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 Wed, Apr 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 05:41:23 EDT Message-ID: 04-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network GOOD ECONOMIC NEWS REPORTED: Increases in the gross domestic product and consumer confidence were reported Tuesday, two of the surest signs yet of an economic recovery. The reports overshadowed the Commerce Departments announcement that sales of new homes fell 14.8% last month from February as rising mortgage rates bit into that relatively small slice of the total real-estate market. (For more, see special Economy package below.) HUD INVESTIGATION MOVES ON: Special prosecutors looking into the 4-year-old Housing and Urban Development scandal moved closer Tuesday to a possible indictment of former secretary Samuel Pierce. A federal grand jury in Washington indicted Pierce's former executive assistant, Deborah Gore Dean, on felony charges of accepting an illegal gratuity and making a false statement to Congress. HUD OFFICIAL CLAIMS INNOCENCE: An indictment of former Housing and Urban Development executive assistant Deborah Gore Dean charges she accepted a $4,000 check from "a private individual" to ensure federal funding of a housing project. Dean said at a press conference that some at HUD sold influence but that she is innocent. "This is just scratching the surface," said Stuart Weisberg, a committee aide. EXPLOSION INVESTIGATION BEGINS: Investigations began Tuesday into the destruction of California's Napa Valley's most expensive house, the $8 million mansion of a high-profile real-estate developer Joaquin de Monet. Nearly 900 gallons of butane gas siphoned from a swimming pool heating system were used to blow up the home Monday. Investigators are looking at Monet, his family and business associates. ALASKA LAND TRADE SPARKS DEBATE: Environmentalists in Alaska are fighting Gov. Walter Hickel's plan to trade 2,335 acres of forestland near Leask Lake for 4,366 acres of privately owned timber land in the White River region. The state is trading prime old-growth timber for clear-cuts, opponents say. State land official Andy Pekovich defends the trade as a means to speed economic development in the area. VIRGINIA ESTIMATES FLOOD DAMAGE: Recent large amounts of rainfall in Virginia have brought the worst flooding in the state since 1985, causing approximately $21.5 million in damage, the state estimates. The Red Cross has began a fund-raising drive in the Roanoke Valley. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.85% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday and up from 8.76% the week before. They were at 9.53% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 6.13%, unchanged from Monday and up from 6.11% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.36%. ARM INDEXES UNMOVED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.32% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday and up from 4.14% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.25%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.800%, unchanged from Monday and unchanged also from the week before. A year ago they were at 7.848%. T-BONDS FALL: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decline Tuesday, listing at 8.04%. That's down 0.07 from rates of 8.11% Monday and up 0.02 from rates of 8.02% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.18%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ECONOMY: INTEREST RATES ARE ADDED SIGNS: With improved gross domestic product and consumer confidence, economists cite interest rate as added proof of a recovery. Rates this year are sharply lower than last year. The prime lending rate at banks, to which many loans are tied, has fallen more than 3 percentage points since January 1991. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages are below 9%, down more than a half-percentage point. BANKS MORE ABLE TO LEND: Falling short-term rates have put banks in a better position to lend by widening the margin between the rates banks pay depositors and the higher rates they charge borrowers. This should lead to an easing of the credit crunch - when banks are reluctant to lend - says M. Kathryn Eickhoff, chief economist at consulting firm Eickhoff Economics in New York. SOME WOULD LIKE RATES TO LOWER: While mortgage rates are lower than a year ago, they've edged higher since January, when a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could be found for 8.25%. Some economists worry mortgage rates are no longer low enough to spur the economy. Housing needs to be "moving along at a good pace to get a good recovery going," says Eickhoff. A mortgage rate closer to 8% would provide that boost, she says. (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