
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030648
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BUILDERS UPEND GAUGE ON ECONOMY

Were it not for contractors trying to beat a deadline for meeting expensive new building standards, the government's chief economic forecasting gauge would have changed little last month.

Instead, the Index of Leading Economic Indicators, designed to forecast economic activity six to nine months in advance, fell 1 percent in February, the Commerce Department reported today. Analysts said the index, which had risen the previous three months, would have changed little except for a drop in building permits.

The standards, required by 1989 fair-housing legislation, are designed to make apartment buildings more accessible to the handicapped. The National Association of Home Builders said the standards would add between $3,600 and $7,200 to the cost of an apartment.

The analysts said today's index would be lowered by the February drop from the unusually large number of permits builders sought in January to take advantage of record warm weather and to build in advance of the new, costly standards.

by CNB