Kowloon, Hong Kong (PRWEB) May 21, 2012

A new system of building has to be implemented if the increasing shortage of affordable housing is to be alleviated, according to Affordable Housing International, a Hong Kong company specializing in providing affordable housing in the global emerging markets.

These growth markets require an additional 100,000 housing units per day, for at least the next 30 years, according to the recent United Nations report on the problems associated with increasing global urbanization.

“The main issues affordable housing is facing worldwide are a need for lower prices, increased speed of construction, the use of low cost local labor, and building with culturally accepted materials”, stated Phil Ellis, CEO of Affordable Housing International (AHI). “These are all problems that AHI’s STELETE system of building directly addresses and overcomes”, he added.

The STELETE system claims to offer; 25% savings over traditional concrete building methods and five times faster construction speeds. The foam insulated concrete cores provide 20 times the insulation values of standard concrete walls and 10 times the insulation rating of infill brick walls. This results in significant heating and cooling energy savings and assists in achieving environment goals.

Affordable Housing is a company formed by the founder and former CEO and CTO of FrameMax, an American company known for providing cold-formed steel buildings. “We saw a huge market that FrameMax could not address with its steel framing solutions and decided this is the largest high growth market opportunity. We then set about finding solutions to the issues to be successful in this affordable housing market and believe we offer the best solution”, confirmed Ellis.

AHI is pursuing large projects in South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with production of its patented system being provided out of mainland China and design work completed in the USA. AHI offer potential customers all options, from providing building structures, or component supply, to licensing of their technology.

To learn more about the system, click on; http://www.ahi-ltd.com

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Fairfax County lost about $2.4 million on a Reston housing complex that went into foreclosure several years ago – news that was not formally relayed to the county’s Board of Supervisors until this year.

“You don’t lose [that amount] and not report it to the Board of Supervisors,” said Supervisor Pat Herrity, Springfield Republican.

Auditor of the Board Mike Longhi said the Department of Housing and Community Development went through “normal notification,” which included notifying the Housing Board, county attorney’s office, and county debt manager. He did say notices of the deal were included in supervisors’ often-voluminous board packets.

Still, Mr. Herrity was not satisfied with the entire deal, let alone the lack of notice.

“We invested over the appraised value, which is not a good thing,” he said. “It was unsecured, it was over the appraised value, and we lost it. Those are things I don’t like.”

In January 2007, Fairfield Properties bought the 200-unit Reston Glen apartment complex for $30,375,000. The company subsequently sought financing through the county to keep a fifth of the apartments affordable based on a preset rateand to rehabilitate the property.

The county’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority facilitated $34 million in bond financing for the project, and also provided a $2.375 million loan from the county’s “Penny for Affordable Housing Fund,” which is funded by dedicating 1 cent of the value of the real estate tax rate.

In September 2009, Fairfield was unable to put up enough collateral after entering into an arrangement with Goldman Sachs, who bought the bonds, and so Goldman foreclosed on the property. In December 2009, Fairfield filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The $2.4 million was lost through the foreclosure, but the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) came to an agreement with the purchaser, Red Stone Partners IV LLC, to repay the note up to the full amount at 25 cents on the dollar. The catch, though, was that the money would only flow for every dollar the company got in excess of $34 million for a future sale of the property.

“The sad thing with this is the project was on time, the occupancy was good, the residency was good,” said Mike Longhi, the Auditor of the Board. “The normal income stream on the project was very good.”

The property was sold in December 2010 for $28.5 million, however, so HCD wrote off the Penny Fund loan at the end of fiscal 2011. The affordability restrictions on the complex are still in place, it was rehabilitated, and the bonds were fully repaid.

Stacy Patterson, a spokeswoman for the county, said in an email that notification protocols are being developed. However, it’s unlikely that another situation would develop like Reston Glen, which was done as a pilot, because of changes in market conditions.

