Freddie Mac: Worst of housing slump has passed

Portland Business Journal - November 17, 2006
Freddie Mac says the biggest slowdown in the housing market may be past, and falling mortgage rates should help stimulate the market.

The mortgage giant's weekly mortgage rate report shows 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average 6.24 percent this week, below year-ago levels.

One-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 5.53 percent, although adjustable-rate mortgages remain higher than year ago levels.

"We've probably seen the worst of the housing slump, although it may not have entirely bottomed out yet," says Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. "Lower mortgage rates should help stimulate activity in the housing market."

Lenders, real estate agents and potential buyers will be watching for a report on October housing prices this month from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

Renovations, better mix could enliven downtown, experts say

Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Oregonian

If light rail ever does come to Forest Grove, the city's downtown might be more of a destination by then -- if the city heeds a couple of experts who visited recently.

A Downtown Resource Team from the Oregon Downtown Development Association spent three days exploring the city, then offered broad suggestions and sketched upgrades to current buildings. Its members also collected information for a market survey. The visit was paid for largely by Oregon Housing and Community Services, a state agency.

In addition to face-lifts for three downtown facades, Eric Matthews of Portland's Surround Architects suggested redeveloping the Times Litho building at the corner of A Street and Pacific Avenue into a three-story combination: first-floor retail topped by two floors of condominiums, with solar panels and eco-lawns on top.

Downtown housing could help keep the street active at all hours, particularly with a market open 24 hours a day, said Brad Sinn of the Downtown Development Association.

Sinn and Matthews are working on two other sites they identified for potential redevelopment on the block bordered by Main and A streets and Pacific and 19th avenues.

A subcommittee of the local chamber of commerce could best lead and coordinate efforts to renovate downtown, Sinn said.

Right now, each business is trying to act as a destination on its own, Sinn said. Ideally, he said, the right mix of shops, users, hours, activities, events and entertainment could make the whole downtown a place where people "park once, shop often."

Retail stores need to cluster more, Sinn said. Downtown is currently full of "dead zones" -- flat, boring facades that do not entice walkers to keep going.

And the city could use someone to recruit attractive businesses, such as a high-quality restaurant.

"People will drive far and wide to destination dining," said Sinn, who remembers helping an art gallery in McMinnville and discovering that "gallery numbers went up or down based on what restaurant was across the street."

It might make sense to declare the downtown an urban renewal district, Sinn said. That could provide money to help make some changes happen.

-- Jill Rehkopf Smith