NBN Online for the week of January 30, 2006

Local Regs Hammer Affordable Housing, Study Finds

Local government regulations can add as much as 30% to the cost of a new home, according to a recent study of development regulations in 187 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts.

The study found that for each instance that communities increase minimum lot sizes by one-quarter of an acre, about 10% fewer homes are permitted. Fourteen municipalities in eastern Massachusetts zone more than 90% of their land area for two-acre lot sizes. Half of the municipalities zone at least one-acre lot sizes on more than half of their land area.

Two Massachusetts research organizations, the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, jointly conducted the study and the results of the research are reported in “Regulation and the Rise of Housing Prices in Greater Boston.”

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Lumber Prices Provided by Random Lengths

Tidy Katrina Cottage One Approach to Rebuilding Effort

As the Mississippi home building industry works to help Gulf Coast residents displaced by the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, its members continue to appreciate signs of progress — like a bright new design for temporary housing unveiled at the International Builders’ Show earlier this month in Orlando, Fla.

The outpouring of help from the fellow home builders and product suppliers of NAHB has been overwhelming, Home Builders Association of Mississippi Executive Officer J. Martin Milstead said at a Jan. 11 press conference during the show.

NAHB Designations Give Members a Competitive Edge

Last year, more than 1,700 members completed their professional designation course work during NAHB’s National Designation Month in February. The designations they earned enabled them to stay well ahead of the curve and have given them an edge over their competition.

Beginning this week and throughout February, The NAHB University of Housing is again sponsoring National Designation Month so members can hone their business skills and convey to their clients the superior training, practical experience and in-depth knowledge that come with earning an NAHB designation.