Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, October 26, 1998
Limits raised in Hawaii for FHA home loans
President Clinton has signed a bill raising the Federal Housing Administration home loan limit in Hawaii to $254,600. The former limit was $241,425."This is great for Hawaii," said Gordan Furutani, senior community building Honolulu office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Up until now we've been making condominium loans but with the increased limit we can get some home loans."
FHA loans have downpayments of 3 percent, which is lower than many lenders require for other loans.
Furutani said the increase for Hawaii was part of a formula to raise limits for the entire nation. The increase in the FHA rate for insured mortgage loans continued to recognize higher home prices in Hawaii, compared to other states.
Loan limits were raised nationally to $109,032 in low-cost housing areas to $197,621 in high-cost areas. The old limits were $86,317 and $170,362, respectively.
Andrew Cuomo, HUD's secretary, said the higher loan limits would benefit first-time home buyers, who received more than 80 percent of the more than 1 million FHA-insured loans last year.
State seminar to look at Japan's economy
Japan may be in a recession but it still sends about 2 million tourists each year to Hawaii and they spend an estimated $3.2 billion. With that in mind, the state and the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau is holding a seminar to help businesses understand economic changes in Japan and capture their share of the market.The Nov. 6 meeting will feature speakers from Japan: Yoshikazu Ishizuka, managing editor of the English-language Japan Times; Mariko Fujiwara, research director of the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living; and Mayumi Saito and Hiromi Marumo, of the Hakuhodo advertising agency. They will discuss changing consumer preferences and shifts in Japan's economy.
The seminar, sponsored by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism and the HVCB, also will include state economists and local tourism experts. An OmniTrak Group Inc. study of what Japanese visitors buy in Hawaii will be presented. The fee for the 8 a.m.-to-12:30 p.m. seminar is $25. Reservations are by fax at 538-6227 or mail to: Rowena Vila at OmniTrak Group Inc., 841 Bishop St., Honolulu 96813.
Bankoh's parent boosts dividend payment 4.6%
Pacific Century Financial Corp. raised its quarterly dividend by 4.6 percent, to 17 cents a share of common stock from 16.25 cents.The parent of Bank of Hawaii said the new dividend will be payable Dec. 14 to shareholders of record at the close of business Nov. 20. Pacific Century last week reported a small decrease in third-quarter net profit compared with the third quarter of last year. However, the company said its restructuring is working and performance is improving.
Hawaiian Electric forms unit to chill downtown
The Hawaiian Electric Co. has formed a separate nonregulated company, HEI DC Inc.,to offer "district cooling services" to businesses in downtown Honolulu.T. Michael May, Heco president and chief executive officer, mentioned the company in a speech at its energy expo Thursday at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. "It's still in the preliminary stages," he said.
"The idea is simple. A central cooling plant makes chilled water to provide air conditioning to a cluster of buildings. That means no capital costs for you (businesses) to replace or rebuild aging chillers," May said.
"And, going forward, no labor, maintenance and repair costs to run your own in-house cooling systems."
The system in downtown would involve piping the chilled air through roadway trenches to various buildings.
In other news . . .
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. said it cut prices on its Pentium II and Celeron chips for personal computers by as much as 29 percent, as the world's largest chipmaker looks to spur demand. Intel reduced the price of its Pentium II running at 350 megahertz to $213 from $299. The Celeron 333MHz, which is used in low-cost home computers, was cut 17 percent to $159 from $192.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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