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 Mon, Apr 20 1992 Date: Mon, 20 Apr 92 05:42:18 EDT Message-ID: 04-20 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 20, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MULTIFAMILY SURGE BOOSTS STARTS: Led by an unexpected and unexplainable 74% upturn in multifamily construction, total housing starts rose 6.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,365,000, the Commerce Department said Friday. Robert Buchert, president of the National Association of Home Builders, called the results a "mixed bag of good and bad news." (For more, see special Starts package below.) MORTGAGE RATES DROP AGAIN: Mortgage rates registered a fourth consecutive drop last week, averaging 8.76%, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Friday. Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages were down from 8.84% last week and 9.03% in late March. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.11%, down from 6.15% last week. DEVELOPER SEEKS BANK LOANS: Financially troubled Canadian property developer Olympia & York needs to obtain bank loans by week's end in its fight to avoid filing bankruptcy protection, according to industry reports. The Bank of England has been told banks are reluctant to provide two new loans of about $84.7 million, concerned the money could be lost before a restructuring agreement is made. O&Y WANTS PLAN APPROVAL: Canadian developer Olympia & York hopes to get banks' approval for a reconstruction package that includes a freeze on principal payments and deferment of interest as well as about $260 million to pay for development work and expenses. Without the money and approval of the plan, O&Y would have to seek bankruptcy protection. That could damage U.S., British and Canadian property markets. VACANCY RATES SET TO DECLINE: Office building vacancy rates could drop as early as next year, according to a recently released survey. Difficulty in getting construction financing is holding up office construction, says the 1992 edition of Comparative Statistics of Industrial and Office Real Estate Markets. The survey says office building construction is expected to decline 40% this year from last year. WOULD-BE CENTRUST OWNER CHARGED: A Bolivian national who last year tried to buy the CenTrust Tower in Miami has been charged with offering a Resolution Trust Corporation manager a $1 million bribe, federal investigators said Friday. A grand jury indictment charging Juan Carlos Fernandez Bowles of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, with offering a bribe was unsealed Friday in Atlanta. BOWLES INDICTED FOR BRIBERY: Juan Carlos Fernandez Bowles, who was indicted Friday by a grand jury for offering a $1 million bribe to a Resolution Trust Corp. manager, remains at large. If convicted of offering the bribe to a manager of the RTC regional sales center in Atlanta, which markets high-value real estate and other commercial assets from failed thrifts, he faces 15 years in jail and up to a $3 million fine. MORE WAIT FOR PUBLIC HOUSING: The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials estimates that waiting lists for public housing units grew nationwide between 1988 and 1991, according to its 1991 Agency Survey. The survey says that almost 1.1 million households were on waiting lists for public housing units at the end of 1990. The wait for a family public housing unit was longer than for elderly units. MAJORITY OF TAX BILLS REDUCED: Some 10,000 residents in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, Ore., have won reductions of their tax bills. That's about 60% of all residents who had challenged assessments of their properties. SINGER TO SELL MANSION: Las Vegas singer Wayne Newton has decided to sell the antebellum mansion he bought in 1988 in Elizabeth City, N.C. His asking price is $395,000 for the Greek Revival-style home on 10.8 acres. Newton paid $250,000. The firm handling the sale doesn't know the singer's reason for deciding to sell. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON STARTS: SINGLE-FAMILY STARTS DROP: Robert Buchert of the National Association of Home Builders called March housing starts numbers, out Friday, a "mixed bag of good and bad news," with a 74% upturn in multifamily leading an overall 6.4% increase. But, Buchert said, starts for single-family houses fell nearly 3% and single-family construction permits declined 6.3%. SIZEABLE JUMP A BLIP: Buchert said that the 74% surge in apartment construction was probably a one-month blip that would slip back in the months ahead. "We are projecting about 200,000 multifamily starts for 1992, well below the annual rate of 265,000 reported in March," he said. But housing's solid first-quarter performance accounted for a good part of the USA's overall upturn in economic growth. ANNUAL RATE UP: Housing units were started at an annual rate of 1.3 million in the first quarter, up 16.8% from the rate of 1 million in the fourth quarter of 1991. The rate of single-family production increased 16.8% to 1.07 million, while multifamily construction rose 18% to an annual rate of 203,000. Buchert said pent-up demand helped give the market a "one-time shot in the arm." (End of package.) 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. 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