“[T]here was no immediate loan loss; it was a year after the bankruptcy when the property was sold before there was any impact,” she wrote. “In this transaction, the bonds were fully repaid, and the Board of Supervisors was notified when they received an overall report on the housing portfolio in 2012.”

Mr. Longhi, too, noted that the department has agreed to notify the county board in the event of future loan losses.

“While $2.375 million is always a significant amount of money, when you look at financing deals that were unraveled by the recession across the nation, to lose one loan at that amount, while still significantit doesn’t represent serious problems,” he said.

© Copyright 2012 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

There are practical ways to improve your sale chances.
Source: National Features

RP Data has found the time on the market for the average Australian house is 77 days and for a unit it takes about 51 days to find a buyer / File
Source: Supplied

SELLING a home takes up to twice as long as it did two years ago, according to new research.

RP Data has found the time on the market for the average Australian house is 77 days and for a unit it takes about 51 days to find a buyer. This is a big jump compared with two years ago when houses took 47 days to sell and units 38.

The unwelcome news comes as sellers battle weaker house prices, with the extra time taking to sell only adding to financial pressures.

RP Data also found sellers were discounting their asking prices by about 7 per cent across the board compared with a year ago for both houses and units.

“The ongoing weakness in the housing market is likely to result in vendor discounting and time on the market remaining at above-average levels,” RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher says.

However, fewer properties for sale might help improve the situation, the researcher says. “In recent months, the amount of stock has declined and the volume of sales has stabilised, which may result in further improvements in vendor discounting and time on market,” Kusher says.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Pamela Bennett says economic uncertainty is the main reason for buyers being hesitant and properties taking longer to sell.

“Buying a home is the biggest investment most people make, so in times of uncertainty it isn’t surprising they might take a bit longer to lock in a decision,” Bennett says.

“Housing affordability has been showing signs of slowly improving over the past year or so but it is still well below where it was during the 1990s.

“Hopefully the recent drop in interest rates will get things moving again.

However, we suspect that, on its own, the impact will be marginal. The Federal Government needs to take a serious look at direct intervention to help with affordability.”

Metropole Property managing director Michael Yardney says many buyers in the current market are also sellers.

“About 45 per cent of buyers are homeowners upgrading because of family circumstances. They need to access the equity in their home before buying the next property and many are not able to achieve the desired sale price,” Yardney says.

–

TOP TIPS FOR A QUICK SALE

* Price your property realistically. There are buyers out there but they are price sensitive and not prepared to pay too much.

* Your property must look good on the internet where buyers first look and then also in real life when potential buyers inspect it. You want them to fall in love with your home so they buy with emotion – their heart and not their calculator.

* Market it well – you can’t sell a secret! Advertise your property appropriately and have open for inspections to attract the widest range of potential buyers.

Source: Metropole Property Strategists

Small firms are getting creative about space.

As the economy recovers, it can be tempting for small businesses to invest in property. Still, real estate is a huge expense—and its outlook remains uncertain. So many experts advise small businesses to conserve their capital and lease rather than buy.

But those small-business owners who do take the plunge can learn lessons from others who have created strategies to minimize their downside risk.

Thinking Ahead

Teresa Knox, who has purchased several commercial properties in recent years, says she’s careful to make renovations that could appeal to a variety of future buyers in case she sells.

In 2007, Ms. Knox opened a cosmetology school in Tulsa, Okla., and made sure the space could be used for health care, a major industry in the city. For instance, Ms. Knox says, the school has treatment rooms for massage and skin-care services that could be used for patient care, and the dispensary could be converted to a medical laboratory. “We use dental trays, for example, to hold tools and products necessary for a haircut, manicure, facial or other salon service,” she says.

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Alexandra Lopatynsky, a New York-based studio director at JCJ Architecture, headquartered in Hartford, Conn., says clients in the past few years have been very focused on making sure that their spaces are flexible and adaptable.

