Morning Briefing: Is this city facing a millennials exodus?

Is this city facing a millennials exodus?... JP Morgan’s mortgage strategy seen as risky… Orson Welles’ cottage under contract…

Is this city facing a millennials exodus?
Millennials are under increased pressure from rising home prices and rents and a new report suggests that at least one US city may become a millennial desert. The Urban Land Institute says that San Francisco is at risk of losing millennials in the years ahead over fears that the high costs of housing will prevent them from eventually moving into homes with the high livability attributes they want.

The Bay Area 2015 report found that 74 per cent of millennials living in the Greater Bay area are thinking of moving away in the next five years with just 24 per cent of those polled believing they could afford their dream home in the area by 2020. That compares to 38 per cent of Gen X-ers and 49 per cent of Baby Boomers.
The poll of 701 adults in the Greater SF area also found that millennials are more likely to be expecting to still be living in an apartment in the future than the older demographics.
 
JP Morgan’s mortgage strategy seen as risky
JP Morgan Chase & Co is buying up mortgages from smaller lenders but the practice has raised concern among some other mortgage companies. Reuters says that the bank bought 62 per cent of the $58 billion that it added to its books in the first half of 2015, that’s up from 56 per cent in 2014 and 37 per cent in 2011. Although new applications have declined this year according to Mortgage Bankers Association data, JP Morgan’s strategy is not one shared by Bank of America. BoA believes that buying loans from smaller lenders is risky as it exposes the bank to decisions made by those lenders and its spokesman Steve Boland told Reuters: "There's more risk in being that far away from the customer.” JP Morgan says that it carefully assesses the mortgage loans it buys and stipulates conditions that the original lender must have met.
 
Orson Welles’ cottage under contract
A home that lists Orson Welles among its celebrity owners has been listed in Palisades, NY. The cottage at 55 Woods Road is in the Snedens Landing neighborhood, popular with celebs looking for some privacy. The New York Post says that the 1920’s-built home on the banks of the Hudson was the home of Welles during his “Citizen Kane” period and has also been home to legends Vivien Leigh, John Steinbeck and Sir Lawrence Olivier. The home is listed at $2.25 million.