NBN Online for the week of October 26, 2009

Housing Not Out of the Woods Despite Growing Economy

It’s a pretty safe guess that the U.S. economy is now on the road to recovery, according to economists participating in NAHB’s Fall Construction Forecast Conference in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 21. But the end of the recession, they said, doesn’t necessarily mean that troubles for the housing industry are over.

Housing appears to have stabilized, with both single-family home sales and production activity heading for higher ground, they said, with the multifamily sector trailing behind. The severity of the downturn from which the nation is now emerging, however, has made it more difficult to know exactly what to expect in the period ahead.

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NAHB Sounds Legislative Alert on Tax Credit Extension

With the expiration of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit just weeks away, NAHB last week stepped up its “Revive Housing, Restore America” campaign, asking association members to participate in a grassroots push for the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit.

Members are encouraged to log on to www.capitolconnect.com/builderlink to send a letter to their individual lawmakers or call 866-924-6242 (NAHB) and urge their senators and representative to extend and expand the home buyer tax credit to create jobs, reduce foreclosures and excess housing inventories, and to push housing and the economy on the path to recovery.

Builders Assist Flood Recovery Effort in Atlanta Region

At the end of last month when severe flooding brought an estimated $250 million in damages to homes and businesses in 17 counties around the metro Atlanta area, the local home builders associations in the most severely-affected counties immediately stepped in to help their communities recover and rebuild.

With the help of the NAHB staff, the HBAs — the Greater Atlanta HBA (GAHBA), the Westside HBA in Douglasville and the Paulding County BA in Dallas — quickly organized consumer and contractor workshops, posted flood recovery information on their Web sites and reached out to the media with information for home owners.