NBN Online for the week of April 23, 2007

Rental Apartments a Bright Spot in a Dim Housing Market

Against ongoing uncertainty about deepening problems with subprime mortgages and what speculators who jumped into the housing market too late for a quick profit will decide to do, multifamily developers and analysts at the NAHB Pillars of the Industry multifamily conference in Hollywood, Fla. earlier this month agreed that condominiums in some of the formerly most overheated markets will be “in the doldrums” well into 2008.

“We’re in for a fairly ugly correction,” said Ron Terwilliger, president of Atlanta-based multifamily developer Trammel Crow Residential. “It’s not that condominiums are just bad,” he said, “for-sale housing is bad.”

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Lumber Prices Provided by Random Lengths

Supreme Court Hears NAHB Clean Water Permit Arguments

After a protracted battle through the lower courts, NAHB v. The Defenders of Wildlife reached the U.S. Supreme Court last week and oral arguments were heard on Tuesday, April 17.

At issue is whether the federal government needs to consider the Endangered Species Act before transferring permitting authority to the states under the Clean Water Act. Both NAHB and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say it doesn’t.

Builders Need to Keep Teens Safe in Summer Jobs

Minors working in construction run twice the risk of fatal injuries as employees aged 25 to 44, according to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Report.

OSHA, with the support of NAHB, is working to reduce this statistic with its 2007 Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign, an educational program created to help keep teenagers safe and healthy on the job.

“Through this campaign, we hope to instill a culture of safety and health at a young age in America's next generation of employees,” said Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., OSHA assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

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‘Buy Now’ Advertising Assistance Nears $1 Million. Apply Now.

If your local association is currently engaged in an ongoing advertising campaign in print, radio or television outlets, or if you are planning such a campaign, have your association apply for a “Buy Now” matching advertising assistance grant from NAHB. HBAs from around the country have already applied and have begun to receive their assistance funds. 

To date, 51 local associations have applied for advertising assistance grants from the $1 million to be awarded during the first phase of the program, and $997,443 has been approved. The total cost of their campaigns is $3.5 million. 

Another $2 million will be made available if the advertising assistance program is successful, and HBAs are encouraged to apply now.

NAHB launched the multi-million dollar grant program last month to assist local home builders associations in an effort to bolster home sales in markets hit hard by the current housing downturn and help offset the cost of local ad campaigns.