Blog

On Friday, we discussed some reasons New York’s condo market seems bust-proof. As rates fall across the nation, New York new residential construction remains strong — and prices are higher than ever. But high-end market condo prices aren’t the only rising costs. Just ask any Manhattan renter. The Wealthy New Yorker Tradition In a city in which low vacancies and a high number of residents mean rent can easily push past the $2,000 mark, purchasing a place — even an expensive one — may not seem like quite such a stretch. Buying a really expensive apartment instead of renting one…

This year has not been a good one for most U.S. residential construction markets. Kansas new home projects were 50 percent lower in June than they were a year ago. In Ohio’s Dayton area, residential contracts dropped by 38 percent in July. Northwest Arkansas saw a drop in residential building permits in the second quarter of 2007 — 56 percent less than in 2006,  according to the Arkansas Business. Yet, as different parts of the country report weakening housing markets, news of New York’s strong residential sales continues to spread. New York City will reach its highest construction spending mark…

As the residential market slows … and slows … and slows … we continue to hear reports of various cities and areas that are experiencing unusually solid housing sales. But these neighborhoods aren’t the only sector showing housing growth. Other subsets of the population remain strong prospective buyers. For example, first-time buyers will still, in some varying degree, take advantage of interest rates before they really rise, as they are predicted to do. Still, first-time buyers alone likely won’t move the market back into its previous robust state. However, one category is poised to be a huge influence on the…

Location, location, location: The old saying about what’s most important in  real estate has never held truer than in today’s tough market. Residential property spending has been dropping for months (the average U.S. home sales price dropped from $322,100 in the first quarter to $310,000 in the second quarter of 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.). New properties have stalled on the market, causing many developers to postpone or cancel upcoming developments. But some residential projects are selling — well — and location plays a big part in their success. The Big Apple Goes Crazy for the Great Outdoors…

The long weekend is over — and we’re moving from Labor Day to bad labor news, if you’re a member of the residential building workforce. The Commerce Department announced today that residential housing spending again declined in July, falling 1.4 percent — the sharpest drop since January. Residential spending has now fallen 15.6 percent from July 2006 to 2007 — a situation that is even more serious considering that residential spending had actually fallen consistently before that period, for a record 17 consecutive months, according to Forbes. And … it’s widely expected to decline further before the year ends. Yet…

I had dinner the other night with my Realtor — who expressed a strong dislike for a number of sell-it-yourself Web sites (and also gave me all the neighborhood gossip). Which got me thinking — of all the real estate Web sites, which measure up? Newsweek recently had an interesting breakdown. Check it out for comparisons.

The U.S. housing slump has had an obvious effect on residential construction-related industries. Just ask Home Depot, Sears or paint maker Sherwin-Williams — they’ve all seen stock and/or profit decline this year due to it. Rising home values increased personal wealth in recent years — and now, some analysts worry a further decline in home prices will kill consumer spending and push the U.S. into a recession, according to David C. Wheelock, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The residential market has long been considered to have a key influence on the economy, and as it…

Yesterday’s Out and About blog touched on why universities are embracing green building. They aren’t the only ones. For some of the same — and other unique — reasons, many public grade schools throughout the country are also incorporating sustainability into their new construction plans. Thus far, roughly 60 U.S. schools have been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Another 370 are on the way. The USGBC has also launched the "Green Schools Advocate" Program, which will train volunteers to urge state education and local school boards to make schools green. As more U.S. cities and states encourage sustainability…

August means back-to-school time for thousands of college students across the country — but they aren’t the only ones hitting campus this fall. Green design has made its way into college life, and green university dorms and buildings may be becoming one of the fastest growing sustainable building sectors. Already: More than 300 schools are Green Building Council members, according to the Houston Chronicle. As of April, more than 30 LEED registered campus projects were underway, according to Green Building Council data. And with good reason: Wisely, the USGBC for years has actively recruited student involvement. In 2002, it founded…

Energy costs were always my mother’s main concern about owning a castle. Not that my family ever really considered moving into one. Nevertheless, when reading stories to my sister and I about knights, damsels — and everything that threatens knights and damsels — she would always pause mid fairy tale and say, "Can you imagine how much it would cost to heat that thing?" It added a somewhat practical element to bedtime story hour: But the woman had a point. Castles are drafty, and big. Yet amazingly, my mother apparently was not the only one concerned with royal power costs….