Friday, July 29, 2011

Housing News Digest, July 29

Real GDP still below Pre-Recession Peak

• GDP: Not only has growth slowed, but the recession was significantly worse than earlier estimates suggested. Real GDP is still not back to the pre-recession peak.

Frazier Family in Colorado Reaps Economic Solar Rewards
An ex-Miami homeowner turned west toward Boulder, Colorado, Kate Frazier and her family have begun to change their lifestyle since they moved into their new housing development called Holiday in 2007. These homes were state of the art with renewable energy systems including residential solar installations on the rooftop.

Ultra Petroleum makes bid on Colorado Springs acreage
Houston-based Ultra Petroleum CorpbizWatch ’s $26.5 million cash bid to buy undeveloped real estate in Colorado Springs has been postponed until Aug. 3.

The swath of 18,000 acres known as the Banning Lewis Ranch and near the Niobrara shale was intended to be a master planned community including as many as 75,000 homes. However, several years of false starts strained finances, and last year owners sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.


ConocoPhillips to look for oil in Denver suburbs

ConocoPhillipsbizWatch will expand its search for oil within the Niobrara play by acquiring rights to as many as 46,000 acres in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties. The Houston company isn’t saying how much it’s paying in a deal struck with Lario Oil & Gas Co.


Hit with foreclosures, Bank of America donating, demolishing homes
Bank of America Corp., faced with a glut of foreclosed and abandoned houses it can’t sell, has a new tool to get rid of the most decrepit ones: a bulldozer.

The biggest U.S. mortgage servicer will donate 100 foreclosed houses in the Cleveland area, and in some cases contribute to their demolition in partnership with a local agency that manages blighted property. The bank has similar plans in Detroit and Chicago, with more cities to come, and Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Fannie Mae are conducting or considering their own programs.