Building News
From Coast to Coast

n Zero-Lot Homes Growing in Popularity

n Going Green on Top

n Commission Seeks Limits on Future Cul-de-Sacs

n Popularity of SUVs Driving Larger Home-Garage Trend

n Straw Bales Make Cozy Walls

n The Dirt on Mudrooms

n Cities Provide Incentives to Increase Urban Multifamily Development

n Small Businesses Adopting Residential Broadband?

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Anti-Growth Proposal Raising Concerns in Florida

Concerns are growing in Florida over a petition drive that would put on the state’s Nov. 2, 2004 ballot a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval of changes to local growth plans.

The Florida Hometown Democracy at latest count had only collected about 5,500 signatures towards the roughly 500,000 it needs to submit its proposal to a statewide vote. However, the Sierra Club recently weighed  …

Housing Snapshot

Mortgage interest rates last week inched up for the second week in a row, but compared to a year earlier fixed-rate loans were about the same and ARMs were about 50 basis points lower. Freddie Mac Chairman Frank Nothaft noted that despite rising mortgage rates, refinancings still accounted for about half of all mortgage applications. A Commerce Department report last week of a 0.8% increase in consumer spending and a 1.5% jump in disposable income in July presented good evidence that the Bush Administration's ambitious tax cuts are starting to work their magic. Economic growth in the second quarter grew at an annual rate of 3.1%, revised upward from an earlier estimate of 2.4%. This was a big improvement over anemic 1.4% gains in each of the two preceding quarters, and suggested that the economy is moving closer to generating new jobs.

Mortgage Interest Rates
30-Year Fixed-Rate	6.32%
15-Year Fixed-Rate	5.66%
1-Year ARM	3.88%
Housing Starts - Jul. 2003*
Total	1.87 million
Single-Family Starts	1.52 million
Multifamily Starts	351,000
New Home Sales Jul. 2003*	1.165 million
Existing Home Sales Jul. 2003*	6.12 million
* Seasonally adjusted annual rate