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 27 1992 Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 05:41:46 EDT Message-ID: 04-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BUILDERS FORESEE MODEST GROWTH: A sustainable economic recovery is now certain, predict analysts at the National Association of Home Builders' 44th Semiannual Construction Forecast Conference in Washington, D.C. Analysts predicted a slower than normal recovery, but dismissed fears that the recovery might falter. Housing production is unlikely to continue at March's 1.365 million starts, the forecasters said. (For more, see special Builders package below.) AUDIT EXAMINES FHA LENDERS: A federal housing insurance fund paid $225,000 a year ago because of the lending practices by the Rochester-based Sibley Mortgage Corp., according to federal auditors. Done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the audit said the firm failed to comply with processing requirements for Federal Housing Administration loans. Sibley disputes the audit's findings. FHA INSURANCE FUND STILL SHAKY: An audit of Federal Housing Administration lenders finds that the FHA's mutual mortgage insurance fund is still on shaky ground. Overall, the FHA lost $2.5 billion for fiscal year 1991. The FHA has begun charging borrowers annual insurance premiums. The audit underscores the efforts to correct the Department of Housing and Urban Development's lax management of private lenders. RTC DISCLOSES EMERGENCY FUND: Although the Resolution Trust Corp. is thought to be broke and is seeking approval to spend another $17 billion in the savings-and-loan mess, it says it has $2 billion in emergency money. The fund, which may cause Congress to delay the cleanup, is to pay depositors if massive withdrawals are made from a failed but not yet closed savings-and-loan association, says RTC spokesman Stephen Katsanos. ARCHITECTURE PRIZE AWARDED: Portugal's Alvaro Siza, 57, is the winner of the prestigious 1992 Pritzker Architecture Prize, which comes with a $100,000 grant. Siza's designs for banks and low-cost housing projects have won numerous awards, though he is not well-known outside of Europe. AVERAGE FIXED-RATES CLIMB: The average fixed rate on 30-year mortgages was 8.85% last week, up from 8.76% the week before, according to a national survey by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The rise was the first after four consecutive weekly declines. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.13%, up from 6.11% the week before. RENEWAL OF TAX PUT TO VOTE: Birmingham, Ala., voters in eight school districts will decide Tuesday whether to renew $19 million in property taxes for schools. Most of money is used to help pay salaries of about 1,000 city teachers. Most taxes don't expire for 2 or 3 years, but the vote allows for long-term planning. ASH PLANS MEET OPPOSITION: Opposition is mounting to Iowa Electric Light and Power Co. plans to bury 70,000 tons of ash every year on land it owns near Coon Creek, Iowa. An opposition group, Fly Ash Action Team, says it will create a "dirty old dump" that will ruin property values. Iowa Electric says it will build a state-of-the-art waste disposal facility. LAND PURCHASES DELAY COLISEUM: The completion of Spokane, Wash.'s $45 million Coliseum has been postponed six months to mid-1995, officials say. Delays in buying land and completing other arrangements lead to the decision, according to officials, who plan a bond sale by June or July. BUILDING RENOVATION PLANNED: A task force overseeing changes at the Human Services Center in Yankton, S.D., will discuss Monday what to do with old buildings and whether a private firm should be hired for some services. Plans have called for $30 million in new construction and renovation. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BUILDERS: HOUSING FORECAST REVISED: Because of the housing industry's promising start, David Seiders, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders, Friday announced revised 1992 housing starts of 1.28 million, an increase almost 100,000 units. On the credit crunch, panelists at an association meeting predicted that enough money would be available to sustain the housing upturn. FED UNLIKELY TO RAISE RATES: Economists at the conference agreed that interest rates were unlikely to obstruct the economic recovery underway. The Federal Reserve probably won't enter a tightening mode with unemployment lingering at a high rate and inflation at rate of 3% to 5%, economists said, adding that the Fed may resort once more to cutting rates if the recovery proceeds below a rate of about 2%. (End of package.) Real Estate Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (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