California Building Industry Association

CBIA/BIA News

California Homebuilding Foundation to Induct Six Industry Leaders into Hall of Fame

CHF
SACRAMENTO - Six homebuilding leaders will be honored at the California homebuilding industry’s most prestigious event, the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame Celebration. Each year, the California Homebuilding Foundation honors the lifetime achievements of a select few who have made outstanding contributions to the homebuilding industry while maintaining an active presence in the betterment of their communities. The Hall of Fame Awards Dinner will be held Tuesday, June 26, 2012, at the Hilton Union Square Hotel in San Francisco.

Fees and Costs

OUR VIEW: Waiving or delaying impact fees is no solution

Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield City Councilmen Ken Weir and David Couch are pushing to eliminate or sharply reduce the transportation impact fee that new homebuilders must pay the city. In their eyes, lowering the $12,870 fee will miraculously jump-start the sale of new homes and bring back construction jobs. City staff, the city manager and the city attorney have all explained why tinkering with the fee is a bad idea. They repeated the explanations Friday when Weir and Couch brought up the proposals again. The fee helps fund roadwork like the Westside Parkway and Rosedale Highway widening. Messing with it could hurt the city's ability to fund those projects. The fee amount was based on rigorous research that justifies the figure and specifies how the money is used.

Land Use/ Planning

Plans for Edgewood Plaza overhaul advance

Palo Alto Daily News
A plan to overhaul Palo Alto's Edgewood Plaza, the only shopping center built by noted developer Joseph Eichler, picked up the endorsement of the city's Architectural Review Board on Thursday. Board members voted 4-0 to recommend that the city council approve Sand Hill Property Company's proposal to renovate three of the 1950s-era shopping center's buildings and construct 10 new single-family houses. As in the past, a small grocery store would anchor the site. Newly appointed Board Member Lee Lippert did not participate in the vote because of his previous involvement in the project as a member of the Planning and Transportation Commission. The board's support followed a previous review in November that raised concerns about the size of the homes and their proximity to the retail buildings.

Orinda residents oppose new housing project

Contra Costa Times
ORINDA -- An expanse of open space at the intersection of two quiet residential streets has become the epicenter of a debate between Orinda residents and city leaders. Homeowners voiced their dismay with a housing project spearheaded by the Bruzzone family at a recent planning commission meeting. Plans calls for eight new single-family houses at the corner of Lavenida Drive and Donna Maria Way, on more than 12 acres dotted with walnut trees, oaks and other vegetation. In addition to concerns about developing an area with three known landslides, residents said they're not happy with the Lavenida Lane Subdivision's proximity to schools, possible construction traffic and pedestrian safety.

Housing assessment needs for Ventura County mapped out

Ventura County Star
It's a ritual called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, mandated by state law, that plays out every few years throughout the state. Cities and counties are assigned a number of housing units they are responsible for during a window of time to meet existing and projected housing needs. The Southern California Association of Governments' Regional Council on Thursday approved the distribution of draft numbers for its member cities and counties for 2013-2021. Communities can request their number be revised and appeal if they are unhappy. Chris Williamson, principal planner for the city of Oxnard, suggested that multiple jurisdictions be allowed to submit revisions, appeals, trades and transfers together. Oxnard's draft number is 7,301 units.

Downtown Ventura development

Ventura County Star
Los Angeles-based developer John Ashkar recently has added a third large-scale housing project to his already full Ventura plate. Besides the 154-unit Montalvo apartment complex and 499-unit condo and single-family home project in east Ventura, Ashkar is now planning a project for 230 rental apartments in downtown Ventura. Ashkar’s Westwood Communities Corp. purchased the 3.5 acres for this project from the Olson Co. in December 2011, according to the Pacific Coast Business Times. The property, bordered by Thompson Boulevard, Santa Clara and Junipero Streets, was slated in 2005 for Olson’s “Renaissance Walk” community and was going to include lofts, live-work spaces and courtyard housing designed for first-time buyers, families and baby boomers. Downtown business owners strongly supported the plan.

ESCONDIDO: Council praises new blueprint, but raises questions

North County Times
City Council members praised a proposal Wednesday to significantly revise Escondido's blueprint for future development, but questioned whether zoning changes in the plan might overcrowd local schools, create too much traffic congestion or nullify a slow-growth measure residents approved in 1998. Council members hailed the plan as a comprehensive approach to boosting the city's prosperity by rezoning 450 residential acres to either industrial or commercial, and by rezoning 800 acres already in commercial districts to make them more attractive to high-wage employers. They also endorsed a plan to more than double the number of housing units planned for downtown, from 2,275 to 5,275, and allow maximum building heights there to be 85 feet.

Market

Rate on 30-year mortgage falls to record 3.87 pct.

Associated Press
WASHINGTON—The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell this week to a record low, the ninth time that has happened in the last year. Even with the cheapest rates in history, the housing market remains depressed. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan dropped to 3.87 percent this week. That is below the previous record of 3.88 hit two weeks ago. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.14 percent, also a record low. Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s. Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 1.9 percent this week.

Homebuilders see stable housing market ahead

Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The CEOs of some of the nation's biggest homebuilding companies say the housing market appears to have stabilized. But they are careful not to be overly optimistic even with the spring home-selling season coming up in just a few weeks. Executives at PulteGroup Inc., MDC Holdings Inc., M/I Homes Inc. and Beazer Homes USA Inc. weighed in on the housing market on Thursday after their companies reported financial results for the October-December quarter. Sales trends for the group were mostly mixed. But all but PulteGroup ended the quarter with far bigger backlogs of homes under contract than a year earlier.

Editorial: Obama plan would prolong housing pain

Orange County Register
It was predictable that President Barack Obama would pander again to entitlement sentiments. This time involves the misguided belief that everyone is entitled to homeownership, even at the government's – the taxpayers' – expense. But the president's audacity is a bit much to take, even for an election year. Mr. Obama wants to effectively bail out borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth by having taxpayers assume the risk of borrowers defaulting. This is the same president who this week promised to end bailouts, even as he touted the supposed success of his auto industry bailouts. Mr. Obama has become the master of double talk. He's against bailouts except for when he's for them. His latest housing "assistance" plan makes him for them again.

U.S. overbuilt in big houses, planners find

U-T San Diego
America has too many big houses -- 40 million, to be exact -- because consumers are shifting preferences to condos, apartments and small homes, experts told the New Partners for Smart Growth Thursday, holding its 11th annual conference in San Diego through Sunday. Relying on developers' surveys, Chris Nelson, who heads the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah, said 43 percent of Americans prefer traditional big, suburban homes but the rest don't. He estimated that this demand suggests a need for 10 million more attached homes and 30 million more small homes on 4,000-square-foot lots or less. By contrast, demand for large-lot homes is 40 million less than currently available.