leading national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions and a division of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), today announced that its industry-leading FraudGuard® fraud risk detection and decisioning tool now includes enhancements that help lenders reduce home equity lending and compliance risk, and further improve loan quality and increase efficiency. The new features include the integration of the First American Procision™ AVM suite and the additions of a senior-lien review module designed for home equity lending and a military status verification module.
“In today’s lending environment, reducing risk, improving loan quality and increasing underwriting productivity are top of mind for lenders, and our latest FraudGuard enhancements help our lender clients address those priorities,” said Paul W. Harris, general manager, mortgage analytics for First American Data & Analytics. “These enhancements add to FraudGuard’s already robust capabilities. Now, FraudGuard’s smart analytics provide an even more effective, intuitive solution for critical underwriting decisions in first mortgage and home equity lending.”
FraudGuard’s integration with the Procision AVM suite provides users access to automated property values to help expedite lending functions, such as underwriting and collateral reviews for first and second mortgages, as well as home equity lines of credit. The Procision AVM suite uses a state-of-the-art blended ensemble modeling approach to deliver an exceptional level of accuracy. First American Data & Analytics runs Procision AVM valuations on every residential property in the U.S. every day and the company also updates the underlying data that fuels the Procision AVM suite daily. An automated surveillance system constantly monitors both data and valuation quality, and performs extensive testing to validate the accuracy of the valuations produced by the Procision AVM suite for various property types in various geographic markets.
Senior-Lien Review and Military Status Modules Boost Lending and Fraud Risk Detection
Designed to support home equity lending, the senior-lien review module identifies ineligible first liens that could prevent a lender from moving forward with a second lien. For example, the new feature will alert a lender to a private mortgage originated within the last 12 months, first mortgages with negative amortization, balloon loans with a due date before the second lien, or a reverse mortgage. The module can also identify payment deferrals and loans in forbearance.
The military status module verifies an applicant’s status – active, retired or a survivor of military personnel – under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). In addition to mortgage lending, the new module can be leveraged in credit and automobile lending. Both the senior-lien review and military status modules are available as standalone API integrations.
FraudGuard is the first fraud analytics solution accessible through the latest Encompass Partner Connect™ API platform. The integration allows lenders to leverage automation to systematically trigger FraudGuard reports and analysis based on customizable business rules.
About First American Data & Analytics
First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation, is a national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions. First American maintains and curates the industry’s largest property and ownership dataset that includes more than 8 billion document images. Its major platforms and products include: DataTree®, FraudGuard®, RegsData®, First American TaxSource™ and ACI®. Find out more about how First American Data & Analytics powers the real estate, mortgage and title settlement services industries with advanced decisioning solutions at www.FirstAmDNA.com.
About First American
First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a premier provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions. With its combination of financial strength and stability built over 130 years, innovative proprietary technologies, and unmatched data assets, the company is leading the digital transformation of its industry. First American also provides data products to the title industry and other third parties; valuation products and services; mortgage subservicing; home warranty products; banking, trust and wealth management services; and other related products and services. With total revenue of $7.6 billion in 2022, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents throughout the United States and abroad. In 2023, First American was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work® and Fortune Magazine for the eighth consecutive year. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Globenewswire | May 17, 2023
HqO, the world’s leading workplace experience platform, today announced a strategic partnership with Savills, North America’s largest tenant-focused advisory firm. The partnership will enable Savills to provide its clients the ability to demonstrate the value of real estate through unique, actionable insights into connecting with and empowering employees, increasing flexibility in the workplace, and reimagining how the modern workplace enhances productivity and community.
HqO and Savills – both renowned for their steadfast commitment to advocating for occupiers across the globe, as well as for their cutting-edge technology, market data, and workplace insights – formed the alliance in an effort to best advise corporates navigating a real estate ecosystem that is currently experiencing a generational disruption.
“Savills modern and differentiated approach to translating data and market intelligence into actionable insights for occupiers across the globe, coupled with HqO’s position as a proven leader in the tenant experience space, makes this strategic alliance mutually beneficial for both parties,” said Sarah Dreyer, Executive Vice President, Information, Technology and Digital Strategy at Savills.
Due to the firms’ respective areas of expertise, the partnership will allow Savills and HqO to empirically demonstrate which layouts, amenities, and workplace programs drive employee engagement and maximize the ROI of every dollar spent on office space.
The partnership will provide granular visibility into how employees experience and interact with their workplace. In turn, corporate leaders will be able to evaluate and optimize their office performance to reimagine a modern workplace that enhances productivity, promotes community, and energizes employees.
“The last three years have radically transformed how people connect with each other and the places they work. Being able to activate those trends from users to physical real estate properties is mission-critical today,” said Chase Garbarino, Co-Founder and CEO at HqO. “Savills shares the same vision as HqO, and the overall belief that the future of the workplace will be driven by their experiences. This partnership represents the significant shift in overall mindset towards customer-centricity for the first time in the larger commercial real estate industry.”
About Savills Inc.
Savills helps organizations find the right solutions that ensure employee success. Sharply skilled and fiercely dedicated, the firm’s integrated teams of consultants and brokers are experts in better real estate. With services in tenant representation, workforce and incentives strategy, workplace strategy and occupant experience, project management, and capital markets, Savills has elevated the potential of workplaces around the corner, and around the world, for 160 years and counting. For more information, please visit Savills.us.
About HqO
HqO, ranked No. 75 on the Inc. 5000 list, is transforming how people connect with each other and the places they work. The HqO Workplace Experience Platform makes it easy for companies and commercial property teams to create modern workplaces through world-class amenities and services that allow people to thrive and produce the best results. Active in over 250 million square feet in 25 countries, 57% of the Fortune 100 rely on HqO to enhance their workplace experiences, improve employee satisfaction, and drive operational excellence.
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