Pending Home Sales Jump 3.2 Percent

Is the housing meltdown ending? Pending home sales rose in March for the second consecutive month and are up year over year. The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors showed a 3.2 percent gain to 84.6 from February, when it was 82. The index stands 1.6 percent higher than a year ago. More

Texas Housing Poised to Rebound Quickly, Builder’s Group Leader Says

The Texas housing market is likely to be one of the first to recover when the nationwide building slump is over, the head of the country's largest homebuilding association says. Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, was in the Dallas area talking with local builders and helping kick off a home tour to replace this year's Parade of Homes. More

Housing Figures Beat Expectations, Suggest Recession Easing

Evidence that housing is poised to improve and optimism about the results of banking "stress tests" raised hopes Monday that the recession is easing and helped lift a key stock market measure into the black for the year. More

Construction Spending Up Slightly in March

Investors rushed into stocks on Monday, including those for many Austin-based companies, based on news of increases in pending U.S. home sales and construction spending for March. After five straight months of declines, the 0.3 percent increase in construction spending represented the best news for that industry since last September. More

Major Proposals Await Final Action in Texas Legislature

As the Texas Legislature enters the final month of its session, major proposals are making their way through the Capitol - fairly quickly in the Senate and slowly in the House. Lawmakers convene in a regular session every two years and usually manage to take final action on the biggest bills during the home stretch. The state budget bill is the only measure lawmakers are legally required to pass, and initial versions of the spending plan have been approved in the House and Senate. More

Records Show Appointees Gave Perry $5 Million

Gov. Rick Perry has accepted nearly $5 million in political campaign donations from people he appointed to state boards and commissions, including some in plum jobs that set policy for state universities, parks and roads, records show. Nearly half the appointee donations came from people serving as higher education regents, including more than $840,000 from those at the University of Texas System, according to a Houston Chronicle review of campaign-finance records. More

Redistricting Commission Bill Derailed Again

A second attempt to take redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature and put in with a citizens commission failed in the Texas Senate today, as a split among Republicans continued to block a vote on the issue. State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, a San Antonio Republican who represents parts of southwest Austin, said Texans are tired of a long history of partisan fighting every 10 years and that his proposed Texas Congressional Redistricting Commission would remove the Legislature from the process of drawing congressional district maps. More

Texas House Passes Increased Exemptions to Business Tax

The business tax created three years ago to offset school property tax cuts is producing less revenue than expected, but House members voted unanimously Monday to create larger exemptions for small businesses. More

Fed Says More Banks Tighten Home Loan Standards

A larger share of banks has made it more difficult for people to obtain home mortgages over the last three months even as demand has grown, the Federal Reserve reported. The Fed's new quarterly survey found that about 50 percent of U.S. banks tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages, up from about 45 percent in the survey issued in early February. More

SBA Makes More Businesses Eligible for Loans

More than 70,000 additional businesses, including auto dealers, will be eligible for Small Business Administration loans thanks to a temporary change in the size standards for the agency’s 7(a) loan program. More