NBN Online for the week of June 19, 2006

Supreme Court Rules Against Excessive Regulation

In a step forward for affordable housing and the battle against excessive regulation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday remanded to the lower courts a decision on whether wetlands connected to actual navigable waters by ditches or drains can be regulated under the Clean Water Act.

In a plurality decision, the court reversed and remanded Rapanos v. United States, No. 04-1034, and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 04-1384, back to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, holding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' broad interpretation of "waters of the United States" was not based on a permissible construction of the statute.

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Harvard Predicts Continuing House Price Appreciation

Rising interest rates and cooling demand from speculators are bringing the nation’s housing boom to an end, but there are scant signs of any bust on the horizon, according to this year’s “State of the Nation’s Housing” report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

And on the heels of a five-year stretch of unprecedented home price appreciation, the report finds, prices are likely to continue going up, just not at a torrid pace, which will continue to draw healthy numbers of new home buyers to the marketplace.

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Home Builders Blitz Builds 400 Habitat Homes in One Week

Earlier this month, Habitat for Humanity affiliates and more than 1,000 building industry professionals joined forces to build more than 400 houses in 130 communities across the country during Home Builders Blitz 2006.

“Never before have so many Habitat homes been built so quickly,” said Kevin Campbell, director of the national Home Builders Blitz program for Habitat for Humanity. “Partnering with professional home builders allowed Habitat affiliates to increase the number of homes they build, while builders helped their communities by doing what they do best.”

“NAHB is proud to participate in such a meaningful event by supplying the professional builders and tradesmen needed to construct the Habitat homes throughout the country,” said NAHB President David Pressly.