CSBJ Daily

The Associated Press
CLEVELAND_The nation’s foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses. Some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters.
Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded-up and dilapidated houses […]

Home prices fell in the fourth quarter in the majority of U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed by the National Association of Realtors, according to a report issued today.
The median sale price of a U.S. home dropped 5.8 percent to $206,200 in the last three months of 2007 from $219,000 during the […]

It’s taking 10.5 months, on average, to sell a home in the Pikes Peak region.
That’s the latest reading from ERA Shields Real Estate, based on the latest Multiple Listing Service data.
While homes in the $150,000 to $325,000 range are selling in 7.3 months, single family houses priced from $325,000 […]

More than 2.2 million foreclosure filings were reported nationally during 2007, an increase of 75 percent compared to 2006.
RealtyTrac’s 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market report also shows that more than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure during the year, up from 0.58 percent during 2006.
Nearly 216,000 […]

Construction, operation and maintenance of commercial real estate properties accounted for more than 10 percent of Colorado’s total economic output during 2007.
Independent researchers commissioned by the Colorado chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties or NAIOP-Colorado, found that the state’s commercial real estate sector generated $24.3 billion in direct and indirect output […]

Sales of new homes dove last month to their lowest level in more than 12 years.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that new-home sales dropped 9 percent from October to November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000 – the worst showing since April 1995, when the rate was 621,000.
The median sales price of a […]

If it seems to you that more and more people are moving to Colorado every year, you’re right.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported yesterday that that state’s population grew by 2 percent, or 95,267 people, between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007.
That puts the state’s population at 4.8 million and ranks it as the 22nd […]

In view of the 4,800 additional soldiers and new brigade combat team that have been assigned to Fort Carson, an obvious question might be “Will the existing post be able to handle all the new folks?”
While it’s still too early to get a reading from the Department of the Army on specific future plans for […]

Representatives from the El Paso County Environmental Services Department attended a public meeting in Denver last night to recommend removing the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species in El Paso County.
The move comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Nov. 1 that the Preble’s mouse […]

The National Association of Realtors’ prognosis for 2007 and 2008 home sales is a little more optimistic.
The NAR revised monthly forecast calls for existing home sales to fall 12.5 percent this year to 5.67 million. Last month, the association predicted 5.66 million existing homes would be sold this year.
Still, the revised figure would be the […]