Atlanta–Home Depot–one of the nation’s largest retailers, specializing in homebuilding supplies–announced a 10 percent layoff Thursday at its Atlanta headquarters, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Approximately 500 of the company’s 5,000 employees were told they would lose their jobs as the result of the national housing decline and slowing economic growth. Home Depot did not specify which jobs were being eliminated.Corporate spokesman Ron DeFeo said the employees given notice Thursday will be gone by the end of the week. Home Depot hasn’t made any large job reductions at its main location since 2006. In November, Home Depot posted a 27 percent…

Washington, D.C.–U.S. employment fell unexpectedly in January for the first time in more than four years, prompting a new wave of concern that the economy would slide into a recession, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.However, a small decline in unemployment and a positive revision to December payroll growth may indicate some hope for the troubled U.S. economy, The Wall Street Journal reports.Nonfarm payrolls dropped 17,000 in January, the first decrease since August 2003. Gains in the health care, retail trade and leisure industries made up for declines in the manufacturing, construction, financial services and government sectors.Revised…

New York–Forget criticizing the traditional ARM’s role in the subprime mortgage crisis; mortgage bankers, industry experts and nonprofit officials say that the effect from a rarely discussed loan called the Option ARM could mean more headaches for prime and subprime borrowers in the future.”So far the public is largely unaware Option ARMs are going to cause problems,” Scott Stern, chief executive of Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, told The New York Times. “But mortgage servicers know what’s looming in the pipeline.”According to industry experts, a system encouraged mortgage brokers to sell more Option ARMs than traditional loans to get higher commissions–which…

Miami–Influenced by the housing market, the U.S. commercial real estate market will see increased losses and bank failures in the coming months, according to a leading bank regulator.Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan–of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which charters, regulates and supervises all national banks and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks–said regulators have become increasingly concerned about the state of U.S. banks that have been damaged by the housing market, the Financial Times reported Friday.“We’re entering a stage of the commercial real estate credit cycle where problems have started to surface and losses…

Los Angeles–Charles Dunn Co., a partner of Los Angeles-based-GVA Worldwide, has negotiated the sale of a 27-unit apartment building in Los Angeles on behalf of the seller, N2 Ventures LLC and Silver Oak Holdings LLC, for $8.2 million.The 30,590-sq.-ft. apartment building is located at 3325 S. Canfield Ave. in Los Angeles and had100 percent occupancy at the closing of escrow. The rents for the one-,two-,and three-bedroom apartments range from $250 to $2,850.Michel Hibbert, senior managing director of the investment services group in the Los Angeles office of Charles Dunn, represented N2 Ventures and Silver Oak Holdings. Michael Balson of Miller…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C–Doris W. Koo, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, a provider of development capital and expertise to affordable homes, testified this week before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on the housing crises and its effects on communities across the U.S.In her hearing titled “Strengthening our Economy: Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Preservation,” Koo called on Congress to invest in stabilizing low- and moderate-income communities that have been disproportionately impacted by rising numbers of foreclosures while simultaneously stimulating the American economy.Koo was part of a four-person panel selected to represent…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorJersey City, N.J.—“A” Condominiums, a 33-story complex, developed by the Athena Group and located on Washington Boulevard and First St. in Jersey City, opened this week. The 250-unit complex, which has 10,500 sq.-ft. of retail space, has sold more than 80 percent of the units.The building has one-and two-bedroom apartments ranging in price from $400,000 to $1.2 million.“A” Condominiums (pictured) is designed by the international architectural firm RMJM Hillier to integrate existing local brick architecture with contemporary glass buildings. The building’s architecture is aimed at incorporating the typology and scale of the New York City…

Denver–GID Investment Advisers LLC has acquired The District at Southmoor Station, a mixed-use property containing 276 luxury apartment units and 16,617-sq.-ft. retail space. The property is located at the intersection of Interstate-25 and Hampden Avenue, near the Southmoor Station stop on the Regional Transit District light rail.The building includes studios, lofts, and one-and two-bedroom apartments with average rents of $1,300.Amenities include a swimming pool, resident lounge, fitness center, business center and a 5-story parking garage. The apartments include stainless steel and black appliances, granite counter tops, wood cabinetry in the kitchen and full-size washer & dryers in all units. Matt…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Greenbelt, Brooklyn’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified condominium project is opening at 361 Manhattan Ave., with sales for the project expected to begin in February 2008.The eight-unit building includes one- and two-bedroom condominiums ranging in price from $599,000 to 815,000.Greenbelt was designed to save more than 40 percent on energy use and 30 percent on water usage as well as to improve the indoor air quality. 40 percent of the materials used in the construction of the building are recycled, rapidly renewable and certified.“Greenbelt integrates every aspect of an environmentally…

New York–As U.S. regional banks, credit unions and global financial institutions write down the value of their holdings, deficits from subprime mortgage-related securities could total more than $265 billion, according to Standard & Poor’s.The New York-based ratings agency put $534 billion of bonds and collateralized debt obligations connected with subprime home loans on review Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.In addition, Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday that losses from mortgages packaged into bonds in 2006 likely will be between 14 and 18 percent.Banks and securities firms including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. have comprised most of the $90 billion in writedowns…