| February 23, 2009 |
By Joe Robson
NAHB Chairman and
Jerry Howard
NAHB President and CEO |
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Details on the new $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit
are now available via NAHB's newly redesigned Web site at www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.
As expected, President Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package into law on Feb. 17, which includes several favorable elements for housing that were outlined in last week's Monday Morning Briefing. These elements are also described in the Feb. 16 edition of NBN Online and in a convenient one-page summary that's available online here.
 A key provision of the new law is an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit that does NOT have to be paid back. To answer the many questions that home buyers and builders have about this tax credit, NAHB has launched a fully updated Web site at www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. This valuable new resource includes basic information about the tax credit as well as a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small-business measures in the stimulus legislation along with a number of home-buying resources for consumers. The site received an incredible 57,000 visitors on its first day up and running (Feb. 17), followed by another 54,000 visitors on the very next day. If you haven't checked it out already, we fully encourage you to do so, and to refer your clients and colleagues to this site as well. In addition, promotional resources to help you inform consumers about the credit – including talking points, a flyer, a fact sheet, radio scripts and a bill summary – are available at www.nahb.org/taxcreditmaterials. More materials will be added to this collection over the coming weeks. Contact: Jay Shackford, x8406.
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A $75 billion plan aimed at stemming the rising tide of foreclosures
 was announced by President Obama on Feb. 18. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, estimated by the Administration to keep 9 million people from losing their homes, would make it easier for owners of homes with declining values to refinance their mortgages at a lower rate. It also offers mortgage servicers and investors incentives to modify mortgage terms for those who are on the verge of foreclosure and provides $200 billion in backing from the Treasury Department for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This plan should help reduce foreclosures, which is critical to stabilizing home values and housing market conditions across the country. However, there is a provision that calls for legislation to allow “mortgage cram downs,” which would reduce the principal home loan amount on a primary residence, and NAHB is currently studying the implications of this proposal to see how it will affect mortgage markets. Contact: Dave Ledford, x8265.
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Expanded tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements
 were included within the newly signed economic stimulus legislation and should be of interest to many NAHB members and their clients. Reinstated by the Bush Administration last fall, the Internal Revenue Code section 25C tax credit for existing homes sought to reward homeowners for installing energy-efficient windows, insulation, furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps. But remodelers found that the terms of this credit – equal to only 10% of the cost of each product and with a lifetime cap of $500 – weren't strong enough to push many home owners off the fence and into action. This state of affairs has been improved with the Obama Administration's move to triple the credit rate to 30% and its lifetime cap to $1,500. The latest changes also expand the list of eligible improvements and extend the deadline for applying to the end of 2010. Congressional estimates indicate that the new rules will increase aggregate remodeling activity by more than $6 billion. Details on qualifying improvements will soon be available. It is expected that homeowners will need to complete a revised Form 5695 (Residential Energy Credits) and submit it as part of their 2009 income tax return to claim the credit. New forms will be available from the IRS Web site. Read more in NAHB's press release. Contact: Elizabeth Odina, x8570.
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A group of newly released housing data
 provides ample evidence of continuing weakness in this sector and the critical need for substantive government action to halt the downward spiral.
Home Builder Confidence: The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released Feb. 17, held in the single digits for a fourth consecutive month in February. The HMI rose a single point to 9, virtually unchanged from an all-time record low in the previous month. The HMI's component index gauging home builders' views of current conditions in the market for newly built single-family homes eked out a single-point gain to 7, while the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose 3 points to 11. However, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months declined two points to a new record low of 15. Read our press release and see the HMI tables online. Contact Ashok Chaluvadi, x8482.
Census Department figures on January housing starts and permits, released Feb. 18, were weaker than most analysts expected. New-home production plummeted 16.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, while permits for new housing construction declined 4.8% to 521,000 units. Both of these numbers were new record lows. Read NAHB's press release or view the government's official report online. Contact Paul Lopez (x8409) for help with media inquiries.
