Japanese Investors Stepping into the MultiFamily Market

An interesting article was published on Multi-Housing News..."Japanese Investors Seek U.S. Multifamily Opportunities." Currently in Japan, the real estate market is oversaturated, whereas here in the US we continue to face a soft housing market. That, coupled with incredibly low interest rates (3.2% vs. the 7% in the US), has led a Japanese real estate development firm (Nomura Real Estate Development) to seek multifamily and commercial investment opportunities in the US - most specifically- in the New York area. The areas they took most interest were regions similar to the suburbs of Tokyo...metro areas with good school districts.

If Japan indeed does start investing in the US, it may be another key factor to keep the trend in multifamily housing growing.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, control room, electrical panel backer board

New Multifamily Housing Construction Boosts October Housing Starts

The NAHB's Chief Economist, David Seiders, released his Report on October 2007 Housing Statistics today. Overall housing starts were 1.229 million units, up 3% over last month, but off 16% from the same time last year. What carried the month to month increase? Multifamily construction skyrocketed by 44% to an annualized rate of 345,000. Single family starts decreased 7% and total permits fell 7% as well.

The residential housing market is still substantially off from last year. However, the news is not as bleak as it has been in recent months. Barrier is well positioned to meet increases in demand as multifamily construction projects start to move forward.

Will home builder and/or building supply stocks be impacted with the release of this report? It should be interesting.
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, control room, electrical panel backer board

California..additional fire code requirements in Wildfire prone areas?

With the devastating outbreak of wild fires yet again last month, California codes may be adopting additional changes to help protect those in wildfire prone regions.

Back in July, California formerly adopted the International Building Code which will become effective 1/1/2008. There is now talk of enhancing fire safety building standards even more for Wild Fire Hazard Severity Zones. The office of State Fire Marshal jointly with LACN (Lumber Association of CA and NV), are conducting a seminar to present/discuss these potential new changes on December 3, 2007 in Riverside, CA.

Barrier's President/CEO Dr. Michael Huddy, along with our California Sales Rep, Wayne Crutchfield plan to attend this conference to help determine how Blazeguard Fire-Rated Products can offer solutions to these new fire requirements. Barrier products are engineered to protect people and property from fire. With the ever increasing need to protect people and property from the devastation fire creates in these hazard zones, Barrier is well positioned to help builders, home owners, and insurance companies minimize their exposure and reduce loss.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, control room, electrical panel backer board

Florida - back in the Blazeguard Market

This week we received an order for a car load of Blazeguard Fire-Rated Sheathing for the Florida multifamily residential roof deck market! In a recent trip, our President, Mike Huddy traveled to the area and visited both distributors and active multifamily job sites. While the region is still impacted by the dwindling existing inventory of empty units, Florida is starting to see some activity. Some builders are recovering faster than others...those in the right area and in the right price range. Other higher-end builders are still being impacted by the slow market. Blazeguard was on job-sites and installed in several projects. In addition, builders are starting to lay the ground work for new projects.

With the slow increase in activity, the inventory of Blazeguard in the territory is also on the decline. As projects continue over the next quarter of 2007 and into 2008, we anticipate shipments will slowly start to pick up.

A quote from a major distributor..."You can no longer hear the crickets chirping down here".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, control room, electrical panel backer board

Bet on the Real Estate Rebound

An article was posted on MSN Money today. Harry Domash did some research on home builder stocks and found a few he is recommending to watch has the housing market starts to come back. Toll Brothers, a major player in multi-family housing nationwide came out on top.

He first comments are that employment remains strong and there are plenty of people who have the means and desire to buy a house. He also mentions that since owning a home is such a big investment, people maybe waiting for the stabilization of housing prices before they move.

How did he arrive at that conclusion? He looked at many criteria including industry, low debt, profitability, analyst info, geographic area focus. He cautions on investor due diligence along with his recommendation.

For Barrier, this is a positive report that indicates a turn in the housing market may be on it's way since the market tends to move in advance of news reports. Blazeguard inquires have been on the rise and we're looking forward to 2008.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, control room, electrical panel backer board