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Report offers detailed look at economy in Hampton Roads

A new Hampton Roads Planning District Commission report says that local employment and retail activity is improving, but notes that the real estate market continues to underperform.

Underlying causes for the slump in home sales include high sales inventory (made worse by the number homes in foreclosure) and a still-shaky job market that is sapping the confidence of would-be home buyers, according to the report.

State courts bidders for new U.S. 460

VDOT is hoping to coax private developers to bid on the chance to build and operate a new multibillion-dollar U.S. 460 as a toll road. To drum up interest, the state is offering cash and other incentives.

Without an offer of public funds, the project has gone nowhere. Officials hope the promise of a public partnership will stimulate interest.

The new U.S. 460 will be a 55-mile, four-lane, divided highway between Suffolk and Petersburg.

Hampton Roads travel troubles expected to worsen

Rush hours in Hampton Roads currently see 12% of the region's primary routes severely clogged, according to the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization. Officials say 29% will be jammed by 2030 -- and that's assuming that major projects now on the drawing board are completed.

"The numbers don't surprise me at all," said Commonwealth Transportation Board member Aubrey Layne of Virginia Beach. "In Hampton Roads, we have $19 billion in needs... and just $2.3 billion to spend" in the next 30 years.

Officials: 36 hours needed to evacuate Hampton Roads

Local transportation officials say 36 hours would be needed to evacuate residents if a major hurricane hit Hampton Roads, because the state's evacuation plan isn't up to the task.

Virginia's Hurricane Emergency Response Plan estimates that 300,000 vehicles would hit the roads during an evacuation. Officials say it would take 36 hours to evacuate at-risk residents in South Hampton Roads.

"Thirty-six hours is not reasonable," said Rob Case, principal transportation engineer for the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization.

Foreclosures slowing in Hampton Roads

Foreclosure activity in Hampton Roads is down from April, but still higher than it was in May 2009, according to online foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac.

Banks and lenders repossessed and auctioned off 1,563 area homes last month -- 10% fewer than in April, but up 66 percent from a year ago.

Foreclosure rates dropped across most of Hampton Roads, but went up a bit in Virginia Beach. Of the seven major cities in the area, May foreclosures were most prevalent in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, and least common in Newport News and Hampton.

Read more in The Virginian-Pilot....
See information about Virginia foreclosures by locality here....

Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 - 2:45pm

Gloucester assessor says new assessments will be late

Gloucester County's next assessments are due in 17 months, but County Assessor Reese Milligan says that budget cuts and flawed data will prevent them from being completed on time.

Much of the flawed data was inherited from a previous assessment, and everything has to be verified in the field, which is a large-scale project, Milligan said.

Homeowners benefit from accurate property assessments, which reflect the sale value of their homes.

State negotiating to keep tolls low for Midtown Tunnel drivers

State officials are negotiating for lower proposed tolls with Elizabeth River Crossings, a private group that wants to expand the Midtown Tunnel. Officials put the cost of adding a second tube to the Midtown Tunnel, refurbishing the Downtown Tunnel and extending the Martin Luther King Freeway at an estimated cost of $1.9 billion. Transportation officials say the proposed construction would fix two of the region's worst traffic bottlenecks.

The planned estimated base toll for both the Midtown and Downtown tunnels is $2.17 for cars and $6.52 for trucks. State officials are trying to get the tolls lowered -- perhaps to as low as $1.50.

Hampton Roads foreclosure rates up

RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure-monitoring service, reports that foreclosures are up in the Hampton Roads area -- a trend that is being noted across the U.S. The latest statistics put the number of bank-owned properties at the highest quarterly total on record. Bank-owned properties are foreclosed properties that fail to sell at auction.

There is also some good news: nationally, March sales of existing homes were up 16.1% over March 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors. Seasonally adjusted new-home sales were up 26.9% from March 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Hampton Roads may keep aircraft carrier and the jobs that come with it

Senator Jim Webb The planned relocation of a naval aircraft from Norfolk to Mayport, Fla. has been pushed to 2019, meaning it may not happen at all.

Citing the delay and noting that the Navy has other pressing needs, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, a former secretary of the Navy said, "it appears the relocation of an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport is unlikely to happen."

That's good news for Hampton Roads, because the loss of a carrier would cost the area 6,000 jobs and $425 million in annual revenue.

Read more from the Associated Press and The Daily Press....

Posted on Friday, April 23, 2010 - 10:07am