Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real,americast.usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Tue, Sep 8 1992 Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 04:30:16 EDT Message-ID: 09-08 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update Sept. 8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MORTGAGES DROP BELOW 8%: Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.94% last week, according to a national survey released Friday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The decline follows a rise to 8.01% last week and brings the rate back near the 19-year low of 7.87% set two weeks earlier. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.24%, down from 5.26% last week. WORLD HOUSING ASSURES COMMITTEE: World Housing Inc. has assured the "We Will Rebuild" committee in South Florida that components for 100 "World House" units can be supplied daily. The house can be assembled in less than 15 minutes by four workers and should ease the burden of hurricane victims left homeless. Inherent energy savings of the house reduces energy requirements by more than 50%. EUROTUNNEL DENIES REPORTS: Eurotunnel Plc denied reports Monday that it must settle its dispute with contractor Transmanche Link by this evening or risk losing its next installment of funding. Eurotunnel, which commissioned the construction of Europe's biggest infrastructure project - the tunnel beneath the English Channel - has continued talks with TML about more than $2 billion in cost overruns. EUROTUNNEL TO TALK WITH BANKS: Eurotunnel Plc said Monday it will talk with agent banks and its syndicate next month regarding negotiations with contractor Transmanche Link and additional waivers to allow it to draw on its credit line. Eurotunnel's cash flow problems were aggravated when it delayed the opening of the tunnel beneath the English Channel from April 15, 1993 to Sept. 15, 1993. JAPANESE BANKS MAY HELP LOANERS: Major Japanese banks are debating measures to help housing loan institutions dispose of non-performing loans and real estate assets held as collateral against those loans, Bloomberg Business News said Monday. Banks such as Mitsubishi Bank and Industrial Bank of Japan, are planning to buy non-performing loans from the loan institutions, then sell the land pledged as collateral to an entity set up for the purpose, the paper said. FEMA ORDERS MOBILE HOMES: Mobile homes can assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house some of the victims of Hurricane Andrew in Dade, Broward, Collier and Monroe Counties in Florida, FEMA officials said Monday. The mobile homes are being hauled to the area from storage centers; a total of 200 have arrived at a FEMA staging site. FEMA will first attempt to find permanent apartments for applicants. FEMA DELIVERS ASSISTANCE: The Federal Emergency Management Agency Saturday delivered almost $1 million worth of checks for temporary housing to victims of Hurricane Andrew. Over $3 million in federal disaster aid checks for housing has been delivered. In addition to the FEMA amounts, the Small Business Administration has issued $1.5 million in checks representing 58 loans to homeowners, renters and business owners. U.K. COMPANIES CUT DIVIDENDS: Three major U.K. building companies will cut their dividends next week, as the construction industry reels from a housing slump and sharp decline in commercial building, Bloomberg Business News reported Monday. It said a cut in Amec Plc and George Wimpey Plc dividends would be the biggest shock to the stock market. Taylor Woodrow is the third company which will cut dividends. YUMA LED MANUFACTURED HOUSING: Yuma, Ariz., had the highest ratio of manufactured homes to total housing stock last year in the USA, U.S. Housing Markets said Friday. Manufactured housing, which includes mobile homes, made up 42.2% of Yuma's total housing stock in 1991. The publication ranked metropolitan areas where at least one-eighth of the housing stock was manufactured housing. PHILADELPHIA ANNOUNCES FUNDING: Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell announced Friday the proposed awarding of $25 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for 40 housing developments in Philadelphia. The units will be developed by local community development corporations, non-profit organizations and private developers. The plan must be approved by the city council. RENO AWARDED GRANTS: Two separate U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants totaling $3.05 million were awarded Friday to the Reno, Nev., Housing Authority. The first grant will be geared toward refurbishing security systems at Myra Birch Manor. The second, worth $2.8 million, will be used to update Tom Sawyer village. This will be combined with $1.2 million granted earlier to the village. PALATKA HOUSING OFFERS LOANS: The Palatka, Fla., Housing Authority said Friday it is offering direct, no-interest loans to residents who wish to start their own small businesses. The $60,000 grant is provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Comprehensive Improvement Assistance Program. Funds can be used for business start-up and preliminary operational expenses. Real Estate Editor: Martin Baucom. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM