President Bush today announced the highly anticipated interest rate freeze program, designed to help prevent further waves of home foreclosures. The voluntary, private-sector arrangement involves no government funding and will only affect mortgages for owner-occupied homes. You can’t have missed any payments, and the loan has to have been taken out between 2005 and July 30, 2007 and be set to reset in 2008 or 2009, according to MSNBC. “There is no perfect solution,” President Bush said during the announcement. “The homeowners deserve our help. The steps I’ve outlined today are a sensible response to a serious challenge.” (Watch the…

Today’s multi-housingnews.com news included an item about California affordable housing builder AMCAL focusing efforts on market-value apartments. The company plans to build two this year. Why? According to Sid Paul, AMCAL Equities’ Vice President of For-Sale Housing, mortgage restrictions and dwindling loan options in California–which saw some of the greatest increases in property values before the housing slump and some of the biggest declines during it–are prompting more and more residents to rent. "We’re seeing a void for workforce earners who may not be low wage earners, but who may have a need for rental properties," Paul told multi-housingnews.com. Although…

Read all about it–the housing slump has taken a new victim. This time, newspapers are feeling the burn of the housing boom bust. (And–somewhat sadly, yet logically–they’re also the ones to report the news of their lower revenues.) Print periodicals may seem like an unlikely byproduct of the decline in home prices, values, sales–and just about everything else–but two major publishers reported serious ad revenue losses due to the slump last week. As we reported last week, The Chicago Tribune, the second largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., announced last Tuesday that its October revenue dropped 9.3 percent due to…

Today’s news contained a number of stories speculating on what the proposed bailout system would be (and it should be noted almost all stressed no government official feels this is a true bailout–those able to afford higher payments and homeowners seriously at risk likely won’t be helped.) Here’s what we knew this morning about the plan: It Has Tentative Support. Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich said on Monday that U.S. banking regulators are in agreement about a plan to modify subprime mortgages, Reuters reports. Reich said he’s up for freezing the rates for at least three years. The…

It’s not many days we get to link to a newspaper commentary that ends with an attribution like "The writer is heir to the British throne" — so Out and About couldn’t resist sharing Prince Charles’ thoughts on climate issues, published today in the Financial Times. The prince wrote about a climate recommendation that the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change prepared yesterday for the group of world leaders that are scheduled to meet next week in Bali to discuss that very issue. And the 150 U.S., European, Chinese and Australian businesses in the CLGCC — what the prince called…

The number of cities with green building programs has increased 418 percent since 2003. In just four years–wow. Think about it: 418 percent. That’s an increase from 22 to 92, according to the American Institute of Architects, who recently paid for a study of areas with more than 50,000 residents to find out how effective green building policies are. The report, Local Leaders in Sustainability, analyzed 661 communities, according to the online Dexigner publication. We knew cities were signing on to green building — not only have numerous cities tried to establish green building codes, the summer U.S. Conference of…

Following the National Association of Realtors’ data release, today the Commerce Department unveiled its October housing information — and it paints an interesting picture. Home sales were up 1.7 percent last month. Median home prices dropped 8.6 percent from the month prior and is down 13 percent compared to the same time last year (its sharpest drop since September 1981). New home inventories fell (one area in which a decline is a good thing!) 2.3 percent to from a nine-month supply to an 8.5 supply in October. Some industry experts think the sales increase is linked to builders who are…

The National Association of Realtors has released its data on October home sales, and the results are — despite the group’s trademark positive outlook — really somewhat disappointing. Pre-owned home sales hit their lowest point ever; so did home prices. October, in fact, marked the eighth consecutive month home sales dropped, according to CNNMoney.com. Some more "highlights:" Single-Family Homes Suffered. The annual pace of single-family home sales in October was 4.37 million, the same as September. However, September showed the lowest annual pace since early 1998 — so holding steady was nothing to celebrate. Condos Aren’t in the Clear. The…

We all know the U.S. housing market is rocky — but does the rest of the world feel that way? Maybe not. As the subprime crisis threatens international banks, some other countries have expressed interest in investing in U.S. commercial and other markets. Building comes in waves — and some may be ready to ride it out. Curious? Some suggested reading:Real Estate Has More Appeal Outside the U.S.: Jane Bryant Quinn  British Real Estate Investor Sees Potential in U.S. After Subprime Crisis

The city of Portland is premiering a new green building initiative — and it’s just one phone call away. The green building hotline was designed to give businesses, developers and residents information about green materials, indoor air quality, energy efficiency and more, according to GreenBuildings.com. The hotline also helps by offering information about financial incentives for residential and commercial buildings, new or pre-existing. Why did Portland set up its green hotline? A month ago, a report about green building’s economic pluses commissioned by several Portland agencies was released. The report was made to kick-start conversation in the Portland building industry…