“They should always be able to go to a ‘Plan B,’ whether it’s a hotel or a school,” Ms. Lopatynsky says. “It’s an investment, and the investment really needs to support what they do today, and needs to be flexible for what they do tomorrow.”

Other investors are keeping their initial costs low with spaces that can do double duty. Last year, Midwest Gaming Entertainment LLC opened Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Ill. Midwest had wanted both a sports bar and a performance venue. But there was limited space available, says Dwayne MacEwen, principal architect and owner of DMAC Architecture in Evanston, Ill.

So, he says, “we made this hybrid.”

The space can transform from a sports bar to a nightclub to a private function space using retractable monitors, a complex lighting system and movable partitions.

Working From Home

Mark Dalton, an interior designer in Sarasota, Fla., took doubling up a step further—by buying a home at a depressed price and using it as a showroom as well as a living space.

In 2007, he snapped up a 1,600-square-foot house for $190,000, “half of what homes in this condition were going for in this neighborhood,” Mr. Dalton says. He moved in after overhauling the place, putting in marble floors, raising the ceilings and doing other work.

The unconventional showroom has been a hit, Mr. Dalton says. “People want to see how you live as a designer,” he says. “They want to see if you are walking the walk.”

Ms. Mantell is a personal-finance reporter for MarketWatch. She can be reached at ruth.mantell@dowjones.com.

The government should work towards providing houses at affordable prices to the middleclass and those belonging to economically weaker sections of society.

This was a common opinion expressed during the inauguration of the two-day “Mangalore Realty and Buildcon Expo 2012” organised by the Manipal Ace here on Saturday.

Raising the issue of affordable housing, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly N. Yogish Bhat said that there were many from the middleclass and economically poor sections in the State who still did not have houses. Though the State government was committed towards providing affordable houses, builders should come forward to make it a reality, he said.

Mr. Bhat said that the cost of construction of a house in Mangalore was now between Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 4,500 per square foot. Technology such as the one in France, which helps build houses in just 15 days, should be used in the State. Builders should consider using available resources such as silt and fly ash for reducing the cost of construction, he added.

President of the Mangalore Chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India P.M.A. Razak said giving affordable housing will solely depend on the Government. Mr. Razak said that the Government should first take measures to regulate the prices of steel and cement, which were increasing at a faster rate. He said the Government should also fasten the process of granting sanctions for construction. “Presently two to three years was being taken to sanction. Imagine the increase in the costs in this period that has to be borne by the person aspiring for a house,” he said.

Mr. Razak said that the Government should also consider recommendation of Planning Commission to reduce wastage of land and increase the floor area ratio (FAR).

This would allow construction of multistoried residential complexes and would drastically bring down the cost of construction. “Nearly 50 per cent of the building cost goes towards the cost of land. The price of land in areas such as Falnir has risen from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh,” he said. The Government should invest in technologies that reduce the cost of construction in a way it has been done in Spain and Thailand, he added.

Mr. Razak said that these were among the issues that CREDAI will be raising during its nation-wide agitation on October 14 and draw the attention of the Government. Managing Director of Manipal Technologies T. Gautam Pai and Lions District 324 D5 Governor P. Kishore Rao also spoke.

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U.S. Stocks Gain on Manufacturing as Treasuries Retreat

Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

A pump housing waits to be shipped from Diversified Tooling Group’s American Tooling Center Inc. facility in Grass Lake, Michigan, on April 17, 2012.

A pump housing waits to be shipped from Diversified Tooling Group’s American Tooling Center Inc. facility in Grass Lake, Michigan, on April 17, 2012. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

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Manufacturing in New York Region Expands More Than Forecast

Brady Dillsworth/Bloomberg

An employee sands table tops at the Gunlocke Co. LLC factory in Wayland, New York.

An employee sands table tops at the Gunlocke Co. LLC factory in Wayland, New York. Photographer: Brady Dillsworth/Bloomberg

Manufacturers probably received more
orders in April and home sales rose, a sign the U.S. expansion
is still on track, economists said before reports this week.

