CAIRO (AP) An apartment building in Egypt's capital collapsed Tuesday, killing at least 17 people as rescuers and neighbors frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors, authorities said.

The collapse in Cairo's eastern Matariya district highlights the longtime problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbors said the seven-story building had several floors illegally added onto it. Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

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Apartment building collapses in Egypt, killing 17

An apartment building in Egypts capital collapsed Tuesday, killing at least 17 people as rescuers and neighbors frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors, authorities said.

According to ABC News, the collapse in Cairos eastern Matariya district highlights the longtime problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbors said the seven-story building had several floors illegally added onto it. Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

The building caved in around 1: 30 a.m. as many inside slept, witnesses said. Bulldozers roared into the neighborhoods narrow alleys after the collapse, removing chunks of cement, steel rods, scattered clothes and bloody bed sheets. Neighbors said workers looked for mattresses in the hope theyd find survivors nearby.

Mamdouh Abdel-Qader, the head of Cairo Civil Defense, said rescuers recovered 17 bodies from the collapse. The official MENA news agency said workers pulled eight residents out of the rubble alive. Neighbors said those still buried made desperate mobile phone calls, begging for help.

A man with his daughter was calling me saying they are trapped in darkness, said a dust-covered Ali Abdel-Fattah Ali, a government employee who moonlights as a mechanic in a nearby car repair shop. I tried to call back but there was no answer. I dont know what happened. His phone is still ringing.

Immediately after the collapse, Abeer Ismail, 25, called out the name of her mother-in-law, who lived on the second floor. Ismail said she had last visited the building on Sunday and could tell it was unsafe.

You could see the steel rods popping out of the walls and cracks covered the walls, she said.

The son of the buildings owner jumped off a balcony to escape the collapse, neighbors said. Its unclear who owns the building now as the owner died six months ago.

Officials and neighbors said that the building owner defied a court ruling issued five years ago and illegally built several extra floors atop the original four-story structure.

Abdel-Khaleq Abdel-Hadi, a resident who wasnt in the building at the time of the collapse, accused local authorities of accepting bribes to hold off the execution of the court order.

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Building collapses in Egypt, kills 17

CAIRO, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- At least 18 people are dead and several others are possibly trapped after an eight-story apartment building collapsed in the Matariya district early Tuesday. Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors under the rubble in the west Cairo suburb.

Desperate family members joined in the search after the early morning collapse, moving chunks of stone by hand in an effort to find survivors.

About 25 people lived in the building. Authorities said the building collapsed because the landlord illegally added several floors to the old building, a common problem in Egypt.

In 2013, 24 people died and 12 other were injured when an apartment building collapsed in Alexandria. Authorities cited poor maintenance and building specification violations as the cause.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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At least 18 dead in Cairo building collapse

At least 17 people have been killed after an apartment building in Egypts capital collapsed.

Rescuers and neighbours frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors at the scene in Cairos eastern Matariya district, authorities said.

The collapse highlights the long-standing problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbours said the seven-storey building had several floors illegally added onto it.

Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

The building caved in at around 1.30am as many inside slept, witnesses said.

Bulldozers roared into the neighbourhoods narrow alleys after the collapse, removing chunks of cement, steel rods, scattered clothes and bloody bed sheets. Local residents said workers looked for mattresses in the hope survivors would be found nearby.

Mamdouh Abdel-Qader, the head of Cairo civil defence, said rescuers had recovered 17 bodies from the collapse.

The official MENA news agency said workers pulled eight residents out of the rubble alive. Neighbours said those still buried made desperate mobile phone calls, begging for help.

A man with his daughter was calling me saying they are trapped in darkness, said a dust-covered Ali Abdel-Fattah Ali, a government employee who moonlights as a mechanic in a nearby car repair shop.

I tried to call back but there was no answer. I dont know what happened. His phone is still ringing.

View original post here:
17 dead after apartment collapse in Egypt

Cairo: An apartment building collapsed on Tuesday in northern Cairo, leaving 15 people dead, medical officials said.

Rescue teams were searching for survivors and victims through the rubble of the eight-floor building in the crowded district of Al Matariya. Seven people were retrieved alive, the officials said.

