RE: "If housing so much as hiccups, this economy could implode."
What's holding housing up? Probably the interest rate cuts.
Real estate (RE) is still a tad out of synch with the economy. Some local RE is double what it was about 3 years ago, meanwhile the stock market is flat. Homes above $1M are paid through stock, not salaried mortgages, so these should be more in line with the stock market; something is out of synch here. Though some areas are aggressively falling, like the Los Altos (Hills?) area that had a -40% drop in median prices per Sunday's SJMN (note: that's YOY median price as measured by only one month's of data, not a year's worth of data, so if only a handful of homes were sold in a month one could expect some distortion.)
Saw a few more businesses go under or close local outlets. An art gallery that's been around for a decade, a furniture store, etc. etc. Am seeing a lot more "For Lease" or "Space Available" signs in the area than what I saw on a visit during the previous recession. Fastest growing company in Silicon Valley is Available.com. (I can't take credit for this joke.)
How bad was '85 relative to the recession in the early 90's?
OTOH, folks at Nordstrom said that their sales have just bottomed out, and are now flat.
Regards,
Amy J |
