Springdale's Towne Park sold for $28.9M
BSR Real Estate Investment Trust bought the Towne Park at Har-Ber Apartments in Springdale for $28.9 million, the Little Rock firm said Thursday.
The purchase of the 237-unit multifamily complex means BSR now owns and operates more than 10,000 apartment units.
Towne Park was constructed in two phases in 2016 and 2017. It has one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and town homes in the high-growth Northwest Arkansas metropolitan area.
The purchase is BSR's second in the region in under two years, after the acquisition of Mountain Ranch Apartments, a 360-unit garden-style complex less than 10 miles from Towne Park.
In the past 2½ years, BSR has increased its portfolio by 16 percent through the acquisition of five properties with a combined 1,394 units.
The total unit count for BSR, which completed an initial public offering five months ago on the Toronto Stock Exchange, now stands at 10,116.
BSR owns 49 multifamily residential properties located across five Southern states.
-- David Smith
EPA grant to aid agriculture training site
The National Center for Appropriate Technology in Fayetteville was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to help restore a 170-year-old farm into a training site.
The Fayetteville-branch of the farm organization plans to use the money to teach sustainable agriculture production and farm management practices to beginning farmers on a 5-acre lot on Broyles Avenue on the west side of town.
Margo Hale, the center's southeast regional director, said this is the first project of its kind to receive federal environmental education funding and the EPA was "excited to see what comes of this."
The EPA awards between $2 million and $3.5 million in environmental education grants each year. The Woolsey Incubator Farm in Fayetteville is one of 37 organization projects spanning 29 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to receive 2018 program funding, a news release said Thursday. Funding for other recipients ranges between $50,000 and $100,000.
"It's clearly a natural fit, but something different from what they have funded before," Hale said. "In a year or two it will look like a functioning farm."
-- Nathan Owens
30-year mortgage edges up to 4.86%
Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged slightly higher this week amid continued anxiety in financial markets as interest rates rise.
Home borrowing rates remain at their highest levels in more than seven years, with the key 30-year rate approaching 5 percent. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac -- the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. -- said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages ticked up to an average 4.86 percent this week from 4.85 percent last week. A year ago, it stood at 3.94 percent.
The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans rose to 4.29 percent this week from 4.26 percent last week.
Anxiety over rising interest rates, which stem from strength in the economy, has buffeted financial markets in recent weeks and spilled over into the housing market.
Sales of new homes plunged 5.5 percent in September, the fourth-straight monthly drop as the housing market cools, the government reported Wednesday.
-- The Associated Press
Pending home sales rise in September
WASHINGTON -- Pending home sales rose slightly in September, but contract signings are depressed from a year ago as affordability has become a greater challenge for would-be buyers.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its pending home sales index increased 0.5 percent last month to 104.6. But over the past year, it declined 1 percent.
Higher borrowing costs have compounded problems caused by home prices consistently rising faster than wage growth, making it harder for renters to become homeowners.
Pending sales are a barometer of home purchases that are completed a month or two later.
The index slipped in the Northeast and South but improved in the Midwest and West.
-- The Associated Press
No trade-war aid to farmers in '19 plans
President Donald Trump's administration has no plans to extend aid to farmers in 2019 on the assumption that the market will recover even if the trade war with China persists, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said.
In July, the administration announced that it would deliver $12 billion in aid to farmers caught up in Trump's trade spat with China. The world's second-biggest economy imposed tariffs on U.S. shipments of soybeans and pork, among other commodities. Farmers were able to apply for the first round of aid, totaling $4.7 billion, last month. Perdue, speaking to farmers and reporters in a farm shed in Champaign, Ill., on Wednesday, didn't disclose a date for the second round of funding.
The trade war affected "farmers after they made planting decisions for 2018," Perdue said. "The market will equilibrate over a period of time. There's not an expected or anticipated market facilitation program for 2019."
Perdue didn't offer an estimate for how much longer the trade war could continue, saying the onus is on China.
Farmers are a key part of Trump's rural base. Earlier this month, the constituency applauded his plan to start allowing the year-round sale of higher concentrations of corn-based ethanol-infused gasoline, known as E15.
-- Bloomberg News
Ford recalling Focuses over engine stall
DETROIT -- Ford is recalling nearly 1.5 million Focus compact cars in North America because a fuel system problem can cause the engines to stall without warning.
The recall covers cars from the 2012 through 2018 model years with 2-liter four-cylinder engines.
Ford says a valve in the fuel system can stick in the open position, causing too much vacuum, and an engine control computer may not detect the problem. Excessive vacuum can cause the gas tank to deform, as well as other problems.
The recall came after the U.S. government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration presented owner complaints to Ford. About 1.3 million of the recalled vehicles are in the U.S.
Dealers will reprogram the computer with new software that will detect a stuck valve, which the company says will take care of the problem in most cases. They'll also inspect the valve, a carbon canister and gas tank and replace them if needed.
Ford says owners should keep the gas tank at least half full until repairs are made.
The recall is expected to begin on Dec. 10.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 10/26/2018