Regions

London–The Bank of England cut interest rates from 5.5 to 5.25 percent after housing and the economy in the U.K. declined, BBCNews reported Thursday.The international credit crisis also influenced the rate cut decision. The bank said in a statement that “the prospects for output growth abroad have deteriorated and the disruption to global financial markets has continued.”Still, even with the central bank’s decision, many U.K. citizens were worried some lenders wouldn’t offer the cut to mortgage customers. However, several banks–including Halifax, NatWest, Nationwide, Abbey and the Royal Bank of Scotland–have said they will reduce their standard variable rates. Other banks–including…

Fort Worth, Texas–D.R. Horton Inc.–the largest U.S. residential builder by volume–announced a fiscal first quarter loss and said it feels the housing decline will continue, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.Horton posted a net loss of $128.8 million, or 41 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. In the same quarter in 2006, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company’s net income was $109.7 million, or 35 cents a share. Revenue dropped to $1.71 billion, a 39 percent decrease. “Market conditions remained challenging in our December quarter as inventory levels of both new and existing homes remained high while pricing…

S&P Releases Plan to Renovate Its Rating SystemNew York–Standard and Poor’s announced detailed plans Thursday to revamp its rating system, the Financial Times reports.The reform plan contains 27 action points, which center around four main areas. The first involves restructuring New York-based S&P governance procedures to remove any potential conflicts of interest. The ratings agency will appoint an ombudsman and hire an outside firm to oversee compliance and publish its results. The second focus area includes plans to confirm credit rating accuracy by taking factors such as trading liquidity and valuation of securities into account.S&P’s third area of improvement involves…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–151 Wooster St., a condominium complex owned and developed by Michael and Izak Namer of alfa development, will open in New York’s SoHo neighborhood in spring 2008.Located between Prince and Houston Streets, Wooster has ten lofts and one penthouse ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 sq. ft. The price is between $3.75 and $10 million. “As a longtime SoHo resident as well as a practicing artist and developer, it was important to me that 151 Wooster reflect authentic Soho living,” says Michael Namer, principal of alfa development. “Those residents who appreciate classic SoHo want to…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorFt. Carson, Colo.–The first batch of 832 modular units has arrived on site at Ft. Carson, where the Warrior Group, a DeSoto, Texas-based provider of modular buildings, is developing a four-building, four-story permanent modular complex.Hensel-Phelps Construction Co., the general contractor to the US Army, is responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of approximately 500,000 sq. ft. of barracks and related facilities to accommodate and relocate soldiers to Ft. Carson as the US Army executes on the Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) 2005, re-positioning and Army transformation initiatives. The complex at Ft. Carlson is expected…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPortland, Ore.–Sperry Van Ness has completed the sale of Forest and Garden Apartments, a 51-unit apartment community, to Portland-based Real Estate Recovery Associates-13th St. Investors LLC for $4.75 million.  The property is located near the 5, 84 and 405 freeways at NW 20th and Hoyt/Irving St. in Portland.Bill Younce, CCIM, RECS of Sperry Van Ness represented the buyer and Riverview Bank Trust Department represented the seller, a Portland-based family trust. According to Younce, the community sold at 3.6 percent cap rate. Built in 1925 on .64 acres of land, the two-building property was 100 percent occupied…

By Keat Foong, Executive EditorOrlando, Fla.—Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) economists discussed the economy, the capital and commercial real estate financing markets, as well as the multifamily sector at MBA’s recent annual conference held here this week. Real GDP growth in the U.S. will be less than 1 percent in the first half and 2 to 2.5 percent in the second half, forecasted Douglas Duncan [pictured, left], MBA senior vice president and chief economist, research and business development.  Duncan said that the downturn in the single family housing market is the biggest driver of the slowdown in the overall economy. He…

New York–Stocks saw their worst daily decline in almost a year Tuesday, the Financial Times reports.The S&P 500 fell 3.2 percent on Tuesday–its worst day since February 27. The results brought the S&P’s losses thus far in 2008 to almost 9 percent: Its worst annual start on record. The FTSE 100 index dropped by 2.63 percent Tuesday.Stocks were affected by disappointing service sector news and the failure of several international economies to embrace the United States’ suggestion for a global stimulus package, according to the Times.Data from the Institute for Supply Management that indicated non-manufacturing business activity dropped from a…

Horsham, Penn.–Toll Brothers Inc., headquartered in Horsham, Penn., said Wednesday that–compared to a year ago–its fiscal first quarter revenue dropped 22 percent to $842.7 million, The Wall Street Journal reports.The homebuilder said it expects to see more problems from the ongoing housing decline and, although it is still finalizing exact figures, expects pretax writedowns of between $150 million and $300 million.”The housing market remains very weak in most areas,” said chairman and CEO Robert Toll. “Based on current traffic and deposits, we are not yet seeing much light at the end of the tunnel.”Toll Brothers’ backlog declined to $2.4 billion–down…

New York–The nonprofit company that invests on behalf of 8,400 local credit unions lost its AAA Standard & Poor’s rating after announcing a $760 million drop in the value of its subprime-related securities, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The U.S. Central Federal Credit Union’s rating was reduced by one level to AA+. New York-based S&P may downgrade U.S. Central again if its investments decline further, said analyst Robert Hoban.”With the housing market weakening to levels not seen since the early 1990s down-cycle, we expect U.S. Central’s large portfolio of mortgage-related securities to further decline in value,” Hoban said. “Earnings and capital measures…