Real Estate News 02/18/07
PROPERTY INSURERS
True or false: U.S. antitrust laws apply to Realtors but not the insurance industry. Answer: True. Federal oversight does not apply to insurers’ anti-competitive conduct, such as price-fixing, agreements not to pay and market allocations. But bills to change that status were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate yesterday.
MORTGAGE RATES
Rates on 30-year mortgages rose slightly to average 6.30 percent this week, reversing last week’s brief decline, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly nationwide survey.
HOME STARTS
Construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 14.3 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.408 million units — the lowest level in nearly 10 years, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
WORKFORCE HOUSING
Some workforce housing advocates are finding novel and more vocal ways to speak out. Leaders of a group of squatters in South Florida spoke last week about the need for workforce housing to students at Florida Memorial University. The makeshift village is known for being part-commune, part-protest.
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