Fifteen people died, eight were injured and relatives say another seven are trapped under the rubble, Cairos emergency services deputy director Jamal Al Jalawa said.

Initial investigations found that the landlord had illegally added two extra floors to the building.

The departments chief, General Mamdouh Abdul Qader, said earlier that investigators were still investigating the cause of the collapse but that illegal construction work was suspected.

We dont yet know the cause of the accident but we have been told that two storeys were recently added totally illegally, Abdul Qader said.

A witness on site said rescuers working to clear the debris were struggling to manoeuvre their equipment in a very narrow alleyway.

Relatives of the missing and onlookers were digging with bare hands in the rubble.

Mohammad Al Bishlawy, district prosecutor for eastern Cairo, said he has opened an inquiry and asked for the arrest of the buildings owner.

He blamed the accident on renovation work in a second-floor apartment that has affected the structure of the building and the addition of two floors without permission.

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Cairo building collapse kills 15

Another big apartment building is in the works east of the Capitol Square, this one from T. Wall Enterprises for theReynolds construction crane storage lot at 710 E. Mifflin St.

The developer is proposing 185 market rate units with about 200 underground parking spaces. Plans call for a mix ofstudio, one- and two-bedroom units with the potential of three-bedroom units if there is sufficient demand, according to District 2 Ald. Ledell Zellers.

Zellers is holding a neighborhood meeting on the project Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lapham Elementary School Auditorium, 1045 E. Dayton St.

Zellers in an email to constituents says the meeting will include forming a Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association Steering Committee for the project. TLNA's development chair Patrick Heck will guide the committee, which will work with the developer and the city as the project moves through the review process.

Heck is replacing past development chair David Waugh, who recently stepped down from that position.

The site of the T. Wall proposal is behind the Constellation apartment tower and a block west of the Galaxie mixed-use project under construction.

T. Wall Enterprises was recently selected as one of four finalists for the sale and redevelopment of the Hill Farms state office site.

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T. Wall eyes apartment project on the 700 block of East Mifflin

WASHINGTON Construction of new homes fell slightly in October after a big September surge, but weakness was largely driven by the volatile apartment sector.

Builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.009 million last month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That was a drop of 2.8 percent from September, when construction had jumped 7.8 percent to 1.038 million.

The weakness stemmed from a 15.4 percent plunge in apartment construction, a category that tends to have big swings from month to month. Construction of single-family homes was up 4.2 percent, the third gain in the past four months.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future activity, rose 4.8 percent in October to 1.08 million.

Although overall construction was down in October, analysts said the weakness was confined to apartment building, which had seen a huge increase in September. They noted upward revisions to overall activity in September and August and forecast further gains in the months ahead.

The improving trend should continue, supported by generally low rates ... and strong job growth, said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Showing strength in October was the South, which posted a 10.1 percent jump on construction starts. All other regions of the country recorded declines. Construction fell 18.5 percent in the Midwest, 16.4 percent in the Northeast and 10.9 percent in the West.

Solid employment gains, lower mortgage rates and easier lending standards are likely to boost housing in coming months. At the same time, economists are concerned about price gains, which have been outpacing wage increases.

Price increases have cut into affordability for would-be buyers, limiting sales growth for new homes and cutting into sales for existing homes.

But in an encouraging sign, U.S. homebuilders confidence rebounded in November as both sales expectations and buyer traffic improved. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index rose to 58 this month, up from 54 in October.

See the original post:
Homebuilding declines slightly in October

Published: Wednesday, 11/19/2014 - Updated: 14 hours ago

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON Construction of new homes fell slightly in October after a big surge in the previous month, but the weakness was largely driven by the volatile apartment sector.

Builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.009 million last month, the Commerce Department reported today. That was a drop of 2.8 percent from September when construction had jumped 7.8 percent to 1.038 million.

The weakness stemmed from a 15.4 percent plunge in apartment construction, a category that tends to have big swings from month to month. Construction of single-family homes was up 4.2 percent, the third gain in the past four months.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future activity, rose 4.8 percent in October to 1.08 million.

