Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware Counties

HBA Newswatch

May 20, 2008- May 23, 2008

GOV'T HOME PRICE INDEX POSTS LARGEST DROP IN 17-YEAR HISTORY
WASHINGTON (AP) --- U.S. home prices posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began tracking the data 17 years ago.
The Washington-based Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Thursday that home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. The index also fell 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly price drop on record.
"The large overhang of real estate inventory awaiting sale continues to force price declines in many areas, but particularly in places that had seen very sharp appreciation," Patrick Lawler, the agency's chief economist, said in a prepared statement.
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SENDING REGAL OAKS SEWAGE TO POTTSTOWN COULD MEAN TEARING UP ROADS
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
The requirement that sewage from the Regal Oaks subdivision in Upper Pottsgrove eventually be sent to the Pottstown Sewage Treatment Plant may end up requiring tearing up two Pottstown streets that were torn up just two years ago for the same purpose.
Currently, 74 homes in Regal Oaks off Gilbertsville Road are served by a small sewage plant that discharges into Sprogel’s Run, and which is failing.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection required that the plant be taken over by Upper Pottsgrove Township.
The DEP is now pushing to have the sewage the Regal Oaks plant handles be diverted into the Pottstown system, according to Tom Weld, an engineer with BCM Engineering who advises the Pottstown Borough Authority, which operates the Pottstown plant.
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HOUSING PLAN FOR ELDERLY GETS SUPPORT
By G.E. Lawrence
Special to The Mercury
PHOENIXVILLE — An 80-unit housing project for the elderly originally presented to Borough Council on April 15 but pulled from consideration by its sponsor that same evening has returned and received unanimous council support.
The $10-million project at Starr and Church streets was proposed by the Rev. James Evans on behalf of Episcopal Community Services and was to be built on land now owned by Holy Ghost Orthodox Christian Church. The project is being financed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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AUTHORITY OKS LAND FOR CITY AUCTION
COATESVILLE — The city’s redevelopment authority unanimously voted at Monday night’s meeting in favor of including 12 authority-owned properties in the city’s public land auction on May 30.
The auction will list a total of 16 parcels for sale, and it will take place at 1 p.m. at City Hall. Bidders can also participate online through the auctioneer’s Web site, www.warnerrealtors.com.
The land for sale is a collection of non-contiguous, miscellaneous properties in the city, all of which were acquired during previous administrations. Some have structures built on them, while others are vacant lots.
Earlier this month Assistant City Manager Kirby Hudson said the properties are not essential to future development projects the city and they have become a drain on city resources to maintain.
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