Factory bookings for long-lasting goods rose 0.3 percent
last month after falling 3.9 percent in March, according to the
median forecasts of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
before a May 24 Commerce Department report. Other figures may
show purchases of existing and new houses also climbed.

Manufacturers may keep forging ahead as automakers crank
out more cars and trucks, while housing will probably benefit
from record-low mortgage rates that are making properties more
affordable. Nonetheless, those industries alone will fail to
spur a pickup in growth without bigger increases in employment
throughout the economy that will propel consumer spending.

“The economy is growing, but it’s just not growing at an
inspiring pace,” said Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at
Societe Generale in New York. “The production numbers look OK,
the housing market looks OK, the thing we’re more concerned
about is the labor market.”

A Federal Reserve report last week showed factory
production rose 0.6 percent in April. About half the gain came
from auto making, which jumped 3.9 percent following a 1.2
percent increase in the prior month.

Another measure of strength, the Institute for Supply
Management’s manufacturing index, climbed to 54.8 in April, the
highest level in almost a year, as orders picked up. Readings
greater than 50 signal growth.

‘Doing Very Well’

“There’s lots of good things going on from an industrial
perspective,” Art Beattie, chief financial officer of Southern
Co., the largest U.S. power company by market value, said during
a May 15 investor conference. “A lot of our chemical
manufacturers are doing very well. Our steel manufacturers are
near full capacity. Automotive production and the suppliers for
those automotive plants are doing very well.”

Factory production helped sustain the expansion while the
housing market stabilized.

Existing-home sales rose 3.1 percent to a 4.62 million
annual rate, economists project a report from the National
Association of Realtors will show May 22. A day later, figures
from the Commerce Department may show sales of newly built
houses rose 2.1 percent to a 335,000 pace, according to the
survey median.

Housing starts increased to a 717,000 annual rate in April,
more than anticipated, a report showed last week.

Gaining Confidence

Homebuilders have grown more optimistic as a result of the
improvement in sales. The National Association of Home
Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index jumped to a five-year high
in May, the Washington-based group reported last week.

The Standard Poor’s Supercomposite Homebuilding Index
advanced 27 percent so far this year, outpacing a 3 percent gain
in the broader SP 500.

A more stable housing market may help lift consumers’
moods. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final
sentiment index for May is projected to come in at 77.8, the
same as the preliminary reading and the highest since January
2008. It would mark the first time since monthly data began in
1978 that the index advanced for a nine consecutive months.

                        Bloomberg Survey

==============================================================
                        Release    Period    Prior     Median
Indicator                 Date               Value    Forecast
==============================================================
Exist Homes Mlns          5/22     April      4.48      4.62
Exist Homes MOM%          5/22     April     -2.6%      3.1%
Richmond Fed Index        5/22      May        14        11
New Home Sales ,000’s     5/23     April      328       335
New Home Sales MOM%       5/23     April     -7.1%      2.1%
Durables Orders MOM%      5/24     April     -3.9%      0.3%
Durables Ex-Trans MOM%    5/24     April     -1.3%      0.8%
Cap Goods Core MOM%       5/24     April     -3.6%      0.6%
Cap Goods Core Ship MOM   5/24     April      2.6%     -1.0%
Initial Claims ,000’s     5/24     19-May     370       370
Cont. Claims ,000’s       5/24     12-May     3265      3250
U of Mich Conf. Index     5/25     May F      77.8      77.8
=============================================================

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Kowalski in Washington at
akowalski13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net

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This custom-built cape cod at 24259 Fairmount Drive features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a spacious 2,846-square-foot layout. Additional features include an attached two-car garage, formal dining room, and walk-out lower level with a full deck.

The home sits on a third of an acre and backs up to Dearborn Hills Golf Course.

The asking price is $589,000.

No open houses are scheduled at this time. For more information, or to schedule a private showing, contact Century 21 Curran Christie at 313-274-7200.