Pending Home Sales Up 5.3 Percent
The U.S. housing market got a pleasant surprise Wednesday when the National Association of Realtors reported that pending sales were up 5.3 percent from May to June. The index reflects homes under contract, which bodes well for sales figures when they close in the next month or two. A housing stimulus package approved by Congress last month should help continue the momentum into next year, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. The index is still down 12 percent from June 2007. A Thomson/IFR survey showed that Wall Street economists had predicted the index would fall in June, The Associated Press reported. Wednesday's report stemmed stock losses after grim unemployment and retail sales reports.
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Newsom Signs Strict Green Building Codes into Law
San Francisco took a major step Monday to cement its reputation as the most environmentally progressive city in the United States, as Mayor Gavin Newsom signed into law stringent green building codes for new construction and renovations of existing structures in the city. The new codes focus on water and energy conservation, recycling and reduction of carbon emissions. They apply to most buildings in the city, including residential projects of all sizes, new commercial buildings over a certain size, and renovations of large commercial spaces.
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Pulte to Match $7,500 Credit for Home Buyer
First-time home buyers can get even more help than the government is offering with its $7,500 tax credit. Pulte Homes Inc. plans to announce a plan today to match a $7,500 temporary tax credit signed into law last week in order to spur sales of its homes. The tax credit is essentially a zero-interest loan that must be repaid over 15 years beginning two years after the credit is taken.
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Builders Group Launches Green-Built Home Registry
The Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas is beginning the nation's first searchable registry of local green-built homes. The database is scheduled to be posted next week on the Web site for Green Built North Texas, an arm of the association designed to promote the construction of energy-efficient and environmentally conscious homes. "This program is by builders, for builders," said Paul Cauduro, government relations director for the association. "We established a construction protocol that builders have to follow."
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Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged
The Federal Reserve left a key short-term interest rate unchanged Tuesday and cited both the risk of a slowing economy and inflation pressures, a sign that the central bank may keep rates steady for the next few months. The move was widely expected and cheered on Wall Street. Stocks were already trading higher before the Fed's mid-afternoon announcement due to lower oil prices and rallied further following the Fed's decision.
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First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Will Help Stimulate Housing Market
The nation's home builders are confident that a new temporary $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers included in a landmark housing bill enacted into law last week will get buyers back into the marketplace and help end the current cyclical downturn in the housing industry. "First-time home buyers make up about 40 percent of the entire market," Sandy Dunn, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Point Pleasant, W.Va., said during a news tele-conference held yesterday to highlight the provisions and benefits of the new housing stimulus legislation. "They don't have a home to sell and they bring demand to the market. As more than 2 million anticipated first-time buyers enter the market and claim the credit, this will stimulate buying up the housing ladder."
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Las Vegas Bets on Environmentalism
The popular image of this desert gambling mecca is that of indulgence and indiscriminate consumption. Words that rarely come to mind: Conservation. Sustainability. Green. Yet it's the famous Las Vegas Strip that's modeling eco-friendly practices. In Nevada, plans are underway to build more than 100 million square feet of new construction to the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.
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Mortgage Applications Rise 2.8%
Mortgage application volume rose 2.8% during the week ending Aug. 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly application survey. The MBA's application index rose to 432.6 from 420.8 a week earlier, which was the lowest reading of the year. Refinance volume increased 4.4%, while purchase volume grew 1.8% during the week. Refinance applications accounted for 35.9% of all applications during the week, compared with 35.2% during the previous week. The index peaked at 1,856.7 during the week ending May 30, 2003, at the height of the housing boom.
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'Green' Building Codes Sprout Up Across USA
As energy costs rise, more states and cities are adopting policies that encourage or require new construction to be energy-efficient. This week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law what he called the nation's strictest "green" building codes. "There's been a huge groundswell in green-building leadership at state and local levels. It's remarkable," says Jason Hartke of the U.S. Green Building Council, a private group that tracks legislation and sets guidelines that become construction industry standards.
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City Weighs Extent of Concrete Retesting
New York City is working to determine how extensively it needs to test the strength of concrete in buildings around the city after learning that prosecutors have found evidence that the area's largest testing company often falsified results, officials and people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The company, Testwell Laboratories, has been hired in recent years to analyze the strength of concrete on a raft of public projects, including work for the city, as well as legions of commercial and residential buildings that were constructed in the area. But investigators have discovered evidence indicating that for at least five years, the company has falsified some concrete test results, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation, being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.
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