New Home Sales Post 14.7 Percent Drop in December
from The Associated Press via The Dallas Morning News
The homebuilding industry's nosedive won't let up. Sales of new homes plunged to the slowest pace on record last month and builders posted their worst annual sales results in more than two decades. Even with mortgage rates hovering around 5 percent and prices sinking dramatically, buyers have yet to return to the market as the recession deepens. New home sales fell 14.7 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000, from a downwardly revised November figure of 388,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The results were far worse than analysts expected. More

Texas Senate Adds Three New Committees
from The Dallas Morning News
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made few changes in Senate committee appointments for the 2009 legislative session, leaving most committee chairs filled by the same senators who served in the previous Legislature. Dewhurst did expand the number of Senate committees to 18 in the organization he announced Friday, after elevating three subcommittees to full committee status. One of the new committees is economic development, which will be chaired by Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington. The other two new committees are focused on higher education and agriculture. Both will have the same chairs they had last session as subcommittees - Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, respectively. More

Gubernatorial Tussle Heating Up
from The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Suddenly, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is on the stump and on a mission to round up support for a 2010 run for governor against longtime incumbent Rick Perry. And Perry, an aggressive campaigner who's never lost an election, is taking her challenge seriously. He's using his bully pulpit while the Texas Legislature is in session to push new proposals, showcase his record and shore up support among social conservatives in the Republican base. A full year before the GOP primary, the race is on. More

Arlington Neighborhood Exemplifies Housing Woes
from WFAA-TV
With many of its multi-million dollar homes sitting abandoned, one North Texas neighborhood has become an extreme example of the housing crash. At Sunset Hills, empty homes nearly outnumber the residents. Many houses have sat untouched for years, becoming a major concern for the few homeowners there. Hoping for a profit, Bruce Kamis said he bought his home in 2007. "I thought I saw a great investment," he said. But instead, Kamis said it turned out to be something else. "It's a money pit," he said. "It's just financially killed me." More

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HUD to Give $8.6 Million to Buy Foreclosed San Antonio Homes
from The San Antonio Express-News
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday it will award $4 billion in grants to more than 250 cities and counties as well as each of the 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., to purchase foreclosed homes and help low-income buyers. Under HUD's new Neighborhood Stabilization Program, San Antonio will receive $8.6 million of the $125.3 million that also will be split with Arlington, El Paso, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the state of Texas. More

Austin’s Housing Decline Less Severe Than Most
from The Austin Business Journal
While Austin has seen a drop in housing starts, its decline from the market’s peak has been relatively gentle compared to other cities, according to research from Houston-based Metrostudy. A study released Jan. 29 from the housing industry research firm said Austin has experienced a 66 percent decline in housing starts from its peak in the third quarter of 2006 to the end of 2008. That’s the smallest decline out of the 81 markets Metrostudy researched. More

Blog: Legislative Leaders Ask Texas Agencies for Cuts
from The El Paso Times
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus sent a letter today to all Texas agencies asking them to cut about 2.5 percent out of their budgets. The two lawmakers said they don't want to dig deep into the state's Rainy Day Fund in case there is an even tighter budget situation when legislators come back to write the next two-year budget in 2011. More

Bay-Front Buyout Plan Has Some Skeptical
from The Galveston Daily News
Painters on Wednesday were covering the trim of Eddie Janek’s Channelview house with a fresh coat of dark blue paint. Although Hurricane Ike inundated the bottom floor of the two-story structure, Janek is quickly making repairs. But other homeowners are not so anxious to rebuild. Several heavily damaged houses have “for sale” signs in their front yards. And one homeowner has asked the city to consider buying her house as part of its bay-front buyout program. City council members who want to establish parks with bay access eagerly authorized Deputy City Manager Brandon Wade to submit a buyout application to the state’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the house at 8008 Channelview. But Janek and other neighbors are less than enthusiastic about having a public park next door. More

Report: 16 Percent of DFW Homeowners ‘Underwater’
from The Dallas Morning News
Almost 16 percent of homeowners in the Dallas-Fort Worth area owe more than their property is worth, a new report suggests. And in all of 2008, D-FW homeowners lost almost $4 billion in home value, according to Internet real estate company Zillow Inc. The North Texas statistics were part of a nationwide housing market report Zillow released early Tuesday. Overall home values in the D-FW area fell by less than 2 percent last year, Zillow said. That compares with an almost 12 percent drop nationwide. Since the peak of the market, Zillow analysts estimate that home values in North Texas have decreased by almost 5 percent. D-FW homeowners who have purchased their property within the last five years have a median equity of about 12 percent, the report estimates. More