Washington, D.C.–Economists speaking at a National Association of Home Builders-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday said that the residential building and housing markets will be troubled throughout the end of 2008.The housing decline helped force the U.S. economy into a recession that will last through June, economists said. They also predicted that the credit crisis would continue to make financing hard and rising oil prices would keep reducing consumer spending, according to CNNMoney.com.The speakers said they don’t expect a housing recovery until 2009.

Calabasas, Calif.–Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp., was paid a $10.8 million salary and cashed out $121.5 million in stock gains last year as the company crumbled, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public Thursday.The CEO’s 2007 salary was an 80 percent reduction from 2006, when his salary, stock, pension accruals and perks totaled $51 million.Mozilo earned the stock gains by exercising stock options and promptly selling them through automatic trading plans, which allow executives to sell shares in a straight pattern without concerns about insider trading, the Los Angeles Times reports.But Mozilo executed two…

Washington, D.C.–Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House financial services committee, told reporters Thursday that the U.S. recession would be “longer and deeper” than anticipated if lawmakers and the Bush administration didn’t come to terms on new housing legislation.Along with Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd, Frank is encouraging a proposal that would allow the government to intervene in the U.S. mortgage market by using up to $400 billion in taxpayer-backed guarantees.Negotiations are expected to become more tense in the coming weeks as the legislation debate continues, the Financial Times reports.

New York–A class action suit was filed in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday accusing Brown Harris Stevens–one of New York’s oldest real estate firms–of housing discrimination, the New York Times reports.The suit alleges that Brown Harris steered at least one couple away from apartments where children weren’t welcome and attempted to persuade an undercover Fair Housing Justice Center representative who claimed to have a child out of seeing a Brooklyn Heights apartment.The next week, the same office showed the apartment to another Fair Housing tester claiming to be childless, according to the lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages for…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHouston–Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County and Azorim, a Boymelgreen Holdings development company, have partnered to deconstruct the office building and low-rise commercial structures located at San Felipe Street and Woodway Drive, in Houston’s Memorial Villages area. In its place, Azorim will build a 223-unit LEED certified condominium project, which is expected to be ready in spring 2011.The luxury residential development, currently unnamed, is expected to break ground in July 2008, will consist of two 28-story curvilinear towers designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects. Construction cost for project is estimated to be $180 million. Deconstruction is…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWest Orange, N.J.–The township of West Orange, N.J. Mayor John McKeon and redeveloper Prism Capital Partners recently unveiled Phase I of Edison Village, New Jersey’s largest non-waterfront adaptive reuse mixed-use project, at an event attended by more than 250 guests, including former N.J. Governor Richard Codey.Edison Village is situated on 21 acres in West Orange Township’s downtown redevelopment area and will cost approximately $230 million to develop. The project’s master plan, designed by Barton Partners, includes approximately 620 residential housing units, new retail construction and a 630-space parking facility.Phase I of the project includes the…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorPhiladelphia–The Falcone Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based company specializing in real estate, telecommunications and financial industries, is making history with the redevelopment of Two Liberty Place. The building–the second-tallest in Philadelphia–will now become the tallest residential building in the city, and will also afford people the opportunity to live above William Penn’s hat, the landmark situated on top of City Hall. “The lowest residential floor is higher than any condominium that exists in Philadelphia today,” says Albo Antenucci, Jr., managing partner and executive vice president of The Falcone Group. Because this was originally an office building,…

Washington, D.C.–As the start of the spring sales season kicked off, new home sales hit their lowest level in more than 16 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.The median year-to-year new home price dropped by the biggest amount in nearly four decades, according to the New York Times. In March, sales of new homes fell by 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units–the slowest sales pace since 1991.Median home price declined by 13.3 percent from a year ago–the largest annual price drop since July 1970, when prices fell 14.6 percent.

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorWichita, Kan.–Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidy of Uniondale, N.Y.-based Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC, recently funded two loans to refinance two Wichita, Kan. properties totaling 182 residences, Stratford East and Stratford West.The two 10-year loans, which totaled $4,100,000 under the Fannie Mae DUS 3MaxExpress product lines, are on a 30-year repayment schedule and have a note rate of 5.85 percent. “Arbor provided a loan to refinance the existing debt in conjunction with a restructuring of the ownership entity. We had a very short time frame due to some contractual deadlines related to the restructuring. Arbor…

London–U.K. bank mortgage approvals last month fell to their lowest point in more than a decade, according to the London-based British Bankers’ Association.The figures indicate how stricter lending is reducing housing market action, the Financial Times said. Lenders in the U.K. have become more stringent about issuing loans–and also have increased rates and taken away mortgage offers in the past month.BBA members approved 35,417 home purchase mortgages in March–the lowest amount since 1997. All forms of mortgages declined, including refinancings. Since February, the approval level had fallen 18 percent and was 46 percent lower than a year ago.