SFran Bay area continues to lead the Real Estate decline
but Manhattan is showing some pain also
with some details and comments on the jobs that affect RE
Eric Fry quotes:
- From extreme sports to extreme real estate...San
Francisco tops an ignominious list of "extreme" real
estate markets, according to research and advisory firm,
Property and Portfolio Research LLC. "An extreme office
market is defined in this report as one where
construction has ground to a near halt," the Wall Street
Journal explains. "Construction of office buildings
nationwide fell about 43% for the six months ended June,
from a year earlier. But in tech-wrecked San Francisco,
construction starts dropped a whopping 97%."
- Despite the construction bust, the vacancy rate in the
Bay Area continues to soar. Here in Manhattan, the
office property market is holding up somewhat better,
but vacancy rates are rising nonetheless. The vacancy
rate for prime Manhattan office space rose to 10.2% in
July, according to Colliers ABR Inc., up from 6.2% one
year earlier. In terrorist-stricken Lower Manhattan, the
vacancy rate has soared to 14.7% in July from only 5.8%
one year earlier.
- There's no sign of a turnaround, yet. And there won't
be one until companies start hiring more folks than
they're firing. But weekly jobless claims spiked above
400,000 again last week, to the highest level in almost
two months. The four-week-average of new claims rose for
a third straight week to 392,750.
- "The rise in claims is in line with a survey showing
the number of consumers who considered jobs hard to get
this month was the highest in more than six years,"
Bloomberg News reports.
- Confirming the grim employment outlook, the Conference
Board's Help-Wanted Advertising Index dropped again in
July.
- "The U.S. labor market is treading water," says
Conference Board Economist Ken Goldstein. "With an
economic recovery not yet strong enough to produce new
jobs, businesses simply aren't increasing their
recruitment efforts." |
