MHMSM.com presents Factory Built Housing Industry News at Noon with Erin Patla.
We begin with these stories:
IF YOU’RE LOOKING for chattel financing from the FHA, you may be out of luck, but that hasn’t stopped the agency from entering the luxury condo market in Manhattan. Bloomberg ran a story on Friday about a March agreement that allows the FHA to insure mortgages for apartments at the 98-unit Gramercy Park development, known as Tempo. It enables buyers to make a down payment of as little as 3.5 percent in a building where apartments range from $820,000 to $3 million. As the article points out, the FHA, created in 1934 to make homeownership attainable for low- to moderate-income Americans, is now providing a lifeline to new Manhattan luxury condominiums after sales stalled. In the article, FHA spokesperson Lemar Wooley notes that the agency loosened the condo rules because of “market conditions.”
Manufactured housing in the news…
A STUDENT AT THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY has come up with an innovative solution to providing modular housing for residents in the earthquake-ravaged island nation of Haiti. According to the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, Corey Mack has come up with a plan to use an oversupply of shipping crates for home exteriors, fitted with a molded interior. Mack presented his idea last week at the University.
THE FIRST OF A NUMBER of modular housing units for seniors have arrived in the Alberta, Canada town of Terrace. Eight of the 24 modular units arrived in town last week and are being set up on the location of a former farmer’s market. The fully-furnished one-bedroom units are part of the provincial and federal government’s $123 million seniors’ rental housing initiative to provide housing to seniors and people with disabilities.
A MANUFACTURED HOME ORDINANCE in Holbrook, Arizona could soon be undergoing some changes. The Arizona Journal reports that City Clerk Cher Reyes has requested a change in an ordinance to include the definition of manufactured housing and mobile homes to specify they must have been manufactured within the last ten years in order to be installed within the city limits. The existing city ordinance states that a manufactured home could be installed within city limits as long as they were built after 1976. If passed, the ordinance change would not apply to exiting homes. Reyes told the Arizona paper that of fourteen requests in the past year, all but two were constructed within the last ten years.
“Market News is next…
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In Market news
KANSAS CITY RESERVE BANK president Tomas Hoenig said Friday the Federal Reserve is undertaking a “dangerous gamble” by keeping rates at near zero for so long, and must start raising rates or risk damaging the nascent U.S. recovery. Hoenig made his comments to an audience at the Chamber of Commerce in Lincoln, Nebraska when he said, “Economic conditions are far from satisfactory, unemployment is simply too high, and we want a stronger recovery. But as much as I want short-term improvement, I am mindful of possible longer-term consequences of zero interest rates and further easing actions. Rather than improve economic outcomes, I worry that the FOMC is inadvertently adding to “uncertainty” by taking such actions. Remember, high interest rates did not cause the financial crisis or the recession.” On the contrary, Hoenig added, “The financial collapse followed years of too-low interest rates, too-high leverage, and too-lax financial supervision as prescribed by deregulation from both Democratic and Republican administrations.” Hoenig has been a consistent dissenter of interest rate policy at the Federal Reserve.
ZIP·REALTY CONCLUDED and CNBC reported that the number of U.S. homes listed for sale rose nearly 3 percent in July compared to June, the seventh consecutive monthly rise. Analysts say more homes in the multi-list could lead to more downward pressure on home prices.
THE DOW JONES industrial average closed lower again on Friday, down 17 points to close at 10,303. The manufactured housing composite value was down 1.64 percent. Active stocks include NVR, up $1.69 to close at $616.00 per share. UMH Properties closed down 56 cents to arrive at $10.06 per share. Finally Global Diversified Industries doubled its stock price Friday, arriving at three cents per share.
“On behalf of Production and IT Manager Bob Stovall, Editor L.A. ‘Tony’ Kovach, Associate Editor Catherine Frenzel, INdustry in Focus reporter Eric Miller, and the entire MHMSM.com writing and support team, this is Erin Patla. G’day!”