The lending arm of New York-based developer Silverstein Properties is putting $340 million into a luxury hotel and condo project in downtown Miami.

The construction loan for the Legacy Hotel & Residences, a project being built by Royal Palm Cos., comes amid rising demand for new condos and hotel rooms in South Florida.

The 50-floor tower is going up in the heart of the Miami Worldcenter, the second-largest urban development in the U.S. With Covid-related travel restrictions being relaxed, international buyers have returned to the Miami market, according to Dan Kodsi, chief executive officer of Royal Palm.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH), the sixth-largest homebuilder in the U.S., today announced the release of its inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") report to increase transparency of its ESG strategy and initiatives as well as related key performance metrics. The 2020 ESG report also highlights the Company's ongoing approach to long-term sustainability practices, diversity, equity and inclusion ("DE&I") efforts and milestones achieved during the year. The company intends to provide annual updates to its ESG reporting.

About Meritage Homes Corporation
Meritage Homes is the sixth-largest public homebuilder in the United States, based on homes closed in 2020. The Company offers a variety of homes that are designed with a focus on entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For more information on Meritage's ESG initiatives and to view the full 2020 ESG report, visit https://investors.meritagehomes.com/environmental-social-and-governance/....

Well-heeled homebuyers with an interest in new condos sent Manhattan luxury sales to their best week in nearly eight years.

The dollar volume of high-end deals reached $483.6 million last week, the highest total for a seven-day period since December 2013, according to a report by Olshan Realty Inc., which measures signed contracts at $4 million and above. Sixteen of the 50 homes that found buyers were listed for at least $10 million, the biggest tally of so-called “trophy properties” since March 2013.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) and Operation Homefront have partnered to thank a military family for their service by presenting them with a brand new, mortgage-free and energy-efficient Meritage home as part of the Permanent Homes for Veterans program. Prior to Veteran's Day, Navy Petty Officer First Class Garfield Johnson, his wife, Tia, and their two young children received the keys to their 1,840 square-foot, single-story home located in the new Bristol Meadows community in Zephyrhills near Tampa, Florida.

The Permanent Homes for Veterans program has placed more than 700 military families in mortgage-free homes and deeded over $90 million in home equity. This is the fourteenth new home Meritage Homes has constructed and donated to military families.

For more information about Meritage Homes Corporation visit www.meritagehomes.com.  
For more information about Operation Homefront visit www.OperationHomefront.org.  
For more information about Start Strong, Stay Strong visit www.operationhomefront.org/startstrongstaystrong. 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 20, 2021 /CNW/ - Mattamy Homes is pleased to announce that the company has been named one of Phoenix's Best Places to Work by the Phoenix Business Journal.

Best Places to Work winners are chosen based on an employee-survey process conducted by Quantum Workplace. Once nominated, companies have to meet a threshold in employee participation – a percentage that varies based upon the size of the company – to be eligible to be honored. Companies receive the award because their organization received high marks in areas such as team effectiveness, trust with co-workers, manager effectiveness and work engagement.

Honorees including Mattamy Homes will be featured in the Phoenix Business Journal's December 16 Best Places to Work special edition, as well as online.

About Mattamy Homes
Mattamy Homes is the largest privately owned homebuilder in North America, with 40-plus years of history across the United States and Canada. Every year, Mattamy helps more than 8,000 families realize their dream of home ownership. In the United States, the company is represented in 11 markets – Dallas, Charlotte, Raleigh, Phoenix, Tucson, Jacksonville, Orlando (where its US head office is located), Tampa, Sarasota, Naples and Southeast Florida – and in Canada, its communities stretch across the Greater Toronto Area, as well as in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. Visit www.mattamyhomes.com for more information.

U.S. homebuilder sentiment rose in September amid lower lumber prices and strong housing demand.

A gauge of builder sentiment ticked higher for the first time in five months to 76 from an August reading of 75, National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo data showed Monday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a slight decrease to 74.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- From reducing air pollution to using renewable energy as a power source, U.S. homeowners have an overwhelming desire for more information, more choices, and more action across the industry for eco-friendly construction materials and practices, according to the 2021 3M Home Renovation Study.

The majority of homeowners surveyed – 74% – agree that using eco-friendly construction materials would make a strong impact to the environment, and 70% plan to purchase eco-friendly materials for their next renovation.

For more information on how 3M science can drive change for more sustainable home construction solutions, visit 3M smog-fighter. To read more about the Home Renovation Study, visit https://3m.com/homereno.

California just gave single-family homeowners more control over their property and, for those in high-demand cities, the potential for a big financial windfall. Eight time zones away in the U.K., the Conservative government is revising its planning bill in ways that could give homeowners a similar boon.

The details and contexts differ, but both approaches recognize a political reality. The way to relieve housing shortages is to build more homes, and it’s easier to legalize construction if existing homeowners realize benefits.

Disgruntled China Evergrande Group customers staged a protest in Guangzhou demanding that the cash-strapped developer restart stalled construction work and urging the local government to intervene.

More than 100 homebuyers in white T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Resume construction, Evergrande” lined up before the housing bureau of the city’s Nansha district on Thursday, according to people who attended the protest and asked not to be named because of fear of retribution. They said building of units they purchased in Evergrande Peninsula, a project of almost 5,000 apartments, has been halted since May.

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential and the luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. have formed a partnership to develop apartments, looking to deploy $1.9 billion to take advantage of the surging demand for rentals.

The two companies will invest about $750 million in equity, plus additional debt, over the next three years to develop projects in Boston, Seattle, Atlanta Austin, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and the San Diego area, according to a statement on Tuesday.

According to RentCafé®, more than one-third of U.S. cities are upgrading apartment spaces (increasing in most cases by approximately 50 square feet), allowing for new trends following the COVID-19 pandemic, including home offices.

In fact, 36% of cities surveyed are building larger apartments, with 51% graduating to house two bedrooms. Of those expanding, Everett, Washington, is the leader, with the most apartments in construction. Urban areas are also on the list, with Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago making the top 20 as well. The largest apartments are being built in Everett (1,195 average square feet); Scottsdale, Arizona (1,139 average square feet) and Athens, Georgia (1,132 average square feet).

Reprinted courtesy of Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.