An Affalr In Washington

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association's annual Legislative Conference is being held April2-5 in Washington, D.C.

The opening address, "Building the Affordable American Home." will be by Bob Mitchell, president, National Association of Home Builders.

Speakers include NBC/ABC political analyst Charlie Cook discussing the upcoming elections and Jim Kolbe (R-Az.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), chief sponsors of HR #252, which urges Congress not to renew the Softwood Lumber Agreement (see story, p. 26). They will offer perspectives on how the two parties will likely try to end trade restraints on this controversial issue.

The April 4 keynote address will be delivered by Housing & Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo. Jim Nicholson, Republican National Committee chairman, and Joseph J. Andrew, national chair, Democratic National Committee, will deliver the April 5 keynote addresses.

In conjunction with the conference, NLBMDA will hold its first-ever.

industry-wide OSHA seminar to discuss the impact of the newly proposed rules on ergonomics and safety and health programs.

Existing Home Sales Cool

Sales of existing single family homes fell l0.7Vo in January from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The rate is lO% below the 5.10 million-unit pace of a year previous and the lowest rate since November 1997.

Analysts point to rising mortgage rates having pushed some potential buyers out of the market. For the week ending Feb. 25, 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 8.3lVocompared to 6,89Vo a year before. That increase adds over $100 to the monthly bill on a $200,000 mortgage. Sales also have slowed due to lower inventories of available homes. According to NAR, in January only a three-month supply of homes were available for sale, the smatlest inventory since the association began tracking the data in 1981.

Sales in January fell in all four regions of the country, most markedly in the West, with its ultra-tight home market. [n the West, sales plummeted 27.3Vo from December to an annual pace of 1.04 million and 22.4Vo from January 1999. The region's median resale price was $172,20O, up O.lVo from a year earlier.

Ace To Open Three Stores

Ace Hardware Corp. and Ace Hardware Norlhwest, LLC, plan to open three new stores in the Portland, Or., area within the next 12 months. It's all part of a program that allows successful Ace retailers to expand their business and increase their market share.

The joint venture involves a capital investment from Chris and Joanie Dunn, owners since l98l of two Ace stores in Canby and Enterprise, Or. In turn, Ace will provide additional capital and supply all up-front inventory, which will be specially dated. While the locations of the new stores have not been determined, all three will be serviced by the Yakima, Wa., retail support center.