![]() Despite the impact of an overinflated market and some decreased demand, home prices are not likely to decrease any time soon, according to a new industry report. That report, Will Home Prices Drop in 2023—Housing Market Forecast, published by the Laguna Niguel, California-based Norado Real Estate Investments, notes that higher borrowing rates and a cooled-off demand have the potential to impact prices downward. “Prices drop when demand is met,” says the report, noting that there has been an “excessive demand for houses in several property markets and there simply aren’t enough homes to see to prospective purchasers.” Although the home price increase has been a real thing for at least the last two years, the report notes that between “the first quarters of 2021 and 2022, all 50 states and the District of Columbia saw an increase in housing prices.” Market demand and rising home prices were particularly evident during the early Covid 19 months, when realtors saw “hyperactive buyers make offers without seeing the property and forego contingencies to win bidding wars in the highly competitive housing market.” But by 2022, says the report, the market may have reached a tipping point where “prices have risen so dramatically that buyers are backing off and home sales are slowing down considerably as compared to last year.” Even so, price increases as of late this spring remained in the double digits in every region of the country, with the South showing the greatest jump over last year at 23.8%. The next highest increases were recorded in the Mountain states at 22.7%, while the Middle Atlantic states represented the most modest gains at 13.9%. Five of the states seeing the most dramatic increases were located in the West, with Arizona up by 27.5%, Utah up by 26.8%, and Idaho chalking a 25.5% gain. Despite the overall national price trend, the report notes that random individual market segments will almost certainly see home price decreases next year with Greenville, Mississippi off by 6%; Minot, North Dakota down by 5.4%; and Fairbanks, Alaska off by 4.6%. But those places, going into 2023, may well prove exceptional: the market remains heated in part because of the large numbers of the Millennial Generation, those born between 1981 and 1996, who have entered the housing market. According to statistics compiled by the Norada report, nearly 43% of the Millennials have recently purchased homes, up from 37% in 2021. That generational infusion is helping to buttress the housing market, says the report, before adding: “The current rate of home price growth is unsustainable, and higher mortgage rates combined with increased inventory will result in slower home price growth, but unlikely any price decline.” By Garry Boulard
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![]() A combined hotel and apartment complex project is being proposed for construction in Denver’s popular River North Art District in a neighborhood dominated by warehouses and garages. Belonging to the OliverBuchanan Group, the project will be built on some 7 acres on a site in the 1600 to 1700 block of East 40th Avenue, and will likely be built in two phases. The site was formerly the home to the Denver Rock Drill Manufacturing Company, for years a premiere producer of pneumatic drills, including the industry-popular Waugh, a durable and heavy water-flushed drafting drill. The factory discontinued its operations in the mid-1980s. As proposed, the site will see the construction of 2 nine-story buildings with anywhere from 164 to 181 units in either structure. The structure will also house both retail and dwelling space. Concept plans for what could be an estimated $500 million project have already been submitted to the City of Denver. The OliverBuchanan Group’s partner for the project is the Sentral company, which has offices in Denver and will operate the development. Launched in the summer of 2021, Sentral currently manages over $2 billion in Class A properties. Based in Denver, the OliverBuchanan Group specializes in mixed-use real estate development. Last month the two companies announced a formal partnership that will combine their efforts on projects in Austin, Dallas, Nashville, and Phoenix, among other cities. By Garry Boulard ![]() The need for workers in a variety of fields continues to expand, according to a new survey, indicating that shortages are challenging any number of industries. The just-completed 2022 Associated General Contractors of America-Autodesk Workforce Survey reveals that 93% out of a total response of 1,266 companies said they currently had open positions for hourly craft workers. That figure is up from the 90% who similarly responded a year ago. Meanwhile, 70% of respondents today said they had openings for salaried workers, up from 62% in the late summer of 2021. These figures are rolled out at the same time that 86% of respondents to the survey said they had raised base pay rates, a significant increase over the 73% recorded last year. The most common reason for the worker openings was due to applicants not being qualified, a problem cited by 77% of the survey’s respondents, up from 72% a year ago. The survey also indicated that 82% of firms said they were currently