Building Market Intelligence

The federal government has essentially adopted three of our four recommendations to “Unlock the Housing Market,” which puts us on track to have the housing market recover by 2011. While two years seems like forever, it will be here before …

Phoenix is the most unique market in the country right now. Any renter with a stable job and the desire to become a homeowner and live in Phoenix for a long time should be buying a home right now because …

The best measure of unemployment is not the one you read in the newspaper. The U-6 unemployment rate, which represents 13.9% of the total adult population who wants to work, also includes part-time employees who would rather work full-time. The …

Rezoning and repositioning your communities can earn you millions. The following is a hypothetical illustration of much of the work we are doing these days. In this example, we offer the builder of a high-density community two alternative scenarios: one …

The U.S. is undoubtedly in the worst financial and economic crisis since the 1930s. Home prices are falling rapidly across the nation, which has resulted in more than $2 trillion in losses in the last two years. The declining stock …

While the economy is clearly in miserable shape, there is plenty of positive news for housing. Falling prices and falling mortgage rates have made housing much more affordable, and declining construction and mothballed new home communities have made housing much …

Today’s low mortgage rates and low down payment levels are the best selling tools you have if you are selling homes that meet the FHA or Freddie/Fannie criteria. Qualified buyers who are focused on price might miss out on the …

Tampa, Fla., was once both a place and state of big builder bliss – the availability of land combined with strong job and population growth fueled a steady rise in permits from 1991 all the way through 2005. Today, that …

The U.S. economy is in the early stages of a downward spiral that is going to take significant government intervention to avoid double-digit unemployment rates, as occurred in the early 1980s. The stock market has certainly opined on how tough …