Healthy Spending In Construction - 2004-01-06
Construction spending established another record in November as consistently low mortgage rates propelled home building, and state and local governments did their part by pushing their activity to all-time highs as well.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that construction outlays rose by 1.2 percent in November from the October pace, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $934.5 billion.
Read the full story at Philadelphia Inquirer

U.S. property bond supply could drop in 2004 - S&P - 2004-01-06
The supply of U.S. bonds backed by commercial real estate loans is expected to drop modestly this year from 2003's $75 billion due to weak demand for commercial space, Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday.

Ongoing stress in the real estate market caused a record number of downgrades and defaults in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) in 2003, according to S&P.
Read the full story at Reuters via Forbes