NBN Online for the week of July 25, 2005

Wells Fargo Supporting NAHB Initiatives

NAHB and Wells Fargo & Company announced last week that they are embarking upon an unprecedented three-year relationship that includes Wells Fargo’s sponsorship of NAHB events, extensive advertising and title sponsorship of NAHB’s Housing Market Index and Housing Opportunity Index.

“The nation’s pre-eminent home building federation and the leading lender to new home buyers are a perfect match,” said NAHB President David Wilson. “Wells Fargo’s commitment to the housing industry is a source of strength for our association and it will help our members provide their home buying customers with a wealth of innovative mortgage resources.”

“Working with NAHB and its 220,000 members will allow us to do an even better job, especially in the important area of new construction for working families,” said Stuart Tyrie, vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage’s National Builder Division. “Our home building loan specialists work every day with builders across America. We are happy to expand our working arrangement in order to support builders’ goals.”

The new relationship extends and expands an initial sponsorship package that began last year with title sponsorship of the economic indexes. Among the highlights of the cooperative relationship:

• NAHB’s monthly member survey, which rates general economic and housing market conditions, will be expanded from a national basis to include separate indexes for each of the four U.S. Census regions. It will be named the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
  
  
• Another closely watched indicator is the builders’ monthly index of housing affordability, calculated as the share of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the median income. This will be called the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
  
  
• Wells Fargo will be the exclusive sponsor of the five annual meetings of the NAHB Executive Board.
  
  
• Wells Fargo will sponsor and participate in nine NAHB public events each year, including the International Builders’ Show, the Spring and Fall Construction Forecast Conferences and the NAHB Multifamily Pillars of the Industry Conference.
  
  
• Advertising from Wells Fargo will appear in three NAHB magazines — Land Development, Commercial Builder, and Sales + Marketing Ideas. Wells Fargo will be the exclusive sponsor of NAHB’s Housing Economics Online.
  
  
• Information from Wells Fargo aimed at helping builders improve their business will appear in the Business Management section of the NAHB Web site, www.nahb.com.

“Given Wells Fargo’s commitment to builders, we welcome the chance to deepen the cooperation with each of our builder councils, from those who focus on single-family homes to multifamily housing to housing for senior citizens,” said Wilson.  “Wells Fargo has been one of the most involved members when it comes to promoting NAHB initiatives and sponsoring association activities, and our industry needs that kind of cooperation.”