May 19, 2008
By Sandy Dunn
NAHB President and
Jerry Howard
NAHB Executive VP and CEO
 
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Contact your senators and congressmen during Memorial Day
recess when they are home for the holiday and urge them to enact housing stimulus legislation to kick-start housing and boost the overall economy.

Right now, both the House and the Senate have passed their own versions of the legislation and the two bills must be reconciled before a final package can be sent to the President. So NAHB is asking members to step up and ask their senators and congressmen to pass this needed legislation. Be sure to let them know the stimulus legislation should include these key elements: a home buyer tax credit, FHA reform, extension of the net operating loss carryback provision,and expanded revenue bond authority. You can find details and suggested talking points at NAHB.org/issueslegcon. Contact Molly Murray (x8282) for more information.

NAHB Member Benefit: When the grassroots speak, Congress listens. Meetings with members of Congress during the Memorial Day recess will reinforce the need to quickly enact legislation to jump-start housing, save jobs and restore confidence.
Tune in for National Membership Day on May 20,
and check out our live Membership Day webcast by visiting NAHB's home page at www.nahb.org between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday — you'll fine a link to the webcast there. HBAs should be prepared to call NAHB at 800-899-6242 during the webcast to have their May membership projections officially recorded and posted as part of this event. Special resources for HBAs are available at www.nahb.org/BigHunt08.  Also as part of the Membership Day webcast, NAHB will host a "retention roundtable" in which guest experts will provide some great tips on how HBAs can keep a grip on their existing membership base. In these challenging economic times, the value of NAHB membership becomes even greater, so be sure to do your part to bring (and keep) your colleagues onboard! 

For more information, please visit: www.nahb.org/membershipday or contact  Gabrielle Taylor, x8351. [return to top]

Builder confidence edged downward in May
as market conditions continued to erode, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which was released last Thursday. The HMI fell a single point to 19, bringing it within one point of the record low of 18, which was set in December 2007 (the series began in January of 1985). The latest HMI also shows that even fewer builders now foresee market conditions improving over the next six months compared with the April survey, and builder ratings of buyer traffic through model homes also have dropped off over the past month on a seasonally adjusted basis. The HMI’s component index gauging current sales conditions declined one point to 17 in May — its lowest level since the series began in January 1985. Meanwhile, the component gauging sales expectations for the next six months declined three points to 27, and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers declined two points to 17. See NAHB's press release summarizing the HMI results and check out the actual HMI tables online. Contact Paul Lopez (x8409) for help in dealing with any media inquiries. 

NAHB Member Benefit: NAHB's economic surveys and analysis help our members achieve a better understanding of current market trends and where they are headed, while our media outreach in this regard helps to firmly establish NAHB as the credible source of information on the housing industry nationwide. This credibility with the media ensures that accurate data on the housing market is transmitted to potential home buyers and the public at large, thereby discounting sensationalized accounts of market conditions that may affect your client's decision to purchase a new home. [return to top]
The downswing in the single-family market deepened
in April while a surge for the month in the extremely volatile multifamily market lifted total housing starts 8.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.032 million units, according to figures released by the Commerce Department on Friday. Single-family housing starts dropped 1.7 percent for the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 692,000 units, the lowest monthly production rate since January 1991. Multifamily housing starts rose 36.0 percent last month after dropping 35.1 percent the month before.  Chief Economist Dave Seiders sees more grim times ahead, noting that “the fundamentals point to further deterioration of single-family housing production over the balance of this year, and the condo component of the multifamily sector also is destined to lose more ground.” Read our press release or the Commerce Department's report online. Contact Paul Lopez (x8409) for help with media inquiries. [return to top]
Following protests from NAHB and other housing organizations,
Fannie Mae announced that it is overturning a policy requiring higher downpayments on home mortgages in areas where house prices are falling. Fannie Mae has scrapped its declining markets policy, which required maximum loan-to-value ratios for various mortgage products to be reduced by 5 percent if the property was located in a market experiencing declining home prices. Starting June 1, Fannie will implement a new national policy on downpayment requirements that will allow up to 97 percent loan-to-value ratios on mortgages processed through its automated underwriting system, Desktop Underwriter (DU) and 95 percent LTVs for loans underwritten outside of DU. NAHB argued that Fannie’s declining markets policy was exacerbating an already soft market by shutting out too many potential buyers. Contact Chellie Hamecs (x8245) for more information. [return to top]
Video reports from the Spring Board meeting
are now available for your viewing online. These videos were created in an effort to assist state and local EOs and other NAHB leaders in educating our local members across the country about NAHB's latest efforts on their behalf and important subjects that were discussed at the board meeting. These videos include:

Lobbying and Ethics Reform 
BUILD-PAC Update 
NAHB Branding Update
Lobbying Do's and Don'ts
Green Building
Fair Housing Issues 


If you have any trouble accessing the videos, or if you require them in an alternative format, please contact Cyndi Brown at x8346.

  [return to top]

NAHB offices will be closed on Memorial Day
and the Monday Morning Briefing will not be published on the May 26 federal holiday. We will be back in business on May 27, and the next edition of this report will be dated Monday, June 2. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! [return to top]

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