Thursday, June 2, 1983/The Battalion/Page 11
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United Press International
WASHINGTON — Sales of
new houses fell 4 percent in
April, raising fears among buil
ders that their construction may
already be running ahead of de
mand.
The Commerce Department
said Tuesday that the annual
rate of sales slipped to 573,000
unis a year, the third decline in
six months.
But while supply began to
outrun demand, the price kept
going up. The average cost of a
new house hit a record $89,'200,
the Commerce department said.
Since housing has been the
pace car of the recovery, any
slow down can raise fears that
interest rates are still too high to
allow economic improvements
to continue.
Earlier, the government
issued a somewhat reassuring
report that the sensitive leading
indicators continued to deliver a
strong recovery signal, a 1.1 per
cent gain in April.
Although the weakest read
ing of the year for the composite
index, the April report still
seemed to suggest there would
be no relapse any time soon like
that which aborted an early 1982
recovery.
“Unless interest rates decline
further, this housing recovery
faces the possibility of reaching a
plateau and leveling off,” de
veloper Harry Pryde said,
speaking as president of the Na
tional Association of Home Buil
ders.
“The marketplace has already
absorbed a good portion of the
pent-up demand left over from
the recession,” he said.
Even with the decline in sales,
under way since January’s peak
rate of 511,000 units, April was
still 67.5 percent ahead of a year
earlier in sales and, for the sixth
consecutive month, above the
half-million mark.
An earlier report showed
April’s rate of new housing con
struction starts was a healthy
1,490,000 units a year despite an
8.4 percent decline from March.
Michael Sumichrast, chief
economist of the home builders
association, said sales have slip
ped below a necessary ratio to
starts established over the past
20 years.
“Sales are not keeping up with
the pace of starts,” he said. If the
April deterioration in the starts-
to-sales ratio keeps up the rest of
the year, builders could end up
with 75,000 additional new
houses on the market unsold, he
said.
“The (sales) number is very
strong but not as strong as I
hoped,” he said.
In April there were an esti
mated 268,000 houses on the
market, 5.7 months of supply
and the biggest backlog since
December.
The median price of a new
house, less volatile than the aver
age because it excludes the ex
tremes in price, reached a re
cord $74,900 in April.
Stock market investors, many
of whom apparently spent their
holiday weekend worrying ab
out interest rates, sent prices
plunging on Wall Street
Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial av
erage closed below 1,200 for the
first time since May 20, drop
ping 16.16 to 1,199.98 in gener
ally lackluster trading.
Milk plan open to public
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The
Agriculture Department is seek
ing public comment on a prop
osal to discourage the overpro
duction of milk and to cut the
cost of the government’s mul-
tibillion-dollar dairy price sup
port program.
I he proposal, outlined Tues
day, calls for doubling the ex
isting fees on milk production
and holding the dairy price sup
port rate at its current level for
another year.
In a printed statement, Agri
culture Secretary John Block
said the plan is intended to slow
the increase in milk production
and reduce government dairy
stockpiles, which now hold $3
billion worth of surplus dairy
products.
The plan also should reduce
taxpayer costs of the price sup
port program, which totaled
$2.2 billion last year, Block said.
Under the proposal, milk
production fees would be in
creased to $1 for each 100
pounds of milk placed on the
market, beginning Aug. 1. Pro
ducers who reduced their mar-
50 cents for each 100 pounds of
milk.
Supporters say the fees will
penalize farmers who overpro
duce, as well as help finance the
price support program. But cri
tics have warned that the plan
could backfire.
The new proposal also would
hold the dairy price support rate
at its current level of $13.10 for
each 100 pounds of milk. The
support price — the sum the
government agrees to pay for
surplus milk — virtually guaran
tees that price as the minimum
to be paid to farmers.
The proposal, outlined in a
law passed by Congress last year,
comes one week after the House
Agriculture Committee
approved compromise legisla
tion prescribing different
methods to reduce dairy pro
duction.
The deadline for public com
ments on the department’s new
proposal is June 30. The prop
osal could be scrapped entirely if
Congress approves an alternate
plan and President Reagan signs
the measure into law.
believe
People 1 ®
;ople arc ^
dy wants |
other trying to reclaim
ustody after father’s death
United Press International
USTIN — The Texas Sup-
e Court Wednesday agreed
ntervene in a custody case
re the natural mother is
mpting to regain custody of
wo children she relinquished to
it adoptive father, who later
1.
The high court set a hearing
)n|a complaint filed by Gloria
Since 18'Greene of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
■Gloria Greene is seeking cus
tody of her son, 14, and a daugh
ter, 13, who are living in Porter
with Dorothy Greene, the widow
of her former husband.
According to court records,
Gloria Greene’s ex-husband,
Cecil Tom Greene, adopted the
children in 1974. When the cou
ple divorced in 1978, the courts
awarded custody to Cecil Tom
Greene.
Cecil Tom Greene later re
married, but was killed in a job-
related accident in July 1982.
In seeking to regain custody
of her children, Gloria Greene
said Dorothy Greene failed to
notify her of her ex-husband’s
death. She said his death nulli
fied the custody’s aspect of the
1978 divorce decree.
United Press International
DALLAS — Southland Cor
poration’s planned high rise de
velopment spanning North
Central Expressway is described
by the corporation chairman as
“a dramatic gateway into down
town Dallas.”
The actual gateway and cen
terpiece of the $400 million pro
ject will be twin 50-story towers
connected by an enclosed walk
way that carry pedestrians over
the busy expressway.
Four other buildings, nine
stories each, will be built to form
hborhoc
rom
ugh toft
Ik orb®
: to WOO!
on
:horoi|
thehusf
;ampoS'
PEKING GARDEN
Chinese Restaurant
AIX YOU CAJtf EAT
Friday and Sunday Evening
Buffet 6-8 p.m. B 5 30
Weekly Noon Buffet B 3 98
^5^"- ^
| Valerie Martin’s \
| 1 Gallery of Danee Arts \
I offering
f SUMMER ADULT DANCE
f CLASSES
v ill
§ Ballet • Tap • Jazz
§ Registration Jnne 1 & 2
ketings would receive relunds ol
plans new
complex
Baptist Student Union
a 21-acre quadrangle Hanking
the freeway just northeast of
downtown Dallas.
One of the towers will be
Southland’s world headquar
ters, Chairman John P. Thomp
son said Tuesday at a news con
ference.
Summer Howdy Party
Tliurs. June 2
7:00 p.m.
Music - Fun - Fellowship
Dating ?A Skills
WORKSHOP
for Women
Run by Doctoral students in Coun
seling Psychology. If interested,
contact Shelly, Now!
Starts June 13th
845-1839 or 845-1831
or come to Harrington
704 1.
Come and Bring a
Friend!
SOI College Main
Beliind Loupot’s
7 We ci
favorat
ntages
of desi
jchtf 0
, r yours 1
ie and* 1
ig Ag ef
ty Driv«
Buffets include: egg roll, fried rice, fried wonton soup,
moo goo gai pan, sweet and sour pork, beef with broccoli
and fried banana.
&
OPEN DAILY:
11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
1313 S. College
822-7661
STORE-WIDE
CLEARANCE SALE
END OF OUR FISCAL YE AR—THRU JUNE 30
50% OFF
COCKTAIL RINGS
35% OFF
TERTTHD
15%
EVERYTHING ELSE
OFF
WATCHES
JOIN THE ADD A BEAD CLUB
415 University
846-5816
Open /Vi-Sat
10-5:30