Spike in mortgage approvals at the end of 2019

PropertyWire | January 17, 2020

There was a spike in mortgage approvals in December, e.surv’s market monitor found. There were 66,253 residential mortgages approved during the final month of 2019 (seasonally adjusted), a jump of 1.9% from November’s total and an increase of 2.7% when compared to the same month last year. The clear general election result, combined with competitive mortgage rates, are likely to be behind the spike. Richard Sexton, director at e.surv, said: “There have been ups and downs over the course of the year but 2019 ended on a positive note for the UK mortgage market. December’s decisive election result does seem to have put an end to the atmosphere of uncertainty which has dominated the property market this year. With more certainty on the future, it appears that many new buyers and existing homeowners have chosen to enter the market, leading to a spike in approvals in December.”

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Zenerate, Innovative AI Startup, Partners with SoLa Impact to Automate Affordable/Modular Housing Developments

PRnewswire | August 16, 2023

Zenerate ,an innovative AI startup in the Proptech space, has entered into a strategic partnership with SoLa Impact ,the leading private real estate developer of affordable housing in California. Zenerate has developed a powerful platform that employs generative design, artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to optimize the feasibility analysis process for real estate projects, reducing turnaround time and maximizing development returns. In a groundbreaking move to revolutionize the affordable housing sector, SoLa Impact has partnered with Zenerate, to streamline and automate the feasibility analysis process for their affordable and modular housing developments. The collaboration brings cutting-edge AI technology to the modular construction industry and dramatically accelerates the speed of planning, configuration, design, and the permit approval process for a wide range of SoLa's affording housing projects. SoLa Impact has been at the forefront of addressing the affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles over the last decade, consistently demonstrating its commitment to creating sustainable, community-focused housing solutions. SoLa currently has over 35 projects with almost 3,000 units at various stages of construction, the majority of which are dedicated to affordable housing. With the increasing demand in the affordable segment, the need for swift and accurate feasibility, configuration, and design analysis has become paramount in the real estate development landscape. Martin Muoto, the Founder and CEO of SoLa Impact, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, "We are thrilled to collaborate with Zenerate in our mission to dramatically scale the development and delivery of high-quality affordable housing in California. By leveraging Zenerate's cutting-edge technology combined with our proprietary standardization processes, we can bring significantly more units to market more cost-effectively and more quickly, with the vast majority of our projects to house people that are currently homeless and living in tents. Equally important, these are units that are an order-of-magnitude more energy efficient than the aging housing stock they are replacing. All units are fully electric, use water-efficient fixtures, and have ENERGY STAR-certified appliances, dramatically reducing GHG emissions while providing cost savings to California's low-income Black and brown communities." The integration of Zenerate's software into SoLa Impact's modular operations will facilitate data-driven decision-making, allowing for a more efficient and comprehensive evaluation of potential development sites, construction costs, and market demand. By automating the feasibility and design analysis, SoLa Impact's team will be able to evaluate more sites, repurpose vacant and sub-optimized locations, and build for maximum density and affordability. The Co-Founder and CEO of Zenerate, Benji Shin, echoed Muoto's sentiments, emphasizing Zenerate's commitment to providing housing more quickly and affordably by leveraging Artificial Intelligence, particularly expert systems for code compliance and machine learning for rapid massing, configuration, and design. "We are thrilled to partner with SoLa Impact, whose deep commitment to creating sustainable, scalable, and affordable housing aligns perfectly with our mission. By automating key parts of the feasibility, configuration, and eventually, the permitting process, we aim to enable developers to run thousands of financial and design scenarios instantly, ultimately contributing to the advancement of affordable housing initiatives." The innovative approach undertaken by SoLa Impact and Zenerate is expected to have a significant impact on the speed and scale of affordable housing development in California, starting in Los Angeles – the largest affordable housing market in the United States with the most acute homeless problem – and then expanding to other local municipalities, and eventually, other states. About SoLa Impact SoLa Impact is a family of real estate funds with a double bottom line strategy focused on preserving, rehabbing, and building high-quality affordable housing in low- and moderate-income communities. SoLa's proven track record leverages data-driven social impact strategies to deliver superior financial returns. SoLa Impact's fourth fund, the Black Impact Fund, has invested $1 billion in affordable housing in Southern California. SoLa Impact was ranked as the 7th fastest-growing minority-led private company by Inc. 500 and was awarded the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Emerging Manager ESG Award for SoLa's demonstrated ability to deliver on its commitment to positive changes in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. AboutZenerate Zenerate, a member company of Born2Gl obal Centre, is a venture-backed innovative AI startup in the real estate development space, providing consulting services and web-based products for feasibility studies; Z-maps is a real estate development map that weekly updates all the latest projects in Southern California, and Zenerate App is a design automation tool that generates development scenarios with floor plans in real time for feasibility studies.

