The Department of Commerce said today housing
permits dropped to their lowest levels in 10 years in April, but that home
construction starts still beat expectations.
Americans will spend nearly $233 billion on home remodeling this year, according to the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) 2007 industry forecast. That represents a 1.9% increase from the
Combined U.S. factory shipments of central air
conditioners and air-source heat pumps for March totaled 636,199, up 65% from last
month’s total, but down 12% from March 2006 shipments.
H.R. 2076 proposes to amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to establish maximum lead levels for drinking water through
restricting the amount of lead used in the production of bathroom fixtures and
fittings.
Electrical distributors report predictions for a
strong upturn in sales growth in the second quarter 2007, despite a continued decline
during the first quarter, according to NAED’s most recent Quarterly Sales
Change Expectation Survey (QSCE).