experiencing delays in competing projects due to a shortage of construction materials, over the 75% who said the same in 2021. While 58% of respondents also said they were challenged by projects that have been either cancelled, postponed, or scaled back, a promising 28% said that they are seeing more projects to bid on or projects that have been expanded from their original scope. Regionally, the survey showed that 32% of companies in the Northeast had increased their payrolls in the last year, compared to 46% in the Midwest, 35% in the South, and a healthy 50% in the West. By Garry Boulard ![]() Work could begin sometime next month on a much-delayed and long-discussed plan to rehabilitate and upgrade the Taos County Courthouse located at 121 N. Plaza in the town of Taos. Earlier this year New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez announced that nearly $1.3 million in federal funds had been secured for the project as part of a fiscal year 2022 omnibus appropriations bill. In making that announcement, Leger Fernandez remarked that the funding would go for such efforts as stabilizing the building shell, providing Americans with Disabilities Act access throughout the structure, and rebuilding the front portal according to the original design. The Spanish Pueblo-designed structure, built with partial funding from the Works Progress Administration, was completed in 1934 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. A report prepared several years ago by the New Mexico Preservation District noted that the structure was distinguished by its exposed round vigas and wood decking, as well as twelve-inch diameter round posts and carved wood corbels. County officials are currently working through plans that may see the building of two new alleyways on either side of the structure, as well as the demolition of two structures on either side of the courthouse. Work on the project will be done in four phases, with the final phase expected to be completed sometimes in 2023 at a cost of anywhere between $10 million and $12 million. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans could be soon underway for the construction of three new elementary schools in the growing Denver-Aurora metro area if voters in November prove receptive to a $450 million bond proposal. In August, members of the Douglas County School District Board of Education gave their unanimous approval to putting on the fall ballot a question asking for funding not only for the two elementary facilities, but also the expansion of two existing middle schools. Plans for both the new schools as well as the expanded schools are a response to significant enrollment growth in a county whose population has more than doubled from 175,000 residents in 2000 to just under 360,000 today. The big Douglas County School District is additionally the home to 89 school facilities of varying sizes and purposes, all of which would see some improvement should the bond pass. The new schools, according to district officials, will go up in the Sterling Ranch, Crystal Valley, and Canyons neighborhoods. Sterling Ranch is a newly developed community that is expected to be home to at least 33,000 people in the next several years. The equally new Crystal Valley has been enjoying a steady population growth and now has just over 32,000 residents, while the master planned Canyons community now has nearly 70,000 people. The two schools targeted for expansion are the Sierra Middle School at 6651 E Pine Lane in the town of Parker; and the Mesa Middle School at 365 N. Mitchell in the town of Castle Rock. By Garry Boulard ![]() A six-floor brick building with Art Deco features that was built in the Roaring 20s is up for sale in downtown Raton, New Mexico. Located at 200 S. 2nd Street, the structure measures just under 49,000 square feet and has for decades served as the corporate headquarters for the International Bank commercial banking chain. The tallest building in Raton, the structure was built in 1928 by the Swastika Coal Company, also of Raton, and originally served as a hotel. In the late 1930s, with the rise of the Third Reich in Germany, the Swastika Hotel was renamed, becoming the Yucca Hotel. Valued locally as an architectural treasure, the structure is distinguished for its above-window tiled arches and a brick cornice band crowning the building with alternating patterns of squares and circles. Listed with the Raton-based realtor Home Associates Incorporated, the building underwent a comprehensive renovation in 1980 and has an asking price of $475,000. By Garry Boulard ![]() Members of Congress are expected in the immediate weeks ahead to debate and vote on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown, triggered to begin on October 1. The effort comes as those same members are contemplating passage, as part of the stopgap spending bill, emergency supplemental funds to the tune of $47.1 million, as requested by the White House. Sources say the stopgap spending legislation may make it out of the House next week, before being sent to the Senate. But while a potential bi-partisan move to approve that legislation before the October 1 deadline seems apparent, the fate of the supplemental funds request is