Housing Affordability: The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), released Feb. 19, showed that nationwide housing affordability surged at year-end 2008 as home prices fell and favorable mortgage rates prevailed. The HOI indicated that 62.4% of all new and existing homes that were sold in last year's final quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income of $61,500. This was up considerably from the 56.1% of homes that were affordable to such families in the previous quarter and the 46.6% of homes that were affordable to them at year-end 2007. The most affordable major housing market in the country, for the 14th consecutive quarter, was Indianapolis. The least affordable major market, for a third consecutive quarter, was New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. Read our press release and see the HOI tables at www.nahb.org/hoi. Contact: Rose Quint, x8527.
Remodelers' Outlook: The NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI), released Feb. 5, indicated weakened demand for residential remodeling jobs in 2008's final quarter. The index's current market conditions indicator slid nearly 6 points, while the indicator gauging future expectations declined by just over 8 points. In addition, all of the RMI's measures of future expectations for the remodeling market – including calls for bids, amount of work committed for the next three months, backlog of remodeling jobs and appointments for proposals – were down in the final three months of last year. Read more in our press release or see the RMI tables online. Contact: Kelly Mack, x8451.
Multifamily Market Outlook: NAHB's Multifamily Rental Market Index (MRMI) and Multifamily Condo Market Index (MCMI), released on Feb. 11, both indicated that the deepening recession and ongoing credit crunch continue to drag down builder confidence in this sector. The component of the MRMI gauging supply conditions sank dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2008 for both affordable and market-rate apartments. On the condo side, the supply component fell 11 points from the fourth quarter of 2007, hitting a new record low this time around. Read our press release for more information, or contact Ann Marie Moriarty, x8350.
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The National Green Building Standard scoring tool for multifamily
 buildings is now available and online at www.nahbgreen.org, home of the NAHB National Green Building Program. This great resource joins NAHB's online scoring tool for single-family projects, which was launched on Feb. 3; tools for remodelers and developers will be going online over the next few weeks. The NAHB Research Center, the certifying body for the National Green Building Standard as a rating system for NAHBGreen, has set a fee of $200 for a green multifamily building plus $20 per unit in the building. Verification services are negotiated between builders and verifiers directly and will vary based on region and types of service provided. Builders interested in certification through NAHBGreen can find a Research Center-accredited local verifier on the "Find a Verifier" page at www.nahbgreen.org. All accredited verifiers listed here are being given additional mandatory training so that they are ready to verify a multifamily building to the new standard. For additional info, call the National Green Building Program Hotline at 877-NAHB-GRN or click here for the "Contact Us" page at www.nahbgreen.org.
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A trio of new Biztools guides
 is now available free to NAHB members. These guides provide tips on technology, business planning, ensuring the financial health of your business, and more. Produced by NAHB's Business Management and Information Technology Committee and found in the business management resources section of the NAHB Web site – www.nahb.org/Biztools – the new 2009 Biztools Builder Business Guides include:
1) "Information Technology for Home Builders: Using Technology
to Increase Efficiency"
2) "Business Management for Home Builders: Succession Planning
to Map Your Future"
3) "Financial Management for Home Builders: Understanding Cash Flow"
For electronic versions of each of these concise guides, visit www.nahb.org/bbg. To order free hard copies (shipping not included) visit www.nahb.org/materialsordering. In all, NAHB has nearly 300 time-saving, money-making and cost-cutting business resources to help you run your business profitably – and that number is being added to weekly. Go to NAHB's Business Management Tools Web pages for instant members-only access to all of these great offerings. Contact: Josh Nester, x8461.
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Reminder: Submit your ELG comments by Feb. 26!
Facing a court order to do so, the EPA published its proposed Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) and Standards for the Construction and Development Industry in the Federal Register on Nov. 28. These new storm water regulations will impact nearly all builders and developers, imposing more requirements for reducing pollutants in storm water discharges from construction sites and costing up to $16,000+ per lot. While NAHB worked closely with EPA during the development of the ELGs to ensure their implementation would be less burdensome, significant improvements are obviously still needed. NAHB is preparing written comments, which are due Feb. 26. In addition, ALL NAHB members are encouraged to submit comments by the Feb. 26 deadline. NAHB has developed a sample comment letter to serve as a template for your comments. Please encourage your colleagues, HBAs and state and local government officials to submit comments. Get more info here: www.nahb.org/elg or contact Ty Asfaw, x8124.
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