Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Housing News Digest, May 29

Fire destroys Avon condominium complex
AVON - Three people escaped a three-alarm condominium complex fire that quickly spread to a neighboring hillside Monday afternoon.
Just after 4 p.m., a fire was reported at the Chambertin Condominiums located on 440 Nottingham Road.
Local living costs move closer to national average Rising costs for groceries, housing and utilities pushed local living costs to the closest they have been to the national average in seven years, according to a quarterly survey. Living costs in Colorado Springs were 4.5 percent below the national average in the first quarter, up from 6.8 percent below the average for all of 2011, according to a survey by the Arlington, Va.-based Council for Community and Economic Research.

 Need to rent a house? Good luck finding one KUSA - Our recovering Colorado economy means it's very much a landlord's market on the rental front. That's what a new report from the Colorado Division of Housing is showing. We spoke with Ryan McMaken of the Colorado Division of Housing. He said vacancies in for-rent condos, single-family homes, and other small properties across metro Denver rose slightly during the first quarter although the market remained very tight with a rate of 1.6 percent.

Signs of 'Housing Spring': Bidding Wars Multiple offers and bidding wars have returned to some housing markets amid shrinking supplies of homes for sale. The dwindling inventories — driven by a mix of reluctant sellers, fewer foreclosure resales and rising demand — are spreading as the housing market gains strength.

  Affordable' Apartments That Helped Sell Big Projects Have Yet to Materialize The promise of more than 4,000 units of low- and middle-income housing was a significant selling point for two of the city's largest new developments, Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Willets Point in Queens. Today, they are moving forward, but the housing pieces have been pushed back for years behind other portions of the multibillion-dollar projects, as the boom-era visions are proving to be difficult to see through in a slowly recovering economy.