Washington, D.C.–The Senate confirmed President Bush’s pick for the new head of the Housing and Urban Development Department, the New York Times reported Thursday.Steven Preston–former Small Business Administration Administrator and prior executive at ServiceMaster Co., a network of more than 5,000 home care businesses–will be the new housing secretary.Preston will serve as a key representative in the ongoing debate over the legislation to allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages, the Times said.

Washington, D.C.–As construction jobs disappear, Hispanics–who comprised the majority of the building work force during housing’s growth years–are struggling, according to a new study by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center.In the first quarter of 2008, Hispanics’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 6.5 percent; the unemployment rate for non-Hispanics was 4.7 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.The construction decline cost Hispanics jobs in the past year. Weekly earnings dropped from $512 a week in 2006 to $480 a week in the first quarter of this year.The housing slump didn’t affect Hispanics at first–even as the decline began, they were…

New York–Large credit rating agencies are close to reaching an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo about reworking their business practices, the Washington Post reports.Standard & Poor’s said it had settled on a plan but details were still being finalized to “help ensure our ratings process continues to be of the highest quality.”The other two major agencies–Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings–declined to comment, the Post said.As a result of the mortgage market collapse, Cuomo has been investigating how ratings agencies–which have been criticized for inaccurately judging mortgage investment risks in the past–charge bond issuers.

Edinburgh–U.K. home prices showed their most severe annual decline in 15 years, according to a new survey from Edinburgh-based Halifax, which is the nation’s biggest mortgage lender.The median home price dropped 2.4 percent in May. Prices are down 3.8 percent compared to the same period in 2007, the Telegraph said.The decline in home prices–along with the fact the government hasn’t given itself much space to cut taxes–has created an unsteady forecast for the British economy. On Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said that the U.K. could be vulnerable to the worst economic decline since the 1990s.

By Rachel Block, ReporterIrvine, Calif.–LeasingDesk recently integrated corporate housing functionality into its resident screening product.“I think our clients helped us choose to go this route,” says David Carner, vice president of LeasingDesk Resident Screening. “A lot of applicants are renting for companies — our customers need to run criminal and sex-offender background checks and make sure they will pay the rent. The old way was to take an application and fax to the screening company, then pull up the Dun and Bradstreet report (the most well-known business report) and fax a copy of the results back to the customer.” The…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAlton, Ill.–Gundaker Commercial Group and the Illinois Housing Development Authority recently completed a $12.4 million workforce housing project located in Alton, Ill.“Alton Pointe replaces a blighted apartment complex that for years was the center of gang-related activities and drug deals,” says Andrew Koenig, AIA, and the project’s architect. “The fact that unit applications were pouring in during the first week of the project being on the market is proof that this is a long-awaited and needed project for the community.”Alton Pointe Apartments fills a much-needed demand for affordable housing in Madison County, according to Koenig….

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorCincinnati–Red Stone Partners recently closed on the direct purchase of $14,128,000 of 5.85 percent fixed rate tax-exempt bonds. The proceeds from the bonds will be used to acquire and renovate two properties located in Cincinnati containing a total of 269 multifamily rental units. The properties benefit from long-term project based Section 8 HAP contracts. Equity was raised through the sale of 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).The transaction combined acquisition/rehabilitation and permanent financing.Red Stone provided the borrower with a single source of bond financing to fund the acquisition and renovation of the property…

By Lisa Iannucci, Green Building CorrespondentAtlanta–Although many green-building projects are working toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) achievement, some companies are implementing green techniques without applying for certification.Eastside, a new 14.8-acre mixed-use development in Dallas and a collaboration of Post Properties, Skyrise Properties and Greenway Investment Inc., is one such project. The development will transform an existing office building and parking lot into 80,000 sq. ft. of retail and 435 apartments. Leasing availability started in March this year. The project employs several green building techniques including xeriscaping, which minimizes the need for irrigation. Post, the developer of the…

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorNew York–Top executives of both AvalonBay Communities Inc. (and Camden Property Trust noted in their presentations at REIT (real estate investment trust) Week 2008 that this year’s multifamily activities have been, to paraphrase the title of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, “a tale of two markets” for them, with some metros posting even better-than-expected results while a few others have been underperforming. Given overall housing fundamentals, both company execs said they are optimistic going forward, and expect that rental units in their extensive development pipelines to be coming on line in 2010 will be just in…

Washington, D.C.–Almost 1 in 10 U.S. homeowners faced foreclosure or defaulted on their payments in the first three months of 2008, according to a Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association report released Thursday.The January to March quarter was the worst for homeowners in a quarter-century. The rate of new foreclosures and late payments reached the highest level since 1979, according to the New York Times.The statistics indicated that–although mortgage problems were most severe for homeowners with subprime loans–issues existed in multiple levels of the mortgage sector. Even borrowers with good credit now have been affected.In addition, four states that have shown…