FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOV. 12, 2007

Contact: Misty Slagle, 503-684-1880                                                                                                                                 

2008 Housing Forecast scheduled

The Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland today announced the 2008 Parr Lumber Housing Forecast will be held Nov. 29, starting at 7:30 at the Oregon Convention Center.

The annual breakfast program, which drew more than 600 home building industry professionals last year, includes breakfast and an in-depth analysis of national, regional and local market factors likely to impact the Portland-area housing market in the coming year.

The speakers this year are some of the Northwest’s leading market experts, including:

John Mitchell – John Mitchell received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He joined U.S. Bancorp in 1983. He was Chief Economist of U.S. Bancorp until 1998 and served as Economist Western Region for U.S. Bank until July of 2007. His regional publications include: The Economic Update, the Business Barometer, U.S. Territory, and Oregon Tidbits. He currently writes a column for Oregon Business Magazine. He was a business analyst for KPTV in Portland. He has been making economic presentations on the nation and the region for more than 35 years.

Jerry Johnson – Jerry Johnson is a real estate market and regional economic development consultant. He has worked on a broad range of real estate development and land use economic topics for public and private-sector clients. As a principal with Johnson Gardner, Mr. Johnson is involved in research, design, economic and financial modeling, and market analysis for the real estate community. Johnson’s experience includes real estate market forecasting and analysis for such clients as Weyerhauser, Altamont, Trammel Crow Residential, GSL Properties and Polygon NW.

David Ludwig – Ludwig is president of Vista Market Intelligence. Vista will preview estimated sales and volume, based on the company’s Fall 2007 Tracking Study. Ludwig will discuss consumer attitudes and expectations for the homebuilding and remodeling markets, and he will offer the consumer point-of-view about factors that will impact housing businesses in 2008 and beyond.

The convention center is located at 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Portland. Admission is $50 for HBA members, $70 for non members. Table rates are available. Call Misty Slagle at 503-684-1880 for more information, or visit www.hbapdx.org to register online.

The 2008 Housing Forecast is presented by Parr Lumber Company, and sponsored by NW Natural, HomeStreet Bank and the Oregonian.

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