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Specialty trade contractors drove industry growth over the most recent four-quarter period for which data are available. The subsector added 3,000 jobs to Maryland payrolls and expanded by 2.4 percent from the same quarter one year prior.

The Justice Department on Wednesday gave Mittal Steel Co. another 15 days to sell a Maryland steel mill that the Dutch company must divest to settle antitrust issues.

With employment of 128,225 in the third quarter of 2006, specialty trade contractors represent the single largest industry component and comprise roughly two-thirds of Maryland

The SunTrust Bank building in downtown Baltimore has been sold to a Massachusetts company for nearly $63 million, adding to a flurry of recent commercial real estate investment that observers said is transforming the city’s office market.

Maryland housing starts dropped 12.9 percent in 2006, indicating that continued softening within the state

A measurement of industry sentiment about the market for new homes dropped in June for the fourth straight month to the lowest point in more than 16 years.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, is seeking a developer to build and manage the third building in its $500 million, 10-building West Side biotechnology research park.

The stretch of North Howard Street between Centre and Saratoga streets on Baltimore’s West Side is an urban graveyard, with the decrepit shells of once-beautiful buildings standing like memorials to the thoroughfare’s past as a popular shopping destination.

Late payments and new foreclosures on adjustable-rate home mortgages made to people with spotty credit histories spiked to all-time highs in the first three months of this year.

The aftermath of a slowdown of the national housing market is beginning to hit Maryland, with the number of foreclosures skyrocketing and real-estate related jobs taking a strike.