Washington, D.C.–Mortgage application volume dropped 11.1 percent in the week ending April 25, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.The Washington, D.C.-headquartered association’s application index declined from 637.6 the week before to 567, according to BusinessWeek.Purchase application volume fell 4.8 percent. Refinance volume declined 16.7 percent. Refinance applications comprised 45.7 percent of all applications.The index hit its record high–1,856.7–in May 2003.

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorKent, Wash.–GE Real Estate recently provided a $30.3 million loan to Kennedy Wilson Inc. for the acquisition and repositioning of James Street Crossing Apartments, a 300-unit apartment complex in Kent, Wash. The property includes 21 garden-style apartment buildings, clubhouse and fitness center. The complex is located about 20 miles south of Seattle. Built in 1989, the Class B asset is 93 percent occupied. Kennedy Wilson will invest $3.81 million for interior and exterior renovations and increase the number of outdoor parking spaces.Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Management’s west coast division acquires, manages and redevelops multifamily properties. It currently owns…

Washington, D.C.–The FHA Secure program has helped fewer than 2,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, according to federal housing data. In recent weeks, FHA officials have said that more than 150,000 people have taken part in the program to refinance at-risk mortgages into government-issued loans.However, most of the homeowners who have refinanced through FHA Secure have been ones who paid their mortgage on time–not homeowners in immediate danger, the New York Times said Wednesday.Initially, housing officials said that the program would help 60,000 borrowers; they are now saying the actual demand from homeowners was much lower than anticipated.Yet officials feel the program…

Washington, D.C.–Construction spending fell 1.1 percent last month, fueled by the largest residential construction spending decline in 26 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.January and February’s numbers were revised upward. Total construction spending is now 3.4 percent lower than last year, according to MarketWatch. In March, private-sector residential project spending dropped 4.6 percent–the biggest reduction since 1981. For the year, residential project spending is down 19.9 percent.Spending for private, nonresidential projects–with a push from communications and lodgings projects–increased 1.9 percent and is up 15.4 percent from 2007.

By Lisa Iannucci, Green Building Correspondent EcoTimber, a supplier of wood products from environmentally sound sources in San Rafael, Calif., created a new, patented woven bamboo flooring product. This is a new form of bamboo flooring from sustainably-harvested, rapidly-renewable, Timber Bamboo. Grown without pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers, this woven bamboo can be sanded and refinished just like hardwood.EcoTimber CEO, Lewis Buchner, talks to MHN about the company’s new product and what can be expected in the future.MHN: What is “woven bamboo”?Buchner: Woven bamboo is made from long strands of bamboo about the size of a chopstick, mixed with a non-formaldehyde…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorWashington, D.C.–The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has named Mike Patellis its 2008 Registered in Apartment Manager (RAM) Professional of the Year. Patellis is the founder of Patellis Property Management Co., headquartered in Marietta, Ga., and is one of few property managers to receive the advanced RAM designation.RAM is a NAHB-run comprehensive educational program offered to property managers of market rate and affordable apartments, condominiums and cooperative housing.“Mike is an outstanding RAM instructor and he has co-authored the RAM textbook,” says Henry Dubro, a property manager at Douglas Elliman Property Management, who was the 2007…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Closings have begun on the first of 63 units at the TriBeCa Summit, the former historic warehouse located at 415 Greenwich St., which has been converted to luxury condos by developers Joel J. Silver and Ethan C. Eldon.          Constructed in 1912, the TriBeCa Summit was once the Summit Warehouse, one of the storage and distribution centers in TriBeCa’s wholesale food market district. The Tribeca Summit condos are designed by H. Thomas O’Hara Architects in collaboration with Conceptual Architect Anthony Morali of M Studio. The building features two- and four-bedroom lofts, and penthouse duplexes and…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–In ongoing efforts to combat climate change, lawmakers at all levels are increasingly looking to apartment owners and developers to further improve the energy-efficiency of their buildings. “But if policymakers impose unrealistic energy-efficiency mandates on the sector, the cost to develop properties will spiral, exacerbating the affordable housing shortage,” according to a new report by the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA), titled “Strategies and Costs to Exceed ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Requirements in a Multifamily Apartment Building.”“In the past year, numerous proposals at federal, local and state levels, have been…

London–Writing Wednesday in the Financial Times, Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, proposed using low-cost government loans to help homeowners pay down pricey mortgages.The new government loans–which would be interest-free for the first five years–would fund up to 20 percent of the value of pre-existing mortgages. Lenders would in turn lower payments on the remainder of the mortgage to more affordable levels based on a percentage of the homeowner’s income and would pay a fee to balance out the government’s funding costs over the five-year initiation period.“Voluntary loan modifications have helped,” Bair said.” But it is not…

Washington, D.C.–The housing decline and low consumer confidence hampered the economy in the first three months of 2008–but inventory growth and exports helped prevent a contraction, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.In the first quarter, the gross domestic product increased at a 0.6 percent annual rate.But the economy slowed. G.D.P. had grown at a 4.9 percent page in 2007’s third quarter–before the subprime fallout began spreading past the mortgage sector, the New York Times reports.After declining 25 percent at the end of 2007, the residential sector fell at a 26.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter. Housing market issues…