Sunday, January 28, 2007
Will market swallow its 'medicine'?
Jan. 28, 2007 12:00 AM
The key to metropolitan Phoenix's housing market rebound is fixing its failures from the past few years.
That was housing market analyst RL Brown's message at a forecast last week.
Here are some items on his list of the market's cracks:
• New home developments too quickly became resale communities as early investors competed with builders.
• The Valley's loss of its affordable edge compared with other big cities.
• Transportation gridlock for home buyers on the fringes.
• "Disneyland" financing, meaning all of the more risky mortgages. They have opened the door to allow investors to buy multiple houses and other home buyers to potentially commit fraud and put struggling buyers into more house than they can afford.
Read more >>
The key to metropolitan Phoenix's housing market rebound is fixing its failures from the past few years.
That was housing market analyst RL Brown's message at a forecast last week.
Here are some items on his list of the market's cracks:
• New home developments too quickly became resale communities as early investors competed with builders.
• The Valley's loss of its affordable edge compared with other big cities.
• Transportation gridlock for home buyers on the fringes.
• "Disneyland" financing, meaning all of the more risky mortgages. They have opened the door to allow investors to buy multiple houses and other home buyers to potentially commit fraud and put struggling buyers into more house than they can afford.
Read more >>
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Area businesses absorbing office space at record level, report says
Phoenix jumps 2 spots in firm's apartment list
John McLean
Arizona Business Gazette
Jan. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
Cushman & Wakefield of Arizona Inc. released its latest report on office space for 2006, which shows that the Phoenix area absorbed space at a record level.
Posting the nation's highest population growth increase, at 3.6 percent, and the creation of 85,500 jobs were drivers fueling the office market.
Area businesses led the market to post a direct net absorption of 3.46 million square feet in 2006, edging past the previous high of about 3.3 million square feet in 2000.
Read more >>
Arizona Business Gazette
Jan. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
Cushman & Wakefield of Arizona Inc. released its latest report on office space for 2006, which shows that the Phoenix area absorbed space at a record level.
Posting the nation's highest population growth increase, at 3.6 percent, and the creation of 85,500 jobs were drivers fueling the office market.
Area businesses led the market to post a direct net absorption of 3.46 million square feet in 2006, edging past the previous high of about 3.3 million square feet in 2000.
Read more >>
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
State targets mortgage fraud
Catherine Reagor
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 23, 2007 12:00 AM
A wave of mortgage fraud in the Valley has prompted state legislation that would define it as a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
A day after The Arizona Republic's special investigation into cash-back mortgage deals, Sen. Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler introduced a bill that would make mortgage fraud a felony."
Mortgage fraud hurts everyone," said Tibshraeny, who has been working on the legislation for months. "Buyer, beware of a deal that seems too good. The strings your Realtor or mortgage broker pull may be illegal."
Read more >>
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 23, 2007 12:00 AM
A wave of mortgage fraud in the Valley has prompted state legislation that would define it as a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
A day after The Arizona Republic's special investigation into cash-back mortgage deals, Sen. Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler introduced a bill that would make mortgage fraud a felony."
Mortgage fraud hurts everyone," said Tibshraeny, who has been working on the legislation for months. "Buyer, beware of a deal that seems too good. The strings your Realtor or mortgage broker pull may be illegal."
Read more >>
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Little House on the drawing board: A new crop of inexpensive, hip homes is good news for young adults
Fourteen thousand miles is a long way to go to find the American dream. But that's how far Karrie Jacobs, a New York free-lance writer, drove her VW convertible in search of a dwelling she could afford - and wanted to live in.
A spartan budget of $100 a square foot for 1,000 square feet wasn't the only hitch. Jacobs, the founding editor of Dwell magazine, the glossy bible for the Bauhaus crowd, is a devotee of modern design. To qualify as her dream house, the architecture would have to belong to this time. Not yesteryear in Burgundy or at Monticello, but now.
That insistence assured that the house would have to be custom-designed rather than builder-produced. Whether Jacobs could find an architect to create well and cheaply is the driving dynamic of her quirky, important book, "The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home."
Read more >>
A spartan budget of $100 a square foot for 1,000 square feet wasn't the only hitch. Jacobs, the founding editor of Dwell magazine, the glossy bible for the Bauhaus crowd, is a devotee of modern design. To qualify as her dream house, the architecture would have to belong to this time. Not yesteryear in Burgundy or at Monticello, but now.
That insistence assured that the house would have to be custom-designed rather than builder-produced. Whether Jacobs could find an architect to create well and cheaply is the driving dynamic of her quirky, important book, "The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home."
Read more >>
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Light rail could slow traffic
Trains will necessitate traffic-light revisions
Katie Nelson and Sean Holstage
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
Traffic on Tempe streets will move more slowly once light rail is operating, according to Metro engineers.
Now, Tempe traffic experts and light rail analysts are working to minimize the impact of the trains.
The trains will trigger other changes, mainly how long stop lights last and whether turn signals happen before or after the green-yellow-red cycle.
Read more >>
Katie Nelson and Sean Holstage
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
Traffic on Tempe streets will move more slowly once light rail is operating, according to Metro engineers.
Now, Tempe traffic experts and light rail analysts are working to minimize the impact of the trains.
The trains will trigger other changes, mainly how long stop lights last and whether turn signals happen before or after the green-yellow-red cycle.
Read more >>
ASU housing project draws ire
Eugene Scott
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 6, 2007 12:00 AM
Developers recently broke ground on a $130 million residential project on Arizona State University's Tempe campus, but some residents are still unpleased with the plans.
The 1,866-bed residence hall will open in the fall of 2008. University Park and Davey Park residents have complained to university and city officials and, most recently, the Arizona Board of Regents about the project.
In response to their concerns, the South Campus Residential Community parking garage will now be two stories instead of seven, and balconies were removed from some of the units. But traffic remains a major concern.
Read more >>
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 6, 2007 12:00 AM
Developers recently broke ground on a $130 million residential project on Arizona State University's Tempe campus, but some residents are still unpleased with the plans.
The 1,866-bed residence hall will open in the fall of 2008. University Park and Davey Park residents have complained to university and city officials and, most recently, the Arizona Board of Regents about the project.
In response to their concerns, the South Campus Residential Community parking garage will now be two stories instead of seven, and balconies were removed from some of the units. But traffic remains a major concern.
Read more >>
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Housing Is Still Off Balance
By Alex Markels
US News.com
Posted Sunday, January 7, 2007
You might think the recent uptick in home sales-the second in as many months-would be a sign that the ailing housing market is on its way to recovery in 2007.
But according to economists like Edward Leamer, "you'd be dead wrong."
Despite a prediction of moderate economic growth, a 10 percent increase in the stock market, and as many as three interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Board in the coming year, the director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast says residential real estate will nonetheless be a "moderate to poor" investment in 2007-with median prices for new homes declining from 5 to 10 percent nationally and existing-home prices treading water at best.
Read more >>
US News.com
Posted Sunday, January 7, 2007
You might think the recent uptick in home sales-the second in as many months-would be a sign that the ailing housing market is on its way to recovery in 2007.
But according to economists like Edward Leamer, "you'd be dead wrong."
Despite a prediction of moderate economic growth, a 10 percent increase in the stock market, and as many as three interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Board in the coming year, the director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast says residential real estate will nonetheless be a "moderate to poor" investment in 2007-with median prices for new homes declining from 5 to 10 percent nationally and existing-home prices treading water at best.
Read more >>
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