NBN Online for the week of July 30, 2007

Mortgage Credit Standard Tightening May Be Near an End

The worst of the tightening of credit standards for home mortgages resulting from the emergence of problems in the subprime market early this year may be drawing to an end, NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders told reporters in a July 25 teleconference on the mid-year outlook for the housing industry.

Adjustable-rate mortgages have plummeted to about a 10% share of the loans being used to purchase homes, down from about 40% at the height of the housing boom, he said. And considering the disruption being caused by such nontraditional loans as interest-only and option ARMs, this is “a healthy long-term development” for the marketplace, he said.

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Lumber Prices Provided by Random Lengths

Builders Abandon Business as Usual to Weather Downturn

A new study by the NAHB Research Center identifies how home builders have been changing their operations to deal with the current downturn in the housing industry and suggests ways that building product manufacturers can help them bolster sales and work down unsold inventories.

Presented on July 13 at the Southeast Building Conference in Orlando, the survey-based study found home builders doing whatever they can to weather a slowdown that because of problems with subprime mortgages began to noticeably worsen early this year just as the market was beginning to show some positive signs.

$500,000 Still Available in ‘Buy Now’ Grant Funds, Apply Today

NAHB has more than half a million dollars in “Buy Now” advertising assistance grant money still available to local associations to bolster home sales in markets hit hard by the current housing downturn.

NAHB is encouraging HBAs that have not yet received or been approved to receive grant money to apply today.

To date, 129 HBAs in 38 states have received or been approved to receive just under $2.2 million in NAHB advertising assistance. Including the matching funds that the HBAs contributed, the total value of their advertising campaigns is approximately $6.3 million.

The NAHB “Buy Now” Advertising Assistance Program provides grants to qualifying HBAs in three categories:

• HBAs conducting ad campaigns in the top 10 media markets (Tier 1)
  
  
• HBAs with more than 250 members operating in areas outside of the top 10 major media markets (Tier 2)
  
  
• HBAs with 250 or fewer members (Tier 3)

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