Press Release

Los Angeles – Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are not a concern now, but they could cause problems for Southern California homeowners in three to seven years as these loans convert from fixed to adjustable rates, according to Raphael Bostic, Ph.D., of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

“If interest rates increase, some buyers may not be able to afford higher payments and may have to sell their homes,” said Bostic, a former Fed economist who specializes in tracking the home mortgage market.

LOS ANGELES - Piper Rudnick partner Linda Bozung will be listed in the 2005 edition of The Best Lawyers in
America, the law firm reports. This is the 11th consecutive year Ms. Bozung will appear in the prestigious publication, which is produced as the culmination of a lengthy process of peer review and research.

"We are pleased to see Linda honored in this important publication,"said Jay Epstien, chair of Piper Rudnick's
national Real Estate practice group.

-Property sales remain strong as investment funds diversify portfolios using low-cost capital

-Leasing activity picks up with improved job growth

-Inland Empire is still the market leader

LOS ANGELES - Slow-moving indicators in the office and industrial markets camouflage the dynamic sales and leasing activity across Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire, according to results of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast released today by the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate (www.usc.edu/lusk).

-- Solid research, creative thinking, fast execution, and a willingness to take risks are essential for success

Los Angeles -- Nicole McAllister has been appointed executive director of development and external affairs of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. Over the past five years, McAllister has played a key leadership role at the Lusk Center contributing significantly to its direction and expansion that included the establishment of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast, the Keston Institute for Infrastructure and the Ross Minority Program in Real Estate.

- Study shows lower housing costs in smaller cities do not immediately translate into higher homeownership rates
- Immigrants pool resources to buy one home for multiple families
- Younger immigrants more likely to own homes than U.S.-born counterparts

Los Angeles -- Both foreign-born and U.S.-born migrants who move to one of 14 "emerging gateway cities" have lower homeownership rates than households that move within a metropolitan area, according to the results of a study at the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate (www.usc.edu/lusk).

"Past housing resear

Los Angeles - Richard Little, director of the University of Southern California Keston Institute for Infrastructure (www.usc.edu/keston), is part of an international team selected by the National Science Foundation to study the physical and social infrastructure impacts of the devastating tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean basin last December.

"The Keston Institute believes that the physical systems, human resources and organizational frameworks that deliver civil infrastructure services are so intertwined as to be inseparable," said Little.

LOS ANGELES – Despite fundamental innovation in mortgage instruments, expansion of the secondary market, the lowest mortgage rates in 40 years and a host of industry and policy efforts to promote minority homeownership, research from the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate (www.usc.edu/lusk) provides evidence of sizeable and persistent racial homeownership gaps.

-Inability to afford high-priced homes drives increasing numbers to rent
-Renting activity picks up with improved job growth