Yearly Archives: 2016

The House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing on the impacts of the Obama Administration’s Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) controversial Final Guidance for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Nationwide housing starts fell 5.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.14 million units in August, according to newly released data from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Overall permit issuance edged 0.4 percent lower.

Ed Brady, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Bloomington, Ill., issued the following statement following the release of a Senate report stating that new federal regulations defining “waters of the U.S.” represent extreme overreach of federal authority.

Laura E. Durso, Senior Director for the Center for American Progress LGBT Research and Communications Project, released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new rule ensuring equal access to shelters for transgender Americans based on their gender identity

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for August 2016: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,139,000. This is 0.4 percent (±1.2%) below the revised July rate of 1,144,000, but is 2.3 percent (±1.5%) below the August 2015 estimate of 1,166,000.  Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 737,000; this is 3.7 percent (±3.0%) below the revised July figure of 711,000.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 370,000 in August

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the award of two contracts to prepare for the construction of a new U.S. Courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee. The agency has awarded an approximately $1.8 million demolition services contract to Katmai Support Services, a small business located in Smyrna, Tennessee. Katmai will demolish the vacant TennCare building, located at the intersection of Church Street and Rosa Parks Boulevard, to make way for the new Federal Courthouse. GSA also awarded a $3.2 million contract in July for design services to Michael Graves and Associates, Inc. and Thomas Miller & Partners, LLC as a joint venture.

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today released the following statement on the Senate passage of the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2016 (H.R.5985)

The National Association of Realtors® is declaring a major victory against patent abuse in a settlement with Data Distribution Technologies, a subsidiary of the patent enforcement firm General Patent Corporation. DDT sued and threatened several real estate businesses in the past over use of a technology-related patent, but NAR challenged the patent’s validity before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit on behalf of NAR members.

The vast majority of real estate firms have an optimistic outlook for the future of the industry’s profitability and growth, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2016 Profile of Real Estate Firms. Profitability expectations have declined from the 2015 survey, mainly due to inventory shortages and home-price growth, but real estate firms remain confident about their overall future profitability.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today published a final rule to ensure that all individuals have equal access to many of the Department’s core shelter programs in accordance with their gender identity. Read HUD's new 'Gender Identity Rule'.

Data Distribution Technologies, LLC (“DDT”) and the National Association of Realtors® (“NAR”) have settled several proceedings relating to U.S. Patent No. 6,529,908, titled Web-updated database with record distribution by email, including an Inter Partes Review of the patent requested by NAR. The terms of the settlement agreement include a covenant not to sue by DDT as to all NAR members, local and state associations, MLSs, affiliates, and certain other NAR-related entities.

With oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan scheduled for next week in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Center for American Progress released a short analysis of the benefits of the Clean Power Plan for the climate and human health.

Thirty-six states added construction jobs between August 2015 and August 2016 while construction employment increased in only 24 states between July and August, according to analysis of Labor Department data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said demand for construction appears to be cooling in some markets but added that many firms report they would be expanding their headcount if they could find qualified workers to hire.

JLL has been hired by Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, to provide project management services for its new office space located at Two Franklin Park, 6700 Tower Circle, just outside Nashville.

Since 2003, the National Association of Realtors® has dedicated September as Realtor® Safety Month; this year, as part of ongoing efforts to keep its members safe, NAR has an updated safety report available for members, firms and associations and a mobile app that has been expanded to include safety features

The U.S. wind energy industry today welcomed the support of a bipartisan group of 20 governors for further steps by federal agencies that could expedite siting of new wind farms, on land and offshore.

Single-family home construction is currently lacking in 80 percent of measured metro areas despite steady job creation and the low activity is creating a housing shortage crisis that is curtailing affordability and threatening to hold back prospective buyers in many of the largest cities in the country, according to new research from the National Association of Realtors

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN SANDELLA, 54, of Orange, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to receiving unlawful compensation while serving as an employee of the West Haven Housing Authority

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in September jumped six points to 65 from a downwardly revised August reading of 59 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. This marks the highest HMI level since October 2015.