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GoldOller Real Estate Expands Management Relationship with Excelsa Properties

PRnewswire | August 07, 2023

GoldOller Real Estate Investments, a real estate investment and management firm, announces the addition of Tribeca at Camp Springs in Camp Springs and Concord Park at Russett, both in Maryland, to its growing portfolio of third-party managed communities. "We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Excelsa Properties," said GoldOller President and COO Jake Hollinger. "We bring an owner mentality to all of our projects, and this approach to our third-party management projects is why owners and investors like Excelsa trust us to manage their assets." Tribeca at Camp Springs features 235 rental apartments, 46 condo units, and five retail spaces. The community is ideally located adjacent to the Branch Avenue Metro Station and minutes from Joint Base Andrews in the Washington, DC metro area. Concord Park at Russett is located in Laurel and consists of 335 apartments. Located minutes from the NSA offices, Fort Meade, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Concord Park is halfway between Baltimore and Washington. "These communities represent the third and fourth assets owned by Excelsa that we are managing for them, and we look forward to experiencing continued success in our partnership," said Sarah Campion, Vice President of Asset Management for GoldOller. In addition to Tribeca at Camp Springs, the GoldOller and Excelsa partnership includes Columbia Pointe, a 325-unit community in Columbia, MD, and Coventry Green, a 256-unit community in Goose Creek, SC. All four projects will include a value-add business plan for interior apartment renovations and upgrades to community amenities. "Excelsa has an appetite for more deals," said Excelsa Director of Asset Management Curtis Holder. "We are actively pursuing investment opportunities and look forward to growing our portfolio of value-add apartment communities." About GoldOller Real Estate Investments Formed in 2008 by industry veterans Richard Oller, Jeffery Goldstein, and Jake Hollinger, GoldOller is an innovative owner-operator and third-party manager of apartment communities throughout the United States. Ranked #35 in the National Multifamily Housing Council's list of Top 50 Managers, GoldOller and its affiliate Multifamily Management Services own and manage over 45,500 apartments in 23 States.

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Real Estate Technology, Real Estate Investment

Covius Announces New Digital Home Equity Title Solution With Pre-Screening Component for Banks and Credit Unions

PRnewswire | July 12, 2023

Covius, a leading provider of technology-enabled solutions to the financial services industry, announced today that its Settlement Services division has introduced a new home equity decisioning solution that significantly accelerates the origination process and gives lenders early insight into property and/or borrower issues that could expedite or delay decisions. The Covius Home Equity Solution will allow bank and credit union clients to offer a streamlined origination experience to their home equity customers. For example, title and tax reports that used to take 3 or more days are now delivered in hours on a majority of loans, enabling closings to occur in as fast as 5 days, as opposed to the industry average of 20-plus days. The new solution also features Covius Loanscape, a separate point-of-sale component for lenders that provides critical property and consumer insights in fewer than 45 seconds. This report reveals title, valuation and credit information that enhances a lender's loan origination workflow, coupled with expedited decisioning and abbreviated closing timelines. The Covius Home Equity Solution is fueled by Flueid's leading title data and decisioning platform, Flueid Decision, as an expansion of the companies' integration announced in February 2023. Joe Chappell, Executive Vice President of Operations at Covius, said, "The demand for home equity products is extremely strong, but the competition for this business is intense. Our new solution[s] enable clients to differentiate themselves by delivering a modern, streamlined customer experience, beginning at point-of-sale and continuing throughout the underwriting and closing processes. "In seconds, Covius Loanscape allows lenders to determine if the loan qualifies for an expedited clear-to-close. Sharing this information at the point of sale empowers lenders to set borrower expectations more accurately, better prioritize orders and improve overall pipeline performance. Likewise, lenders will know that a lead on a property will not meet criteria before ordering full credit, valuation or other third-party products, and having underwriters spend days on an application that will be declined. This is especially valuable with home equity origination, where many costs are absorbed by the lender." About Covius Covius is a trusted provider of services, insight and technology to leading financial companies. Covius' technology-enabled solutions deliver operational efficiencies, mitigate risk and empower compliant decisions and borrower interactions. Covius businesses are recognized leaders in loss mitigation, document and data solutions, title and settlement services, compliance and critical borrower communications, lien release tracking and preparation, HOA tracking, quality assurance, REO asset management and auction services, credit reporting and verification, capital markets due diligence and oversight, insurance policy analysis as well as rapid-development, customizable cloud-based business process solutions. The company was named a 2023 HousingWire Tech100 winner. For more information about the company and its services, visit www.covius.com.

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