News

Sales of newly built, single-family homes dropped 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000 units in June, according to newly released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Tinley Park, IL; July 23, 2015: Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) officials have illegally halted the ongoing development of a 100-acre residential project in Tinley Park, by wrongly asserting authority over the property — as federally controlled “wetlands” — in violation of their own regulations that exempt the land from CWA coverage because it was previously farmland.

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Representatives Steve Israel (NY-3), Lee Zeldin (NY-1), Gregory Meeks (NY-5), Kathleen Rice (NY-4) and Peter King (NY-2) today announced that the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) will receive $21,188,947.15 in federal funding for emergency work and additional protective work done as a result of Superstorm Sandy. The award will be made in two separate grants.

Dates were announced today for future Greenbuild International Conference & Expo events through the year 2019 by Informa Exhibitions and the U.S. Green Building Council

The BOMA International Executive Committee is responsible for developing the strategic direction and policies for the association. Executive Committee members work with BOMA International officers and executive staff to maximize the effectiveness of BOMA International, while ensuring resources are available to achieve its goals. Executive Committee members serve a minimum term of two years.

By a vote of 36-22, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation that would send the administration’s proposed rule redefining federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act back to the drawing board.

On Wednesday, AGC submitted three formal comment letters to the Business Income Tax Working Group, Savings & Investment Working Group, and theCommunity Development & Infrastructure Working Group in response to the Senate Finance Committee’s request for input from stakeholders on how to revamp the tax code. Submissions from stakeholders will be reviewed by the working groups and ideas can be incorporated into the each working group’s final recommendations.

Consumer demand for rental apartments remained strong while the market for apartment properties stayed relatively unchanged in the latest National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. The market tightness, sales volume and equity finance indexes all remained near or above the breakeven level of 50, while the debt-financing index fell to 35. For the survey’s special question, only 15 percent of respondents indicated that their apartment homes directly competed with single-family rentals

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today became an original cosponsor of the Equality Act, a bill to ban discrimination against LGBT individuals in public accommodations, housing, employment, and other core areas of American society. The Equality Act, which was introduced by Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI) in the House and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in the Senate, will amend several civil rights laws to ensure that LGBT Americans receive equal treatment in all areas of American life like other Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity

Leadership Akron today announced the launch of The Civic Solutions Lab, a new effort that will gather leaders from different backgrounds and sectors to work together on Akron’s most pressing needs. Supported by $100,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Civic Solutions Lab will provide graduates of Leadership Akron’s community involvement programs and other leaders hands-on experience and training in solving complex community challenges

the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the Oregon Opportunity Network, a NLIHC state partner, released the findings of a state-wide public opinion poll that measured Oregon registered voter support for changing the mortgage interest deduction, addressing homelessness, and creating more affordable housing. A sizable majority of registered Oregon voters surveyed expressed support for increasing federal funding for affordable housing to address homelessness and for increased state investments in building homes for homeless and low-income families.

NAMB - the Association of Mortgage Professionals, is calling on Congress to require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to include a new line item clearly stating the hidden cost of G-fees on the soon to be required TRID forms. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees, commonly referred to as G-fees, are not readily detectable by consumers in their mortgage documents since they are incorporated into the underlying rates paid by borrowers.

Last week, Governor Baker signed the FY2016 State Budget(link is external). He also issued vetoes(link is external) affecting important affordable housing, community development, and homelessness prevention programs.

Existing-home sales increased in June to their highest pace in over eight years, while the cumulative effect of rising demand and limited supply helped push the national median sales price to an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All major regions experienced sales gains in June and have now risen above year-over-year levels for six consecutive months.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is making $39.2 million available to fight housing discrimination under HUD's 2015 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This year's funding notice also creates six new types of grants that support fair housing capacity building, education and outreach activities, and testing in rental and sales transactions.

Remodeler confidence improved to 59 in the second quarter of 2015 as the country sprang back from the severe winter, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI).

Thanks to a number of local partners, walls will be raised on Casa Soñada (Dream Home) in Madras, thus providing an affordable home for a local agricultural family. Co-developers Housing Works and NeighborImpact have partnered with Heart of Oregon Corps YouthBuild to build the first of 6 new affordable homes in Madras.  Partner representatives, local government officials, and local youth will come together to raise the walls on this new affordable home on Tuesday, July 21st at 11:30 am at 3^rd and H Streets in Madras

With 1,661 megawatts (MW) of newly installed wind turbines coming online during the second quarter of 2015 and more than 13,600 MW under construction, American wind power continues to increase its contribution to the U.S. electric power grid. The approval in May of Florida’s first purchase of wind energy, from a wind project in Oklahoma, added to the growing trend of Southeastern states purchasing wind power, as did the recent announcement of the first utility-scale wind farm to be built in North Carolina.

Today, following a multi-year effort, the National Institute of Building Sciences buildingSMART alliance® released the latest edition of the nation’s consensus-based standard governing building information modeling (BIM). From planning and design through construction and operations, the National BIM Standard-United States® (NBIMS-US™) Version 3 (V3) covers the full life cycle of buildings. “BIM is a powerful tool that can change the way our industry designs, constructs, operates and maintains facilities,” said the vice chair of the NBIMS-US™ V3 Project Committee, Jeffrey W. Ouellette, Assoc.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its updated mortgage finance and economic forecasts. The revision included a significant increase in the volume of purchase originations. MBA now projects that purchase originations will reach $801 billion in 2015 and $885 billion in 2016. That is an increase of $71 billion and $94 billion, respectively, over the association's previous forecast.