While overall construction was down in October, analysts said the weakness was confined to apartment building, which had seen a huge increase in September. They noted upward revisions to overall activity in September and August and forecast further gains in the months ahead.

The improving trend should continue, supported by generally low rates ... and strong job growth, said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Showing strength in October was the South, which posted a 10.1 percent jump on construction starts. All other regions of the country recorded declines. Construction fell 18.5 percent in the Midwest, 16.4 percent in the Northeast and 10.9 percent in the West.

Solid employment gains, lower mortgage rates and somewhat easier lending standards are likely to boost housing in coming months. At the same time, economists are concerned about price gains, which so far have been outpacing wage increases.

Read the rest here:
Home construction drops 2.8% in Oct.

Construction of new homes fell slightly in October after a big surge in the previous month, but the weakness was largely driven by the volatile apartment sector.

Builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.009 million last month, the Commerce Department reportedWednesday. That was a drop of 2.8 percent from September when construction had jumped 7.8 percent to 1.038 million.

The weakness stemmed from a 15.4 percent plunge in apartment construction, a category that tends to have big swings from month to month. Construction of single-family homes was up 4.2 percent, the third gain in the past four months.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future activity, rose 4.8 percent in October to 1.08 million.

While overall construction was down in October, analysts said the weakness was confined to apartment building, which had seen a huge increase in September. They noted upward revisions to overall activity in September and August and forecast further gains in the months ahead.

"The improving trend should continue, supported by generally low rates ... and strong job growth," said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Showing strength in October was the South, which posted a 10.1 percent jump on construction starts. All other regions of the country recorded declines. Construction fell 18.5 percent in the Midwest, 16.4 percent in the Northeast and 10.9 percent in the West.

Solid employment gains,lower mortgage rates and somewhat easier lending standards are likely to boost housing in coming months. At the same time, economists are concerned about price gains, which so far have been outpacing wage increases.

Price increases have cut into affordability for would-be buyers, limiting sales growth for new homes and cutting into sales for existing homes.

But in an encouraging sign, U.S. homebuilders' confidence rebounded in November as both sales expectations and buyer traffic improved. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index rose to 58 this month, up from 54 in October.

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Home construction slows nationwide on heels of apartment-building surge

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) A decline in construction started on apartments led to a slower pace of home building last month, according to government data released Wednesday.

Housing starts fell 2.8% in October to an annualized pace of 1.01 million from 1.04 million in September, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. The October starts rate in buildings with at least five units dropped 15.5%. Meanwhile, construction starts for single-family homes rose 4.2%, reaching the highest pace since November 2013.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the overall starts rate to tick up to 1.03 million from an originally reported rate of 1.02 million in September.

Economists advised investors not to read too much into a single monthly home-construction report. A confidence interval of plus or minus 10% for Octobers overall starts drop of 2.8% shows that the government isnt sure whether the pace of construction rose or fell last month.

Longer-term trends signaled that the home-construction market continued to rebound: The pace of Octobers overall construction was up 7.8% from the year-earlier period.

All told, the report looks far more upbeat given positive revisions and favorable building permit issuance figures, said Michael Dolega, senior economist at TD Economics.

While we dont expect housing to improve at breakneck speed, we continue to feel positive about the prospects for housing market with a continued gradual recovery the most likely outcome. The pace of homebuilding remains well shy of demographic fundamentals. With mortgage rates likely to remain favorable, this gap should close over the medium term as the labor market heals, he added.

The annual pace of permits for new construction, a sign of future demand, rose 4.8% in October to 1.08 million the highest rate since June 2008 from 1.03 million in September. The permits rate rose 1.4% for single-family homes, and 8% for apartments.

Home building and sales have faced setbacks this year in the form of bad weather, rapid changes in interest rates and prices, and lending standards that some analysts say remain overly restrictive.

Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its late October meeting, and officials there have been keeping a close watch on housing, trying to avoid disrupting the markets rebound. The central banks most recent policy statement said the housing sectors recovery remains slow.

Read more from the original source:
Economic Report: Housing starts slip in October as apartment construction slows