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In some newly constructed housing developments home builders are including a clause in the contract demanding a 1 percent transfer fee to be paid to them every time the property is sold over the next 99 years. The fee isn’t for improvements or maintenance. It is just a payment to the builder, and not everyone likes it.
Nationwide housing starts inched up 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000 units in July from a downwardly revised figure in the previous month. The gain occurred entirely on the multifamily side, with single-family housing production falling 4.2 percent to 432,000 units. Builders are seeing greater hesitancy among potential home buyers who are uncertain about what's in store for the economy and jobs going forward.
Mortgage loan application volume increased 1.3 percent last week, as did the refinance index. The refinance share of mortgage activity remained flat at 78.0 percent of total applications from the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent of total applications from the previous week.
To get a clearer picture of how current economic conditions are impacting builders, the Strategic Alliance, a group of real estate-related companies, conducted a business survey that covered more than 1,000 builders and developers and other industry professionals in the Tri-State and Mid-Atlantic regions. While most builders hoped that conditions would trend up quicker this year, there are some fundamental problems that still need to be resolved before projects can move forward.
As more Smart Grid programs move out of the proposal phase and into live pilot testing, GE Consumer & Industrial‘s smart–grid enabled appliances are leading the way for the consumer component of the grid. That pace of adoption is expected to grow as more currently pending Federal grant applications are approved.
Existing-home sales were sharply lower in July following expiration of the home buyer tax credit but home prices continued to gain. Given the rock-bottom mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions, the pace of a sales recovery could pick up quickly, provided the economy consistently adds jobs.
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