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March 29. 2006
Page A 7
H ousing êj
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Lower Housing Prices Possible
Figures show '
market cooling
(A P) — Sales o f new homes
plunged by the largest amount in
nearly nine years in February
w hile the median price of a new
hom e dropped for the fourth
straight month, providing fresh
evidence that the n ation's once-
booming housing market is cool­
ing off.
The Commerce Department re­
ported that sales of new single­
family homes dropped by 10.5 per­
cent last month to a seasonally
adjusted annual sales pace of 1.08
million homes. It was the second
straight monthly decline and was
much bigger than the small 2 per­
cent dip that Wall Street was ex­
pecting.
The drop in new home sales
follow ed new s T hursday that
sales o f previously owned homes
actually rose by a stronger-than-
expected 5.2 percent last month
follow ing five straight monthly
declines. Analysts said the trend
in both reports pointed to a slow ­
ing housing market after five
record-setting years.
The slowdown in sales was
putting pressure on prices. The
median price of a new home sold
last month dropped to $230,400,
down by 1.6 percent from Janu­
ary and o ff 2.9 percent from Feb­
ruary 2005. The median is the mid­
point where half the homes sold
for more and half for less.
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Analysts believe sales will de-
cline this year as the housing boom
slows under the impact of rising
mortgage rates. Experts also be-
lieve that the growing backlog of
unsold homes will start to put more
pressure on home sellers to reduce
prices in the months ahead.
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(503) 285-2777
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Author Offers Home Buyer Tips
Book addresses
minority issues
Amazon.com best-selling author
Dr. T affy W ag n er is taking
hom eow nership education one
step further with her unique book
for minority homeownership titled
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Homeownership is the A m eri­
can Dream, yet according to sta­
tistics taken from the National
A s s o c ia tio n
of
R e a lto rs ,
hom eow nership for both African
A m e ric a n s and H isp a n ic s is
about 20 percent below the na­
tional average o f 68 percent.
Low and moderate-income fami­
lies are the g ro u p s th at
homeownership eludes the most.
“H om eow nership is not just
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Welcoming Diverse Populations
Workshops tackle gentrification issues
The city of Portland and of its
advocates on neighborhood issues
have com m itted to addressing
gentrification, the so-called dis­
placement of one population with
another, in a series of public work­
shops aimed at supporting diverse
neighborhoods with good leaders
and organizations.
The following three workshops
are sponsored by Neighborhood
Involvement in partnership with the
Northeast Coalition of Neighbor­
hoods, R esolutions Northwest,
Central Northeast Neighbors and
Southeast Uplift:
northeast Portland will talk about cultural backgrounds affect partici­
how gentrification has impacted pation in neighborhood groups?
their lives. The topics include, How groups can better welcome
what has happened? W ho’s been and retain new members? And how
harmed and how? And what can to recruit diverse neighbors and
be done to repair the harm? Par­ keep them engaged?
ticipants will be invited to join
Building Bridges: Reaching
sm all-group discussions to bet­ Out to Diverse Members of O ur
ter understand and consider ideas Communities
to repair the harm caused by
W ednesday, May 31 from 6:30
gentrification.
p.m. to 9 p .m . at Southeast Uplift,
Creatinga Welcoming Environ­ 3534 S.E. Main. Topics sched­
ment for Your Neighborhood O r­ uled for discussion include, new
ganization
perspectives on neighborhood
Tuesday, May 2 from 6:30p.m. to livability issues, outreach strate­
9 p.m. at Central NENeighbors.415 gies and meeting styles from the
Gentrification: A Restorative N.E. 87th Ave. The workshop will point of view o f diverse com m u­
Listening Circle
push for new ideas for engaging nity leaders.
Wednesday, April 19 from 6:30 the unique voices and perspectives
Space at all three events is lim­
p.m. to 9 p.m. at the First AME of under-represented neighbors ited and registration is needed.
Zion Church, 4304 N. Vancouver who’ve traditionally not been ac­ Contact N ickole Cheron at 503-823-
Ave. African-American residents tive in neighborhood associations. 2036 or email nickole.cheron®
and leaders o f inner north and Group exercises will focus on how ci.portland.or.us
JumpStart is a tool to help first-time homebuyers increase
their buying power by temporarily lowering the payment on
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Call SO3-8Î3-34OO or e-mail nhp@pdc.us.
To Place Your Advertisement
In Our Special Editions
Contact a sales representative at
Phone: 503 288 00 33
Fax: 503 288 0015
e mail: classifieds@portlaridobserver.com
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(Ohserucr
www.pdc.us/homepurchase
Your Partner for Home Purchase, Repair & Renovation
I m u h i* n
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