Industry News

• Will Housing Market Go Back Into Winter Hibernation?
  New legislation that expands tax breaks for companies and home buyers has put a new hopeful spirit into home builders. However, the industry is hunkering down for a tough winter that could see an even bigger drop-off in activity than normal. Here are the reasons why.
• Homebuilders Hunt for Land
  The housing bust left home builders with plenty of red ink on their books as they walked away from swaths of land they no longer needed. But now they’re are on the hunt again, vying for choice parcels even in foreclosure-riddled markets such as Las Vegas, Southern California and Orlando, Fla., where prices are cheap and there are early signs of a recovery.
• HUD Audits Find $220M Going To At-Risk Agencies
  The government is sending millions of dollars in stimulus aid to communities and housing agencies that federal watchdogs have concluded are unable to spend it appropriately, increasing the risk that the money will be wasted. You would think they’d be able to get this right.
• U.S. Citizens Now Showing Up at Day-Labor Hiring Sites
  In the latest sign of the economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work. Experts say the slow starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide. Check it out.
• Pending Home Sales Contracts Rise for 8th Straight Month
  The number of signed sales contracts to buy homes rose in September for the eighth straight month, according to a recently released real estate industry report. Here's a look at the current numbers.
• Social Networking for Connecting Pros and Consumers
  Find out how those in the real estate business – from remodelers to Realtors – have been using social networking tools in order to communicate with their peers and prospects.
• Consensus: Real Estate Recession to End in 2010
  The real estate market will experience growth and expansion next year, according to projections from most major real estate organizations. The recession will be behind us. Here’s a look at the forecasting consensus.
• ICC Votes to Keep Residential Fire Sprinklers
  In spite of intense push-back by the National Association of Home Builders, the International Code Council's (ICC) Residential Building Code Committee has voted to keep the residential fire sprinkler system requirement for one- and two-family new construction homes.
• How Fireplaces Add a Cozy Touch to New Homes
  The residential fireplace is a vestige, no longer needed to heat the home or house a kettle of soup. But here’s a look at the reason why new-home buyers continue to demand, and pay extra for their fireplaces.
• 55-Plus Poised to Drive the Home Building Market
  In the Rochester, N.Y. housing market, they are taking note of the “Silver tsunami” surge of buyers that are expected to dominate the housing market. Find out what the surveys say that baby boomers will be looking for when it comes to their home for the golden years. It’s a trend that could be coming soon to a housing market near you.
• Lawsuit Claims Home Builder Propped Up Prices
  This class action recently filed in California alleges that the builder fraudulently propped up home prices and sales in a "house of cards" scheme that eventually caused values in its developments to plunge. Yikes.
• Recession, Changing Preferences Driving Smaller Homes
  Looks like the trend to building smaller homes is becoming firmly ingrained in the repertoire of home builder offerings, as noted in this report from the Columbus, Ohio market. What’s interesting in this article is how architects and designers describe methods used for the downsizing.
• Home Buyer Credit Critics See Default Risk
  As the political pressure builds to extend and possibly expand the first-time home buyer tax credit to all buyers, a growing chorus of critics says the program is a clunker that should be scrapped. Here’s a look at their arguments.
• Forecast Says Home Prices Have Not Bottomed
  If you thought home prices were bottoming out, you may be wrong. They're expected to get a lot more “affordable.” Home values are predicted to plunge in 342 out of 381 markets during the next year, according to a new forecast of real estate prices. Here’s the reasoning.
• Feds Help Feed New Market for Easy Mortgages
  Some people fear that the significant expansion and liberalization of FHA's loan programs is enabling Americans to go back to many of the same bad credit practices that analysts say were at the root of the housing crisis.

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