Fair Housing Act feature article — Feb. 23

Last week, Manhattan-based Glenwood Management was ordered to pay nearly $1 million and retrofit several New York City apartment buildings as part of its settlement of a Fair Housing Act lawsuit brought by federal prosecutors who alleged a lack of accessibility in some of the company’s properties. Glenwood agreed to retrofit three of its buildings to make them more accessible to those with disabilities and said it will inspect six of its other New York City properties and make retrofits where needed.

In our feature article on Tuesday, Feb. 23, we will explore the complexities of developing in compliance with FHA requirements. We'll look at the design considerations for both retrofitting and new construction, as well as the legal ramifications for not being in compliance. 

Existing home sales — Feb. 23

The National Association of Realtors will release its January existing home sales data on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Last month, the NAR reported existing home sales bounced back 14.7% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million. December's results were a welcome reprieve after a 10.5% plunge in November existing sales. 

In last month's report, Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, predicted a slight 1% increase in existing home sales for 2016 and said, "In addition to insufficient supply levels, the overall pace of sales this year will be constricted by tepid economic expansion, rising mortgage rates and decreasing demand for buying in oil-producing metro areas."

Will Tuesday's report offer a second-consecutive month of positive existing home sales data, or will Yun's prediction of rocky conditions for the market become apparent in the month's results?

New home sales — Feb. 24

The Commerce Department will release new home sales data for January on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Last month, the department announced new home sales in December far surpassed expectations, soaring 10.8% between November and December to an annual rate of 544,000.

CNBC noted the strong results were the "latest indication that the housing sector remains on firmer footing despite a massive stock market sell-off and slowing economic growth."

So far, housing market reports for this month have been disappointing. Homebuilder confidence slipped three points to a score of 58, and housing starts unexpectedly slipped 3.8% in January.

Will Wednesday's results reverse the negative streak of housing reports this month?

Virtual reality feature article — Feb. 25

Technology advancements have been making major waves in the construction industry, as companies look to the newest innovations to improve efficiency and stay ahead of the curve. We've explored some of these emerging tech trends, including BIM, 3-D laser scanning, mobile apps and others in our technology section. 

This week, we're turning our attention to the trend of virtual reality in the construction industry. In our feature article on Thursday, Feb. 25, we'll take a look at how VR is being used in the industry, who's using the emerging technology, and what it adds to the design and construction process.