Archive for May 2008

Flintshire, U.K.–Redrow, one of the U.K.’s biggest homebuilders, became the first major homebuilder to eliminate jobs during the housing decline on Tuesday, the Telegraph reports.Roughly 15 percent of Redrow’s workforce–200 people–already have been laid off and more cuts may be on the way, according to the Telegraph. The typically busy spring sales season has been…

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called the status of the financial market “far from normal” Tuesday and warned that no regulation could prevent another liquidity crisis, the Times Online reports.Bernanke, speaking via satellite to a financial markets conference audience, said the Fed was ready to raise the amount lent to commercial banks to…

Washington, D.C.–As the U.S. works to recover from the recent housing and credit market fallouts, the Federal Reserve is rethinking the way it handles asset price bubbles–which could result in the Fed using regulation or interest rates to battle increases, the Financial Times said Wednesday.Former chairman Alan Greenspan’s notion that central banks shouldn’t touch asset…

McLean, Va.–Freddie Mac said Wednesday that foreclosures and declining home prices cost it $1.45 billion in credit-related expenses in the first quarter, the Washington Post reports.The expenses were 58.8 percent higher than the previous quarter and were a 452.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007.The McLean-based agency said it lost $151 million in…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Time Equities Inc. (TEI), headquartered in New York, recently launched the company’s residential brokerage division, which will offer the company’s existing and new clients access to sales and rental listings in non-TEI New York City and New Jersey properties in addition to all TEI projects.Under the leadership of Roberta…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHyattsville, Md.–Alliant Capital closed a $8,289,500 second loan, collateralized by the Avondale Overlook Apartments, a 247-unit high-rise apartment complex in Hyattsville, Md.The 13-story building, built in 1966, has been substantially renovated and the new loan is being used to pay back the equity partners who bore the cost of the…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorChicago–In the past five years, smoking bans have come into effect in many apartment and condo communities as landlords and residents continue to push the cause through a growing and voluntary movement, according to Apartments.com, which recently conducted a national survey of renters on the topic.While the majority of renters…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–Construction on No. 10 Park, Lane Co.’s newest development, has begun. The $60 million luxury rental community, located at Perimeter Center East and Ashford Dunwoody Road, features 312 units. The first residents are expected to move in by the summer of 2009, followed by completion of the entire project in…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorMinneapolis–Eitel Building City Apartments, a 213-unit adaptive reuse luxury apartment community developed by Village Green Cos., combines modern green building with a piece of the city’s history by incorporating a part of Eitel Hospital into the project.The development’s interior design is more streamlined and Asian-inspired. “We kept the historic elements of…