Florida Economists Predicts Housing Conditions Won't Get Worse

Dr. Fishkind, a Florida Economist, issued his opinion on the Florida housing market this week. He says "Overall Housing Conditions Won't Get Worse." "The current downturn is a supply phenomenon, not a demand phenomenon." "Housing is slumping at a time when job rolls and the U.S. GDP continue to grow, exports are rising, non-residential construction is up and - contrary to previous cycles--mortgage interest rates are low." Fishkind remarked that the low point in Florida occurred Q4 2006 and Q1 2007. The volume of new home closings is edging past the starts rate, thus helping to reduce inventory.

Exciting prediction! Barrier shares the same opinion - immigration continues, new starts continue, the demand is still there. As the inventory levels continue to slowly dissipate, building will continue. We want to capture the market share that is out there. He also references that non-residential construction is up...our commercial modular market has remained strong - growing throughout this housing slump. Here's to a slow but steady recovery!Fire-rated sheathing, town homes, multi-family construction, housing market, small cap, otcbb, ibtgf, barrier, blazeguard, mycoguard, fire-rated paint, intumescent paint, mold, mildew, fire-retardant plywood, frt, sips, structurally insulative panels, fire-rated wall assemblies, commercial modular, modular home construction, green building products, LEED,

New Addition to Commercial Modular

We added a new commercial modular manufacturer to our expanding list of Mule-Hide FR Deck Panel users this week! - Design Space down in Georgia. Growth in this arena continues as we pick up market share and expand our customer base in the commercial modular industry.Fire-rated sheathing, town homes, multi-family construction, housing market, small cap, otcbb, ibtgf, barrier, blazeguard, mycoguard, fire-rated paint, intumescent paint, mold, mildew, fire-retardant plywood, frt, sips, structurally insulative panels, fire-rated wall assemblies, commercial modular, modular home construction, green building products, LEED,

Fed Cuts Discount Rate

In a move before the markets opened this morning - the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate 1/2% to try and ease the discomfort of Wall Street and stabilize the market from the roller coaster it's been on the past couple weeks. Will this rate cut in turn lead to a cut in mortgage rates? Will new buyers be enticed into the housing market?

With the tighter lending limits combined with the possibility of lower mortgage rates, multi-family living may become an even more attractive alternative for those looking to move away from renting into afforable home ownership. This may be a trigger to help move the remaining excess inventory and assist in a gradual recovery in the residential construction industry.

Barrier is looking at this as a positive move by the Fed and anxious to see how it plays out.Fire-rated sheathing, town homes, multi-family construction, housing market, small cap, otcbb, ibtgf, barrier, blazeguard, mycoguard, fire-rated paint, intumescent paint, mold, mildew, fire-retardant plywood, frt, sips, structurally insulative panels, fire-rated wall assemblies, commercial modular, modular home construction, green building products, LEED,

Where is real estate predicted to bounce back quickest?

In an article I saw on Forbes.com, analysts are predicting where and when markets are going to start turning the corner from a housing slump to a recovery position.

Interestingly enough...Tampa, Fl ranked #1 with the market bottoming out in Q1 of 2008 and a price appreciation of 10.6% after the bottom is reached. Phoenix, AZ was #2 with a bottom in Q4 of 2008, price appreciation of 7.7% and San Diego, CA was #4 with a bottom in Q2 of '08 and price appreciation of 7.2%.

Tampa is reported to have a strong economy, subprime lending there is relatively low and the huge inventory (almost 25%) of investment/speculative housing is finally starting to level out.

Phoenix reportedly has a surging job market and good affordability rates. It too has been impacted by a high investor share. Once the market their bottoms out and inventories dissipate, price growth will be strong.

San Diego - analysts say economic success is critical to recovery here. As long as the economy can weather the correction, the labor market is heavily in housing related industries and should be okay.

This supports Barrier's decision to focus on capturing additional market share in areas like Florida (a successful region for us over the past several years) and also our strategy of focusing our sales and marketing effort on penetrating the markets of Arizona and California.Fire-rated sheathing, town homes, multi-family construction, housing market, small cap, otcbb, ibtgf, barrier, blazeguard, mycoguard, fire-rated paint, intumescent paint, mold, mildew, fire-retardant plywood, frt, sips, structurally insulative panels, fire-rated wall assemblies, commercial modular, modular home construction, green building products, LEED,