Housing Affairs Letter

Homebuilders

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Builder Uproar Over Silica Rule

A final rule on the hazards of silica dust has homebuilders fuming, two years after they asked the Occupational Safety & Health Administration to ease its approach to a new rule. The construction industry says the administration largely ignored it by ruling that silica dust must be

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Builders Slam New Labor Rule

Calling the new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling holding companies equally responsible for labor violations committed by their subcontractors a potentially crippling blow to the homebuilding industry, homebuilders weigh opposition to the move.

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Homebuilders Eye Water Rights Clash

Arizona homebuilders are enmeshed in a fight over water rights on the San Pedro River, and the eventual result in state court could have immediate implications statewide and ramifications nationally.

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Builders Fight To Preserve Tax Deduction

An intense effort by low-income housing advocates to dilute the mortgage interest income tax deduction is being met with an equally aggressive campaign by homebuilders and others to preserve i

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Skilled Trades Scarcity Stymies Recovery

A severe shortage of skilled tradesmen could create a drag on the housing market recovery, new research by Fitch Ratings shows. The New York-based financial services ratings agency says a deficit of workers coupled with a lack of suitable building lots and tight mortgage qualification standards could take the edge off the housing recovery. But the

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Builders Call For Useful E-Verify

Hurt by a lack of qualified construction workers in an industry undermined by a five-year housing slump, homebuilders ask Congress to develop a fair and workable E-Verify system to allow hiring of workers without fear of breaking immigration law.

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Spiking Labor, Material Costs Hit Builders

Housing’s recovery hits a slight speed bump with homebuilder confidence dropping a second consecutive month amidst a lack of properties and rising costs of materials and labor, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index shows in its March

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Builders Begin Rebuilding Industry

Nearly 50,000 homebuilders, contractors, manufacturers, designers, landscape professionals and suppliers gathered for three days in Las Vegas to map strategy for a recovering industry and ponder how to rebuild an industry that has been decimated in the years since the 2007 housing bust. While attendance is up from last year, it is down

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Rental Crunch Takes Builder In New Direction

When a surge in rental demand triggered by the deluge of foreclosures emerged three years ago, homebuilders seized on the opportunity to convert their portfolios of empty new homes from homeownership to rental stock. The homes

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Homebuilders Face Lumber Cost Pinch

Lumber prices have been steadily increasing for several months following rising demand from the surge in housing construction as well as supply demands spurred by international competition. The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy is pushing prices up even further.

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