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 Mon, Sep 14 1992 Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 04:32:03 EDT Message-ID: 09-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update Sept. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TOUGHER HOUSING RULES ARE URGED: The head of the National Association of Home Builders called Friday for a national check of building codes, tougher inspections and more self-policing in conceding that structural problems existed in hurricane-damaged homes. Owners of some damaged homes already have sued builders. Fraud investigations of contractors are under way and more than 500 complaints have gone to officials. BENTSEN EXPECTS PASSAGE: Congress will pass pending legislation that would revive mortgage revenue bonds and small issue industrial development bonds, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, said Sunday. Bloomberg Business News said Bentsen expects to bring legislation up for floor action next week. O&Y RECEIVES EXTENSION: An Ontario court Friday extended Olympia & York Developments Ltd.'s protection from Canadian creditors until Dec. 30, Bloomberg Business News reported. O&Y originally was given until Oct. 21 to complete the restructuring of its debt. The real estate company was granted protection under Canada's Companies Creditors Arrangement Act on May 14. O&Y will file its final restructuring plan Oct. 27. MORTGAGE RATES FALLING: The average rate on 30-year mortgages fell to a 19-year low of 7.84% Friday following a reduction in a key short-term interest rate last week by the Federal Reserve. For one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.15%, down from 5.24% last week and the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking ARMs in 1984. TRUCKS EN ROUTE TO MIAMI: Several trucks filled with building materials donated by timber companies, timber unions and grass roots groups will arrive in Miami Tuesday. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America members will unload supplies for use by the victims of Hurricane Andrew. FIVE CONDUITS ANNOUNCED: Five real estate mortgage investment conduits totaling more than $2 billion were announced Friday. All five REMICs involved Freddie Mac passthroughs. Kidder Peabody accounted for two REMICs, totaling $1.126 billion. Morgan Stanley underwrote one issue for $500 million and Lehman Brothers underwrote a $300 million REMIC. First Boston issued a $220 million REMIC backed by 7% relocation loans. BUSH DECLARES DISASTER AREA: President Bush declared the Hawaiian islands, with the exception of Molokai, a disaster area Saturday after Hurricane Iniki slammed into Kauai Friday, killing at least two people and damaging virtually every building on this island. Property damages were estimated at $350 million to $500 million, but those estimates were made too early to be very accurate. ACTIVISTS TO PROTEST: Five busloads of property rights activists plan to gather outside CBS offices next week to protest a segment about timber harvesting they say was "shameless" in its pro-environmental bias. The National Inholders Association of Battleground, Wash., is orchestrating the all-day vigil. The CBS story focused on the U.S. Forest Service's policy of harvesting old-growth timber. FOREIGN INTEREST WILL RETURN: A new study says U.S. real estate is likely to attract foreign investors when the oversupply of office space in many U.S. markets begins to shrink. Grant Thornton, a Chicago-based accounting and management consulting organization, reported the news in its summer issue of Building Business. The report says Japanese investors will be back, while other Asian investors have remained interested. JAPANESE BANKS FORM ENTITY: An entity to be set up by leading Japanese banks will acquire and dispose of devalued real estate assets held by banks and other institutions as collateral against non-performing loans, Bloomberg Business News said Sunday. The entity will acquire land held by banks in its early activities which officials think will be easier to re-sell than that held by non-banks and mortgage finance groups. RUSSIA TO LEASE LAND: Russia's Sakhalin government has approved a deal to lease 278 hectares of land on Shikotan Island to a Hong Kong-based company for a tourist resort development, a Russian newspaper report said. The Hong Kong company wasn't named. The paper also cited a report by Itar Tass news agency saying the deal was made without consultation with Moscow. PARK CONSTRUCTION BEGINS: Work is under way on the first stage of a $200-million industrial park near the Mercedita International Airport in Puerto Rico. The 360-acre site will be developed in five stages of about 60 acres each. Officials for the Commonwealth Government's Economic Development Administration said Friday the airport location will allow manufacturers to ship products on a just-in-time basis. 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