The number of homes sold in the Denver metro area in July was up 2.9 percent compared with the same period last year, according to a report issued Tuesday by independent real-estate analyst Gary Bauer.
The median price for a single-family home dipped 1.7 percent to $255,000 compared with last year, and the median price for a condo dropped 3 percent to $158,000 in July.
While the number of homes on the market in July was up slightly over last year, it dropped 5.4 percent from June to 30,272.
Additional business news briefs:
DENVER
Ex-bank owner makes deal to avoid tax trial
Convicted felon and one-time Boulder bank owner Edward Mattar III has reached a plea agreement that will allow him to avoid a second federal trial, this time on charges of income-tax evasion, documents filed in Denver’s U.S. District Court show.
Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch set a hearing for 9 a.m. Thursday.
Earlier this year, Matsch found Mattar, the founder and chief executive of BestBank, guilty of 15 criminal counts, including conspiracy, bank fraud, false bank reports and wire fraud, stemming from the bank’s July 1998 failure.
DENVER
Qwest about ready to serve with Networx
Qwest said Tuesday at a General Services Administration conference in Denver that it will be ready to serve federal agencies through Networx Universal – a multibillion-dollar telecommunications contracting program – this month.
Denver-based Qwest is competing against Verizon Communications and AT&T for a piece of Universal, worth up to $48 billion over 10 years. Qwest is also competing for a piece of Networx Enterprise, a contracting program worth up to $20 billion over 10 years.
NEW YORK
Moody’s separates its credit-rating unit
Moody’s Corp. reorganized into two divisions, separating its credit-rating unit from sales, marketing and analytics to underscore the independence of its opinions on debt securities.
Brian Clarkson, 51, will become president and chief operating officer of the credit-ratings unit. Mark Almeida, 47, will run Moody’s Analytics, a new division for nonrating services, such as and KMV, and sales and marketing for the whole business.
DENVER
Apex’s Bolivia mine produces first silver
Apex Silver Mines Ltd. announced Tuesday the first production of silver-bearing concentrates from the San Cristobal zinc, lead and silver mine in southwestern Bolivia.
The plant reached mechanical completion in late June and began start-up commissioning in early July. The company expects the first rail shipments from the plant this week.
WHITE DEER, Pa.
Ex-Cendant chairman begins prison term
Former Cendant Corp. chairman Walter Forbes began serving a 12-year prison term for directing the largest accounting fraud of the 1990s.
Forbes, 64, reported Tuesday morning to Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex in White Deer, Pa., said Bureau of Prisons spokesman Mike Truman. Forbes is in Allenwood’s low-security facility, which houses 1,400 inmates, Truman said.
INDIANAPOLIS
GM completes sale of transmission unit
General Motors Corp. completed the $5.6 billion sale of its Allison Transmission unit to buyout firms Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. as the largest U.S. automaker raises cash for new models.
Carlyle and Onex plan to split a $1.5 billion equity investment in Indianapolis-based Allison. The company makes transmissions for trucks, buses and military equipment.
WASHINGTON
Cellphone rivals told to allow roaming
The Federal Communications Commission voted to require large mobile-phone companies to enter roaming agreements with rivals, a move that regional operators say will allow them to offer more reliable service.
Roaming agreements allow customers of one company to use another network when they travel outside the range of their carriers’ cell towers.
SAN FRANCISCO
Judge tosses suit on Chevron “dumping”
A judge dismissed a lawsuit against Chevron Corp., saying attorneys “manufactured” claims of Ecuadorians that the company’s chemical dumping in their country caused cancer.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco threw out the case against Chevron, the second-biggest U.S. oil company, Aug. 3.
He blamed lawyers representing the Ecuadorians for fabricating their illnesses.
