Housing News Digest, June 28

$200 apartment lease rate hikes? It's about supply and demand.
Dwayne Gladhill is moving out of his third-floor, one-bedroom apartment in northeast Colorado Springs. He says $950 per month is too much to pay for what he's getting -- especially since that figure represents a sudden $200 hike compared to what he's paying now and it doesn't include the garage that was part of his $750 rate.

Meadows wins tax credits for apartments
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Glenwood Meadows at long last might be able to proceed with at least the first 60 units of residential development that is to be part of the larger mixed-use project.

Steele Properties, which is under contract to buy a piece of property for the first set of housing units at the Meadows, was successful in winning its recent bid for Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) tax credits to build the 60 apartments.

Homes at Low End of Market Remain Most Vulnerable to Price Drops
A continuation of tight credit conditions for first-time buyers and a foreclosure pipeline full of homes bought with subprime loans will mean that house prices at the low end of the market will continue to fall at a faster rate than prices at either the middle or high end, according to analysts at the research firm Capital Economics.

CNBC ranks Colorado No. 5
CNBC ranks all 50 states in 10 categories. Colorado received 1,512 points out of a possible 2,500 points. Colorado’s strongest category is business friendliness, which measures the state’s legal and regulatory climate. It finished in sixth place in that category. Colorado also ranked No. 7 in workforce and quality of life.

Cohn, however, said Colorado struggled in CNBC’s economy category, falling to No. 26 from No. 8 last year. Cohn said “after three years of steady growth, Colorado’s economy has lagged the national recovery the past two years, in part because of the sluggish construction industry.”

Uneven fall of house prices could tumble another 3%
Analysts at both Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Capital Economics forecast another 3% fall for house prices before they reach a bottom at the end of the year.

While homes on the lower-tier price range will get there faster and at a much harder fall, a housing recovery is in sight, analysts said.