Nahb

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan heads the list of more than 700 speakers at the 45th annual convention/exposition of the National Assn. of Home Builders opening Friday in Atlanta. The four-day convention is expected to attract more than 60,000 at its first east-of-the-Mississippi River location since it was held in Chicago more than two decades ago.

Beware of the proposed Private Property Rights Implementation Act ("A Rallying Cry," Personal Finance, May 31). Not only would it protect property owners who have lost all right to develop their land, but it would also substantially undo zoning and planning laws. This law is being promoted by the National Assn. of Home Builders. These developers buy land zoned for agriculture or other low-density uses and then object when they cannot obtain zone changes for high-density commercial and multiunit residential developments.

An estimated 60,000 home builders from across the nation will convene in Dallas Friday for the 44th annual convention of the National Assn. of Home Builders. The housing industry is expecting another good year in 1988, but not as good as last year. Michael Carliner, an NAHB economist, predicts that 1.49 million housing starts will be be made this year, a 9% decline from the estimated 1.64 million starts in 1987.

Muncie, Ind., is now in--if you're looking for affordable housing, that is. The National Assn. of Home Builders' Housing Opportunity Index ranked Muncie as the most affordable U.S. market (http://www.nahb.org). The index, a quarterly measure of the percentage of homes sold that a family earning the median income can afford, focused on 184 metro areas nationwide. In Muncie, families earning the median income of $47,900 were able to afford 90.7% of homes sold between January and March.

Construction has begun on the first "Smart House" in the National Research Home Park operated by the National Assn. of Home Builders in Bowie, Md., a Washington suburb. The laboratory house--the first structure to be located in the 51-acre tract--will be used primarily for component testing, evaluation and system integration for Smart House hardware, software and appliances.

New federal guidelines to make multifamily housing more accessible to persons with disabilities have put the government and housing industry at loggerheads and have even divided advocacy groups for those with disabilities. The Fair Housing Amendments Act, passed by Congress in September, 1988, represents another milestone in civil rights. For the first time, Congress prohibited the real estate and housing industries from discriminating on the basis of disability.

The living room is dead. That's what the latest surveys by the National Assn. of Home Builders are saying. When asked which rooms in the house folks would be willing to give up for extra space elsewhere or to save dollars, most buyers still want that formal dining room and fancy kitchen. "Many home buyers do not think it's a necessity to have a living room," said Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research for the National Assn. of Home Builders.

The nation's home builders on Friday forecast a 7.4% decline in housing starts and a 5% drop in new home sales this year, continuing a three-year decline. The forecast by the National Assn. of Home Builders came a day after the Commerce Department reported 1988 housing starts of 1.49 million, an 8.2% decrease from 1987's 1.62 million. Despite the decline, NAHB economist David Seiders said housing starts will remain above 1 million at an estimated 1.38 million.

Home builders in Atlanta took out 7,220 permits for new construction in the first quarter of 1993, the most of any metro area in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the National Assn. of Home Builders on 107 areas. The Atlanta figure was a 4% increase over first quarter 1992. The main factor behind the city's housing boom is job growth, which was up 5.1% in February over a year ago, the NAHB said. The No. 2 area was Washington, D.C., with 5,610 permits, up 19%. No.

Richard L. Hall, president of Orange-based La Linda Homes and one of the most active members of the California housing industry, was presented the annual Rodney Radom Award at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco. The award honors dedication and service to the industry and commemorates the first executive director of the Pacfic Coast Builders Assn. Hall has been active in local, state and national organizational levels for 30 years.