Wages Rise for U.S. Workers November 20, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, retail, finance, management , add a commentFor the first time in years, paychecks in the U.S. rose faster than the cost of living. The pay increase amounts to four percent over the past twelve months, a gain that hasn’t been seen since 1997.
From Christian Science Monitor:
“The striking feature of this expansion has been that … real wages for the typical worker haven’t risen that much,” says Richard Berner, US economist at the investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York. But with real incomes rising, he says, “you get a picture of an economy that can weather this housing storm.”
The risk of recession hasn’t disappeared, he and other economists say. But with a fairly tight job market and low unemployment, many expect that paychecks will keep rising solidly in 2007.
Add fewer layoffs this year and the economy might just have something to be thankful about this Thursday.
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Homeowners Can Sue Agent for Lapse in Coverage November 17, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, insurance, real estate , add a commentAccording to BusinessWeek, a federal judge has ruled that Michael and Lucille Catchot can sue their Nationwide Insurance agent, Michael Felsher, for negligence after he allegedly let their flood insurance policy lapse a few short days before Hurricane Katrina caused severe damage to their home.
The couple claims they paid their flood insurance premium two or three days before it was set to lapse, by dropping a check through the mail slot in Felsher’s office. Nationwide claims they missed the deadline for renewal by one day and has denied the Catchots’ $79,000 claim.
Nationwide attorney F. Hall Bailey argued on behalf of Felsher, claiming he isn’t liable for the company’s “coverage determination” and, therefore, should not be a defendant in the lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge L. T. Senter, Jr. rejected the argument, however, saying the negligence claim can proceed.
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Housing Starts Lowest in Six Years
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, real estate, finance , add a commentOctober starts of new homes plunged a whopping 14.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.486 million, the lowest since July, 2000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Building permits also took a hit and were down 6.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.535 million, the lowest in nine years and the largest percentage drop in seven years.
The retreat by home builders led many experts to abandon hopes of a quick recovery in the housing market.
From MarketWatch:
But Stephen Stanley, chief economist for RBS Greenwich Capital, saw a silver lining in the October data.
“We see this as an unambiguously good thing,” he wrote. “The faster builders address their bloated inventories and bring the pace of home construction down, the quicker the housing correction will play out and the economy can return to a more normal footing.”
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Nonresidential Construction Still Growing November 16, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, public utilities, real estate, retail, finance, architecture , add a commentDespite lackluster sales in the residential arena, nonresidential construction spending has risen for 15th consecutive month, leading to an overall construction spending increase of 6.6 percent in the first 9 months of 2006 over the same period last year.
From Architectural Record via BusinessWeek:
Hotels and resort-related construction spending saw a 48 percent gain over the first nine months of last year; retail stores, shopping centers and malls were up 37 percent; hospital spending grew 25 percent; and manufacturing increased by 23 percent. Multifamily construction, meanwhile, was up 18 percent year-to-date, as a surge in rental facilities is offsetting a dip in condominium building.
Highway and street construction, meanwhile, rose 16 percent year-to-date over 2005, while educational construction increased by 7 percent. Other positive growth areas include sewage and waste disposal and transportation facilities. Nearly all of these categories are expected to grow in 2007, due to a fundamentally strong economy.
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Micro-CHP Makes Inroads November 15, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, public utilities, real estate , add a commentResidential micro-combined-heat-and-power (micro-CHP) units are making their way into the U.S. according to this article.
Used for years in industrial applications with much larger units, the technology has finally gotten small and quiet enough for serious consideration in residential settings and is already available in Europe and Japan. Combining an internal-combustion engine generator with high-efficiency home furnaces, the unit heats a home while outputting one to four kilowatts of electricity—that’s $600 to $3,200 worth each year.
Slowly gaining ground, the trend is “not at all pie in the sky,” says Cheryl Harrington of the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit that helps states and nations develop energy policy. “The question is how to get electric utilities to actively support this kind of generation when it is on the customer’s side of the meter.”
Micro-CHP doesn’t come cheap - just with a long-term discount. Basic systems cost from $13,000 to $20,000, installed. Even at the lower range, that’s at least $6,000 more than a new high-efficiency hot-air furnace, even after a gas company rebate. Result: The payback period on the initial investment is three to seven years, depending on the cost of electricity, say officials at Climate Energy. The company expects to install about 200 systems next year, mostly in New England.
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LEDs to Begin Replacing Lightbulbs November 6, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, manufacturing, public utilities, real estate, retail , add a commentAccording to CNET News.com, the LED lightbulb will become an economical competitor to the traditional lightbulb in about two years. If true, this prediction could lead to drastic reductions in energy bills and energy consumption worldwide.
Right now, LED bulbs that produce about the same level of illumination as a conventional 60-watt bulb are available for about $60. The big selling point for an LED this expensive is it’s long life: about 100,000 hours. Based on historical pricing info, the same LED should cost around $20 in two years.
“At $20 the payback in energy occurs in about a year,” [Steven DenBaars, a professor of material science at the University of California Santa Barbara] said. The rapid return on investment will occur in places such as stores and warehouses, where the light is on through much of the day. A year after that, LEDs will be even more economical for more places as costs continue to decline.
Approximately 22 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States goes toward lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
To make matters worse, traditional lightbulbs are incredibly inefficient. Only about 5 percent of the energy that goes into them turns into light. The majority gets dissipated as heat.
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A New Spin on Housing November 2, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, architecture , add a commentCan’t decide which way the house should face? Then feel free to change your mind. Every 30 minutes, this house, located in Australia, can rotate a full 360 degrees to take advantage of a different view or to be more energy-efficient by taking advantage of the sun’s rays. From the site:
The Rotating House™ rotates a full 360° around a central core of plumbing and electricals. Computer-controlled rotation gives you complete control over your view.
Want to build your own? The owner has been kind enough to provide instructions.
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Trammell Crow to be Purchased by CB Richard Ellis November 1, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, finance , add a commentAccording to the Associated Press, CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. has agreed to buy competitor Trammell Crow for $1.79 billion. CB Richard Ellis is already the world’s largest commercial real estate services company, and the purchase would create a company with over $4 billion in annual revenue and more than 10 percent of the commerical real estate market.
With nearly 50 offices in the United States, Trammell Crow employs about 6,200 workers and posted 2005 earnings of $59.4 million on $896 million in sales.
CB Richard, based in El Segundo, Calif., employs about 14,500 workers and posted 2005 net income of $217.3 million on sales of $2.91 billion. Chairman Richard Blum owns 14 percent of the firm through his Blum Capital Partners.
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World’s Tallest Building Rising in Dubai October 31, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, finance, architecture , add a commentConstruction on what will be the world’s tallest building is moving along. Slated for completion at the end of 2008 with a cost of $1 billion, “Burj Dubai”, or Dubai Tower, already has 79 stories, with two stories being added every week.
The tower is to be the centerpiece of a new district, “Downtown Burj Dubai”, at a cost of $20 billion, which will have 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.
At the moment, 2,500 workers are laboring on the tower site alone, and the entire project is expected to employ some 20,000 workers when the downtown area construction begins.
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Homeowners Want Green October 30, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, real estate, finance, architecture , add a commentNope…not money. More and more homeowners are looking at the environmental impact of their homes and choosing to do something about it.
According to a survey released today by Wells Fargo, environmentally friendly changes are the top choice among homeowners thinking of making home improvement. From Reuters:
Given $50,000, some 24 percent of those surveyed “dream green” and would purchase insulation, double-paned windows, solar panels and energy-efficient appliances, according to the bank’s third annual U.S. homeowners study.
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