CrainsNewYork reports a conference in New York City to discuss the shortage and expense of housing in the city resulted in several innovative approaches by advocates and architects, including modular. Many of the proposals at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council are for smaller, cheaper quarters, and some suggest communal …
HousingWire reports housing prices fell 1.1 percent in Sept., marking the second straight month drop, according to the CoreLogic home price index. Single-family home prices fell 4.1 percent from Sept. 2010, and excluding distressed sales, dropped 1.1 percent from a year earlier. Core Logic Chief Economist Mark Fleming says prices …
TheStreet reports the one of the best investments outside the stock and bond market is in multi-family housing. A report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies says from 2006 to 2010, the number of renter households increased by 692,000 per year while owner households fell 201,000 annually. Real …
CNBC reports following consolidation in the MH industry, surviving companies are targeting the energy efficient home-building market. “Manufactured homes offer quality housing at costs from 10 to 35 percent less than site-built construction. As people continue to see utility costs rise with inflation, they will appreciate the cost savings achievable …
NationalMortgageNews reports the Senate Banking Committee wants to know why government sponsored enterprise (GSE) executives are receiving millions of dollars in bonuses while the government is keeping the mortgage giants afloat. Since the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) took over the GSEs in Sept. 2008, the FHFA has propped them …
CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 178.08 points during the day, following two days of decline, gaining 1.53 percent to close at 11,836.04. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite Value gained 4.75 percent, over three times more than the Dow, to close at 834.20. Tracked housing stocks closed …
UticaObserverDispatch in New York reports the site of the former Lincoln School in West Utica will be home to seven modular homes for first time buyers with low-to-moderate incomes. The Monday groundbreaking for the $1.5 million project by Rebuild Mohawk Valley will result in a more stable neighborhood, increased property …
WashingtonPost reports Ben Barnanke will get pounded from the left and the right at this week’s Federal Reserve policy making committee. Half of the ten member committee disagrees with his monetary policy. The conservatives say he is doing too much; the liberals saying he is not doing enough. “A growing …
Bernanke in the Ring: “It’s a left, then a right, another left …!!” Read More
MHProNews has learned in a report from DSnews the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) has redesigned HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) to bolster more underwater homeowners, and thereby buoy the housing market a little longer. Originally, only those who owed more than 25 percent above the value of their home …
The New HARP: Performing for a Larger Underwater Audience Read More
MHProNews has learned from NationalMortgageNews the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) now estimates it will cost $52 billion less to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of better than expected results of the GSEs (government sponsored enterprises). The agency’s original estimate was between $221 billion to $330 billion, …
Bailout Estimate Falls. FHFA Funds GSEs; GSEs Pay FHFA Dividends. Any Questions? Read More
BoonvilleDailyNews reports from Boonville, Missouri, that modular home builder Fuqua Building Systems closed its plant here and its office in Bend, Oregon, earlier this month after over 40 years in business. At one time employing 175 in Boonville, Fuqua had ceased operations in May after a series of layoffs since …
CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after dipping and diving during the day, finally gained 162.42 points to close at 11,869.04, a gain of 1.39 percent, as investors sensed a bailout deal was near in the European debt crisis. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite Value was up 2.89 …
Dow Lands on Positive Ground; Housing Stocks Improve also Read More
Redstate updates a report MHProNews previously covered on Elizabeth Warren, President Obama’s force behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and current candidate for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. Commenting in an article in The Daily Beast about the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread across the country and …
MHProNews has learned that the U.S. Commerce Department reports newly-built, single-family home sales rose 5.7 percent in September, recording their best growth in five months, to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 313,000 units. “The improved rate of new-home sales in September is on par with NAHB’s forecast for the overall number …
Bloomberg reports the U.S. Census Bureau says manufactured housing shipments rose to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 49,000 in August, up two thousand units from July 2011. Placements rose from 43,000 to 44,000 for the same period, and dealer inventory held steady at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 21,000. The average sale …
HousingWire reports Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance says over the last month, the time required to approve a mortgage grew from 30 days to between 45 and 60 days. The company’s Housing Pulse survey states lenders are having to spend more time dealing with mortgage refinancing. Appraisal issues with property damage on …
BlueRidgeNow reports from Etowah, Tennessee, Ceil Salvadori is developing 27 acres into five lots for horse lovers who will have a barn, pasture land, and a modular house, or “ranchette”, for a residence. Four of the five lots have frontage on the French Broad River in southeastern TN. The houses …
Horse Lovers Unite! Equestrian Community to have Modular Housing Read More
CNNMoney reports over 6,000 people have come to Williston, ND to take advantage of the oil boomtown money to be made, but available housing has not kept up with demand. Some are living in their vehicles in parking lots, some in tents, some sleep in sleeping bags beside the road. …
WSLS in Virginia reports Nationwide Homes in Martinsville is backlogged with orders for modular homes through January. Dan Goodin, sales vice president for Nationwide, says he intends to hire 20-30 people starting next month to keep up with a 30 percent increase in demand. Martinsville has the highest unemployment rate …
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that confidence among home builders for single-family dwellings rose four points to 18 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), the largest monthly increase since the tax credit program of April 2010. Based on builders’ perceptions of current home sales and …