uncertain. What is known is that a continuing resolution, a short-term spending bill designed to avoid a government shutdown, would extend spending to December 16. Notes the Fiscal Times: “Congress will have to fund the government via a stopgap spending measure that sets up another fiscal fight in the lame-duck session after the midterm elections.” The emergency supplemental funds proposal, meanwhile, includes $6.5 billion in funding that will go to the states to recover from extreme weather events and natural disasters. By Garry Boulard ![]() Up to $100 million in funds for new school building construction and existing school facility upgrades in Flagstaff, Arizona may be made available depending upon the results of the November elections. Residents living within the Flagstaff Unified School District will be tasked with deciding on Proposition 448, which will provide district officials with the authority to issue general obligation bonds for dozens of construction and upgrade projects. Those projects may include the new buildings for the Kinsey and Marshall elementary schools, at an estimated cost of $25 million. The Kinsey school was built in 1957, while the Marshall facility was completed in 1952. Both buildings are no longer considered to be adequate for current educational purposes. Exactly $12 million will go for the rebuilding of the district’s transportation and maintenance facilities, while $6 million will target facility technology upgrades throughout the district. If approved, the bonds would also pay for purchasing land for future facility construction, as well as absorbing the costs of all architectural, design, and engineering expenses associated with any project. The primary district for Flagstaff, the Flagstaff Unified School District, is the home to some 16 schools, including three high schools, two middle schools, and ten elementary schools. District officials have argued in favor of the bond as a matter of timeliness, noting the rising costs of materials for construction. The Flagstaff Unified School District has an enrollment of around 15,000 students, up from just over 12,400 in the mid-1990s. By Garry Boulard ![]() Work could begin next fall on the construction of a 200,000 square foot combined aerospace center and advanced manufacturing center on the northeast side of El Paso. Funding for the project is coming through a $40 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge award designed to spur regional manufacturing. The money is more specifically going to the University of El Paso and is part of a larger $1 billion being awarded to nearly two dozen projects nationally. Those projects all have in common the goal of creating manufacturing facilities, while also strengthening regional economies. In El Paso, the Build Back Better funds, as envisioned by a group called the West Texas Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Coalition, will be used to support medium- and small-sized manufacturers supporting both the aerospace and defense industries. The planned 200,000 square foot manufacturing campus, to go near the El Paso International Airport, will be built with the idea of it being expanded in the next 10 years to around 3 million square feet. Between $25 million and $65 million is being awarded for various projects across the country under the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. According to the White House, those projects will, among other things, provide support to “family-owned manufacturers to transition from traditional automotives to electric vehicles,” while also supporting small businesses in Tribal communities, providing digital resources to small farms, and renovating and repurposing industrial buildings for new businesses. By Garry Boulard ![]() In a continuing bid to set up permanent lunar settlements, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded three grants, totaling $19.4 million, designed to fund solar power on the moon. The three grants are going to three different companies: . the Littleton, Colorado-based operations of Lockheed Martin receiving $6.2 million. . Honeybee Robotics of Brooklyn is receiving $7 million in funding . the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology company, a robotics firm, has been awarded $6.2 million. The companies are all working under the umbrella of the Moon under Artemis program, which is designed to land the first person of color and first woman on the Moon, through the utilization of innovative technologies. “The prototypes developed by the companies,” said Niki Werkheiser in a statement, “will provide promising solutions for reliable power sources on the Moon, which are key to the success of almost anything we do on the surface.” Werkheiser, the director of technology maturation at NASA, continued: “This exciting effort plays a critical role that will quite literally help power our Artemis exploration in the uniquely challenging environment of the Moon’s South Pole.” The goal behind the work of the three companies is to build prototypes and perform environmental testing in order to deploy one of the systems near the Moon’s South Pole in the next seven years or so. By Garry Boulard |
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