Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Wed, Jun 17 1992 Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 05:19:38 EDT Message-ID: 06-17 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update June 17, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MAY HOUSING STARTS RISE: Housing starts rose 11% in May from April, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The jump in housing starts came from gains in every region of the nation. Last month's increase - the largest since a 19% jump in February 1991 - boosted the annual rate of new homes built to 1.2 million, the Commerce Department said. (For more, see special Starts package below.) HILTON WINS CASINO BIDDING: Hilton Hotels won the bidding Tuesday for Bally's Reno, Nev., casino hotel resort, offering $83 million. The bid is subject to approval by a bankruptcy court judge in New Jersey. Hilton plans to develop the 2,001-room casino into a major theme resort. LOT NEAR UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SOLD: An affiliate of Universal Studios Florida has agreed to buy a 270-acre tract of land next to Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, Fla., for $48 million, Major Realty Corp. announced Tuesday. Under the agreement, Major must deliver to Univesal the second mortgage on the property after receiving consent from The Prudential Insurance Co. Of America, holder of the first mortgage. DETROIT FILLS HOUSING POST: Detroit Mayor Coleman Young announced Tuesday the appointment of John E. Codwell as director of the City Housing Department. Codwell has served as assistant public school superintendent, consultant to the Board of Education and assistant superintendent with the city Recreation Department. N.Y. CONSIDERS DISCLOSURE RULES: New York won't require real estate brokers to inform buyers if homes were occupied by anyone infected with HIV, according to rules approved Tuesday by the Judiciary Committtee. Federal Fair Housing regulations also ban such health disclosures. New York's regulations also allow agents to neglect to mention that the property was once operated as a brothel or used for selling drugs. GUIDELINES SPURRED BY LAWSUIT: Real estate agents don't need to tell buyers if a property was the site of a murder, under new disclosure rules a New York Assembly panel approved Tuesday. The proposed guidelines were spurred by a lawsuit filed by home buyers who said they weren't informed that their new home was haunted. A court later ruled that sellers, not brokers, are responsible for haunting details. MAINE EXTNEDS HOME PROGRAM: The Maine State Housing Authority will extend a 4.95% home mortgage interest rate until July 1. Families of two making less than $20,000 a year can apply. Higher-income families can get a 6.95% rate. Homebuyers applied for a record $13 million in MSHA mortgages during a recent two-week period. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.54% Tuesday, unchanged from Monday but down from 8.59% the week before. They were at 9.66% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.90%, unchanged from Monday but down from 5.94% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.22%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.18% Tuesday unchanged from Monday but down from 4.27% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.40%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.427%, unchanged from Monday and unchanged also from the week before. A year ago they were at 7.501%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decline Monday, listing at 7.83%. That's down 0.02 from rates of 7.85% Monday and down 0.05 from 7.88% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.51%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON STARTS: MARKET HAS `STABILIZED': May's gain in housing starts followed an alarming decline in April, when housing starts fell 17.3% to an annual rate of 1.1 million. Last year, starts totaled about one million. The market has stabilized, but lacks a lot of momentum, says Stuart Hoffman, chief economist of PNC Financial. PERMIT APPLICATIONS DECLINE: One indicator of future home-building activity is building-permit applications, which slipped 0.7% in May from April to an annual rate of one million - down a third. The housing recovery is likely to continue gradually, but without strength to carry the whole economy," says Lyle Gramley, chief economist at Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (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