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August 2007

  • OFHEO Reports Slowing in House Prices

    Index shows price appreciation is the lowest it has been since 1994.

     
  • Stocks Dive on Disappointment with Fed

    Wall Street swoons again as housing data, consumer confidence numbers and light volume conspire with Fed metting minutes to rattle the market.

     
  • Consumer Confidence Takes a Dive

    Conference Board index reflects concern over the economy but indicates that consumers think there is further growth to come.

     
  • Existing Home Sales Drop Marginally

    Realtors report that declines in the Midwest offset increases in the West and Northeast, but inventory rises to its highest level since 1990.

     
  • July New Home Sales Rise 2.8%

    Unexpected rise comes as average prices fall 3.4%; sales remain down 10.2% from July 2006, but months-supply declines slightly.

     
  • Standard Pacific Proposes Debt Plan

    Under a proposed revision of its debt covenants, the company would reduce its total credit facilities, net worth and interest coverage ratios in exhange for higher interest rates but will be prohibited from buying back shares if it fails to maintain certain minimums.

     
  • WCI to Focus on Cash

    Company reports of a net loss of $33.2 million, with revenues down 54.2% and new orders down more than 50% compared to the same quarter last year.

     
  • Toll Secures Jumbo Loan Backing

    Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) CEO and chairman Robert Toll tried to assuage fears that the tightening of lending standards on jumbo loans will crimp the company's ability to sell homes, announcing a $500 million stand-by mortgage fund commitment from Citizens Bank, which is owned by The Royal Bank of...

     
  • Beazer Sues Lender Seeking to Call Its Loans

    Beazer Homes USA has filed a lawsuit against one of its lenders, asking a judge to hold off "vulture investors" who it says are illegally trying to force it into default on its loans so it will be required it to immediately pay back about $1.3 billion it has borrowed.

     
  • WCI and Carl Icahn Strike An Agreement

    WCI Communities' management has hammered out a peace agreement with billionaire activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who was seeking total control of the builder's board at its August 30 shareholder meeting.

     
  • Team Play: Water Falls

    The choice to build homes that use less water was the easy part for Beazer Homes USA's Jacksonville, Fla., division president Barbara Moore. Figuring out how to do it without adding much, if anything, to the cost of a home was much more complicated.

     
  • Supply Side: Into the Mix

    Inside: Rinnai uses a billboard to educate commuters in Southern California about energy-efficient water heaters. / Lumber costs starting to rise according to RISI's Crows Market Report.

     
  • Local Intel: NoVa No Picnic

    Inside: Condo comeback in NoVa? / Washington, D.C., area maintains employment pace.

     
  • Ground Control: The Milkmen Goeth

    The other Ontario lies in a broad valley about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, at the epicenter of what is known in real estate as California's Inland Empire region. A big townlittle city of about 175,000 people–about 50 square miles in all–expanded through the 1980s and 1990s as one of the...

     
  • Will Wall St Troubles Lead to Recession?

    The stock market is on a stomach-churning ride, the nation's once high-flying housing market is sinking deeper into gloom, and credit, the lifeblood of the economy, is drying up.

     
  • Editor's Notes: Dated Data

    What frustrates us about so much of the data many economists quote to enlighten us on what's happening to housing is that it lags reality to a damaging degree. Bureau of Labor Statistics income and job formation data, Census Bureau numbers on household formations and new-home sales, and many other...

     
  • Closer: Two to One

    Landrum's challenge is to integrate Taylor Woodrow and Morrison Homes' U.S. operations.

     
  • Big Money: Pro Active

    So, what if you're a home builder and you want to get at the active adult opportunity sooner than later? Or what if you've already got active adult as part of your focused strategy, and you want to tap the accelerator a bit to make the 50-plus segment a greater part of your near- and longer-term...

     
  • Fed Cuts Discount Rate

    Action sends stock futures soaring as the Federal Reserve acknowledges that downside risks to economic have increased "appreciably."

     
  • Feature: Why a Rebound Really Matters

    If the economy slides into recession, will it be because of the housing downturn? Conversely, if the housing market crashes completely, will it be because of the economy? Or both? This third installment of Big Builder's series on economic scenarios for the coming months examines the relationship...

     
 

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