Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Thu, Apr 2 1992 Date: Thu, 2 Apr 92 05:44:59 EST Message-ID: 02-04 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 2, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CONSTRUCTION NEARLY STEADY: Construction spending slipped just 0.4% in February after a MDNM 1.8% jump in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The MDNM overall decline was blamed on a plunge of 16.9% in apartment MDNM construction. Spending on single-family home construction jumped MDNM 3.2%, another sign that housing is recovering. A recovery in MDNM housing is considered important to economic recovery in general. MANUFACTURING PICKS UP: Manufacturing activity picked up for the second month in a MDNM row, according to the National Association of Purchasing MDNM Management. The index rose to 54.1% last month from 52.4% in MDNM February. A reading above 44.5% indicates the economy is growing. MDNM Among the groups showing strength: Glass, wood products, furniture. VA RATES MIGHT GO DOWN: The recent increase by the Department of Veterans Affairs in MDNM the top interest rate for single-family home loans likely will be MDNM temporary, according to National Association of Realtors Chief MDNM Economist John A. Tuccillo. Tuccillo said the increase to 8.25% MDNM was the result of such factors as an increase in credit demand. MDNM He predicted the rate will drop again by mid-spring. MORE WANT LARGER APARTMENTS: The demand for larger apartments is increasing, according to multifamily housing investment consultant John Iwaniec. Iwaniec says a significant increase in immigrant families - who often have households that include several generations - has pushed up the need for apartments with as many as four bedrooms as well as more dining space and storage areas. IMMIGRANTS OFTEN RENT AT FIRST: Developers of multifamily properties "who are wisely interested in catering" to extended immigrant families "should focus on offering up to four bedrooms," according to multifamily housing investment counselor John Iwaniec. The General Accounting Office estimates that immigration will exceed 7.2 million in this decade. Iwaniec says immigrants to the USA generally rent homes at first. APTS. POPULAR FOR INVESTMENT: Commercial real estate lenders and investors say apartments and warehouse:distribution facilities are the types of property for which they're most likely to lend funds or invest, according to a survey by Fleet Press Inc. In the survey, 74.1% said they were most likely to make loans in or invest in apartments; 70.2% mentioned warehouse:distribution facilities. MORTGAGE BROKERS WILL BE KEY: Mortgage brokers will play an increasingly important role in finding home-loan providers during the next 10 years, according to a National Association of Realtors study called "Real Estate Horizons: A Look to the 21st Century." Currently mortgage brokers account for a relatively minor portion of mortgage loan originations. OPPORTUNITIES ARE THERE: This year will hold opportunities in the real estate market, MDNM according to Lona Anderson of the National Network of Commercial MDNM Real Estate Women. Anderson, an institutional lender, says MDNM opportunities will be there for consultants to institutional MDNM lenders, "who will be in need of property inspections, area MDNM market information ... and loan portfolio reviews." PROPERTY PROPOSAL DUE OUT: A property trade proposal will be released by Utah officials later this week. The proposal suggests trading or selling 200,000 acres of small state-owned parcels in national parks, national forests and Indian reservations to the federal government. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.98% Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday but down from 9.03% the week before. They were at 9.52% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 6.19%, unchanged from Tuesday but down from 6.22% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.41%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.64% Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday but down from 4.73% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.34%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.800%, down from Tuesday and down also from 6.002% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.848%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decline Wednesday, listing at 7.89%. That's down 0.04 from rates of 7.95% Tuesday and down 0.05 from 7.94% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.24%. Real Estate Editor: Beth Mann. (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