Northeast Will Be First to See Signs of a Housing Upturn

Although the national housing outlook has continued to deteriorate this spring, which is normally the peak home buying season, housing is expected to start climbing into positive territory before the end of the year in some parts of the country, according to NAHB’s state and top 100 metro housing starts forecast for 2008-2009.

Continuing turmoil in the credit markets and a weakening economy guarantee that “housing markets will face another challenging year in 2008 before any meaningful recovery takes hold in 2009,” the NAHB forecast says. ...

Free ‘National Homeownership Month’ Material Available

June is National Homeownership Month and NAHB is offering members and home builders associations free online promotional material ― including sample articles, radio and print advertisements, member education and other consumer resources — that highlights the benefits of homeownership for consumers and provides positive messages about the home building industry.

The material also includes the “Guide to Celebrating National Homeownership Month in June,”  which provides tips and ideas on how to celebrate homeownership month, such as planning a news conference and holding a homeownership fair. ...

Florida County Sees Housing Doing Better Than Rest of the State

While Florida is among the areas of the country that have been hardest hit by the housing downturn, builders in one southwestern county in the state are letting prospective home buyers know that conditions have starting turning around in the local market.

“Several sales managers are reporting an increase in sales,” said JoAnn Orr, executive vice president of the Lee Building Industry Association. “They are slowly pulling back on the incentives they were offering — including golf memberships and master association dues for a year — and are slowly raising prices. And some of the builders are actually pulling permits due to the lack of inventory.” ...

Audio Seminar to Look at Green Building Challenges, Opportunities

Three experts on various aspects of green building will conduct an hour-long audio seminar on the opportunities, challenges and benefits of green building from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 11.

"Green as Good Business” seminar participants will discuss such topics as a business case for green building in a slow market; the marketing benefits of green building; the challenges of green building; and green building legal trends and related issues.

“Green building has captured the attention of the residential home construction industry and the buying public,” said David Jaffe, NAHB staff vice president for construction liability and legal research. “The promises of significant energy savings, a healthy indoor environment and being ecologically friendly have proven to be strong motivating factors for designing, building and purchasing a green home.” ...