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Subject: real Thu, Oct 1 1992
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 04:57:26 EDT
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10-01 0000
DECISIONLINE: Real Estate
USA TODAY Update
Oct. 1, 1992
Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network
    
VOTE SHOULD REDUCE COSTS:
   The National Association of Home Builders said Wednesday that 
the Building Official Code Administrators voted last Thursday to 
overturn the 7-inch riser, 11-inch tread (7-11) stair geometry on 
residential stairways. The NAHB says those standards would have 
increased the cost of a new home by $2,500 or more. The vote 
reverses a stair rule adopted in BOCA's 1991 code cycle.
    
BOCA RETAINS STANDARDS:
   In a vote at its 77th Annual Conference in St. Paul, Minn., the 
Building Official Code Administrators retained the 8 1:4-inch 
maximum riser and 9-inch minimum tread residential exception in 
its stair code. BOCA writes, maintains and revises a model 
building code that is widely used throughout the Northeast and 
central states. Debate over the measure centered on safety and 
cost.
    
NEW HOME SALES TUMBLE:
   Low interest rates didn't help the new home market in August - 
another sign of a struggling economy. New home sales tumbled 6.1% 
from July to August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 
570,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That's a 
three-month low and 97,000 houses below the annual rate in 
January, when the economy appeared to be picking up steam.
(For more, see special Homes package below.)
    
BALTIMORE PERMITS JUMP:
   Baltimore led all metro markets in percentage gain in the 1992 
first half compared with the same period in 1991, according to 
U.S. Housing Markets. Baltimore's 9,945 permits in the first half 
was a 79.3% jump from permits in 1991. Austin, Texas had gains of 
77.9%  and San Antonio gained 73.6%. Las Vegas, Los Angeles and 
San Diego experienced the biggest declines in permits from period 
to period.
    
ORGANIZATION HELPS MINORITIES:
   A nonprofit organization in Chicago is trying to give 
minorities and women help in breaking in to the local real estate 
industry. The Property Management Resource Center is circulating 
the resumes of minorities through its job bank, launched last 
July. For a $10 fee, applicants' resumes are entered into the job 
bank data base. The program, geared to minorities and women, is 
open to anyone.
    
CENTER PROVIDES SPECIFICS:
   Many companies have not known where to turn to find answers to 
questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act since it 
passed in July 1990. Project Access, a nonprofit organization, has 
a Computer Information Center which they claim is the nation's 
first data base to help companies comply with the ADA and employ 
individuals with disabilities.
    
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON HOMES:
    
PICTURE MAY NOT BE SO BLEAK:
   New home sales fell 6.1% from July to August. "This decline 
doesn't spell recession yet," says James Coons, chief economist at 
Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio. "One hope I'm holding 
out is that the drop-off is due to uncertainty over the election 
outcome." Despite August's decline, some experts say there are 
reasons to be slightly encouraged by the housing picture.
    
SALES ARE UP FROM LAST YEAR:
   New home sales may have slipped in August, but they still are 
up 9% over the same month last year. The first eight months of 
this year, new homes sales were 18% ahead of the same period a 
year ago. July's annual sales rate was revised up 8%, to an annual 
rate of 607,000 from a first estimate of 563,000. And June new 
home sales were revised up 3,000 to 581,000.
    
MEDIAN PRICE ROSE:
   The median price of new homes rose 2.5% from July, to $121,000 
in August. Rising prices are a good indication of growing demand. 
And applications for mortgages continue to rise, says Lyle Gramley 
of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage rates are at 19-year 
lows. "The housing market is beset with problems," says Gramley. 
"But I continue to believe housing will revive."
(End of package.)
    
Real Estate Editor: Martin Baucom. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies 
of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution 
violates federal law.
    

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