Regions

Flintshire, U.K.–Redrow, one of the U.K.’s biggest homebuilders, became the first major homebuilder to eliminate jobs during the housing decline on Tuesday, the Telegraph reports.Roughly 15 percent of Redrow’s workforce–200 people–already have been laid off and more cuts may be on the way, according to the Telegraph. The typically busy spring sales season has been sluggish due to increasingly tighter lending standards. Home cancellation rates had been about 20 percent but recently have “markedly increased,” the Flintshire-based builder said.

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called the status of the financial market “far from normal” Tuesday and warned that no regulation could prevent another liquidity crisis, the Times Online reports.Bernanke, speaking via satellite to a financial markets conference audience, said the Fed was ready to raise the amount lent to commercial banks to keep a steady state of liquidity.Noting that the process could “take some time,” he also encouraged fund management groups and banks to raise new capital for potential future upsets and suggested they enhance their risk management measures.Bernanke’s comments–along with negative U.S. home price results and…

Washington, D.C.–As the U.S. works to recover from the recent housing and credit market fallouts, the Federal Reserve is rethinking the way it handles asset price bubbles–which could result in the Fed using regulation or interest rates to battle increases, the Financial Times said Wednesday.Former chairman Alan Greenspan’s notion that central banks shouldn’t touch asset bubbles, concentrating instead on correcting the aftermath once they rupture, is being reconsidered.The Fed may approach asset bubbles differently, according to the Times, possibly using monetary policy to act proactively or setting interest rates higher when asset prices appear to be rising too rapidly.Although it…

McLean, Va.–Freddie Mac said Wednesday that foreclosures and declining home prices cost it $1.45 billion in credit-related expenses in the first quarter, the Washington Post reports.The expenses were 58.8 percent higher than the previous quarter and were a 452.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007.The McLean-based agency said it lost $151 million in the three months ended March 31. By selling more common and preferred stock, Freddie Mac plans to raise $5.5 billion in capital to help meet the troubled housing market’s needs, Chief Financial Officer Anthony S. “Buddy” Piszel said in a news release.

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Time Equities Inc. (TEI), headquartered in New York, recently launched the company’s residential brokerage division, which will offer the company’s existing and new clients access to sales and rental listings in non-TEI New York City and New Jersey properties in addition to all TEI projects.Under the leadership of Roberta Axelrod, director of residential sales, rentals and conversions and Maggie Ocampo, residential brokerage manager, TEI to hire 10 employees for the division. Six people have already been hired and the division is open for business.As members of The Real Estate Boards of New York and…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHyattsville, Md.–Alliant Capital closed a $8,289,500 second loan, collateralized by the Avondale Overlook Apartments, a 247-unit high-rise apartment complex in Hyattsville, Md.The 13-story building, built in 1966, has been substantially renovated and the new loan is being used to pay back the equity partners who bore the cost of the renovation.Renovations included replacement of the roof, elevator cars and equipment, fire alarm system, exit signs, and selected building entry doors. Exterior brick veneer has been tuck pointed, exterior concrete pilasters and upper-floor concrete decks were repaired as required, and new railings have been installed. 193…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorChicago–In the past five years, smoking bans have come into effect in many apartment and condo communities as landlords and residents continue to push the cause through a growing and voluntary movement, according to Apartments.com, which recently conducted a national survey of renters on the topic.While the majority of renters surveyed (62 percent) by Apartments.com do not smoke, opinions on whether or not to ban smoking in apartment communities were almost equal on both sides. A slight majority (45 percent) of renters surveyed do not believe that smoking should be banned in apartment communities, while…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–Construction on No. 10 Park, Lane Co.’s newest development, has begun. The $60 million luxury rental community, located at Perimeter Center East and Ashford Dunwoody Road, features 312 units. The first residents are expected to move in by the summer of 2009, followed by completion of the entire project in the fall.“The Perimeter area is one of the strongest markets in the metro Atlanta area,” John Bell, development partner for Lane Southeast LLC, tells MHN. “Low apartment vacancies and strong job growth will mean a continued demand for luxury apartments,” he added.The project features one-…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorMinneapolis–Eitel Building City Apartments, a 213-unit adaptive reuse luxury apartment community developed by Village Green Cos., combines modern green building with a piece of the city’s history by incorporating a part of Eitel Hospital into the project.The development’s interior design is more streamlined and Asian-inspired. “We kept the historic elements of the hospital and added to it a more contemporary feel,” says Andrea Roebker, director of public relations for Village Green, based in Farmington Hills, Mich.As an environmentally conscious project, Eitel has an underground tank to filter sediments and control water quality before it leaves the…

London–London’s property market saw the most widespread price drops in 14 years in April due in part to a financial services sector decline and reduced lending, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.The number of residential property agents and surveyors who found prices declined surpassed the amount that reported growth by 94 percentage points in April–the lowest amount since records began in 1994. Bloomberg said.The surveyors’ country-wide reading fell to negative 95.1–the lowest reading since 1978.Last month, banks hiked the cost of their most popular mortgages up to the highest level in eight years, Bloomberg said. By 2011, London…