Big BuilderHome Building Industry News and Archive Information

June 17, 2013

Style standard setters

The architectural style of a house can have a big impact on its value. Take a look at the most expensive home styles in the U.S. MarketWatch taps Trulia data to spin up a top 10 rankings pegged to homes' architectural genre. Read More
- Construction Trends
June 17, 2013

Homing in on housing ... Fed moves to be named later

The housing market has been one of the rising stars in the U.S. economy, but are sales about to stumble because of higher mortgage rates? And what's up with the Fed's Ben Bernanke? MarketWatch's Jeffry Bartash previews the week ahead's key economic prints. Read More
- Finance
June 17, 2013

Consumer sentiment checks up a bit

Consumer sentiment retreated this month after reaching its highest in nearly six years in May, a survey released on Friday showed, as household optimism about employment and housing faded slightly. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Proof of existing: housing data on this week's docket

Sales of existing homes probably rose in May to a three-year high and builders began work on more new properties, extending gains in residential real estate that are boosting the U.S. expansion, economists said before reports this week. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Weyerhaeuser antes up $2.65 billion for Brookfield lumber assets

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. on Sunday said it had agreed to sell all its Longview Timber holdings to Weyerhaeuser Co <WY.N> for $2.65 billion, including assumption of debt. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Bigger homes on smaller lots ... recovery's first leg

American Institute of Architects chief economist Kermit Baker captures design trends, home building economics, and home buyer preference in a single conceit: big houses on small lots. Baker's more elegant, and generous with explanation. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Y's and wherefores: millennials on the make

Young adults, known as millennials or Generation Y, will very likely force some type of shift in the housing market. New York Times staffer Lisa Prevost reports. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Input costs ease as wood product prices soften in May

National Association of Home Builders economist Robert Denk takes a look at the latest Producer Price Index data, noting that an expected pullback in wood products prices has eased lumber and OSB input costs, and should continue to do so. Read More
- Business
June 17, 2013

Mesa's Eastmark opens ... will the pace pick up?

Phoenix Business Journal staffer Kristena Hansen reports on the out-of-the-gate sales pace at new Mesa, Az., masterplanned community Eastmark, developed by MPC meister DMB Associates. Hansen's looking at the 5,000 people who "flocked" to the June 1 grand opening, and wonders "what gives" on low... Read More
- Management
June 17, 2013

Has artificial turf gained ground in new neighborhoods? You bet your grass!

Artificial grass, long considered the bad toupee of landscaping, has gotten a makeover and is now used by homeowners. The Wall Street Journal's Alyssa Abkowitz reports. The WSJ is a paid-subscription site. Read More
- Management
June 17, 2013

Oakwood Homes, University of Denver give new meaning to student housing

Students at the University of Denver Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management are teaming up with Colorado builder, Oakwood Homes, to construct three single-family model homes in Denver's Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. Read More
- Management
June 17, 2013

Americans spend 41% more on mom than dad

It must have been a bad year for Dads. For the first time in four years, the gap between what Americans plan to spend on Father's Day and what they plan to spend on Mother's Day widened. The Wall Street Journal's Phil Izzo runs the numbers. The WJS is a paid-subscription site. Read More
- Construction Trends
June 17, 2013

Americans' outlook clouds, as fewer look ahead with optimism

Americans in general should take a page from home builders. But they don't. Fewer of us are looking ahead to this time next year, imagining we'll be better off. Why? Uncertainty about jobs remains, and certainty about higher taxes gets clearer. Read More
- Construction Trends
June 17, 2013

Where high-paying tech jobs are most plentiful

Tech jobs are abundant in parts of the nation outside Silicon Valley. Here's where they are, per Business Insider's Julie Bort, with data from job hunting site Brite. Read More
- Local Markets
June 17, 2013

A coastal city's 'new normal:' wet

The Economist looks at a climate change paradox: Even as seas have risen over the past century, Americans have rushed to build homes near the beach. Storms that lash the modern American coastline cause more economic damage than their predecessors because there is more to destroy. Read More
- Local Markets
June 17, 2013

Meet the New Vegas: The 10 Most Sinful Cities in America

Move over, Las Vegas-there's a new capital of sin in America. We go Old Testament to find which cities best embody the Seven Deadly Sins. Read More
- Local Markets
June 17, 2013

Lenders sue defaulters even after they take back the property

The Washington Post's Kimbriell Kelly reports on a newly emerging fallout from the housing crisis: in a shock to many former owners, collectors can pursue the "underwater amount" of mortgage, plus interest via deficiency judgments. Read More
- Housing Policy
June 17, 2013

Virginia: Servicer can foreclose, even if borrower says he was promised an alternative

The Virginia fourth court of appeals upheld a lower court ruling in Roanoke that a mortgage servicer can legally foreclose, even if a borrower claims they were told something otherwise. HousingWire's Jacob Gaffney reports. Read More
- Housing Policy
June 17, 2013

Bank of America's bid to put Countrywide woes behind it drags on

The Countrywide mortgage-pool case now in a New York court is putting trustee banks under the microscope. The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson reports. Read More
- Housing Policy
June 17, 2013

Fannie and Freddie: the rebirth

The U.S. pledged to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after their collapse. Now the two mortgage giants are back. Fortune's Shawn Tully reports. Read More
- Finance