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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TH who wrote (24175)	9/29/2004 3:42:48 PM
From: patron_anejo_por_favor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

<<Bush's recovery must be somewhere else>> Absolutely....things are BOOMING in Chindia!

To: TH who wrote (24175)	9/29/2004 4:04:54 PM
From: bozwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

TH, I agree about the commercial properties. In the Troy area almost every property has a for lease sign in front of it. Some even list sq feet available, and there are some big buildings empty. I am amazed the area has held up as well as it has, but the state/cities seem to be hurting judging from all the games they are trying to play with taxes, etc. If you're industry ever takes a hit, things will get bad in a hurry here, I think.

To: TH who wrote (24175)	9/30/2004 7:48:30 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 306849

U.K. Sept. House-Price Growth Slows, Nationwide Says (Update2) Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. house-price growth slowed on an annual basis for a second month in September as higher borrowing costs curb consumer confidence, Nationwide Building Society said. Prices rose 17.8 percent from a year ago to 153,727 pounds ($276,854), following an 18.9 percent increase in August. On the month, home values rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent gain in August, the U.K.'s fifth-biggest mortgage lender said. The Bank of England has boosted its benchmark lending rate five times since November to 4.75 percent, putting the brakes on a housing market boom in which property prices more than doubled in the past five years. Interest rates may be near their peak, central bank policy maker Kate Barker suggested yesterday in an interview with Reuters. ``The consumer sector is becoming a little bit more cautious as interest rates rise,'' said Alex Bannister, an economist at Nationwide. At the same time, previous years' price surges mean that ``people are getting priced out of the market in Wales and the north east of England.'' House prices gained 3.1 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, compared with a 5.3 percent increase in the second quarter, Nationwide said. Fourth-quarter growth may be below 1 percent, the weakest in four years, Bannister said. U.K. house-price growth has been boosted as regions including Wales and the north of England close the gap with London and the south east. The north of England, which includes the cities of Manchester and Newcastle, is now more susceptible to a ``significant'' slowdown than other areas after prices rose more than 30 percent in the past year, Bannister said. Consumer Spending A weakening housing market prompted central bank policy makers to assess that the risks to consumer spending from a fall in property prices may be greater than they had earlier thought, according to minutes of the Bank of England's September interest- rate setting meeting. Retailers of goods from fridges to tins of paint are suffering as the housing market slows, a Confederation of British Industry survey yesterday showed. Total store sales declined for the first time in 18 months, the lobby group said. Estate agents and builders are preparing to face a slowing property market. Countrywide Plc, the U.K.'s biggest real-estate agency chain, this month said full-year earnings probably won't meet analysts' forecasts. Barratt Developments Plc, the U.K.'s biggest homebuilder by volume, said it plans to accelerate construction to boost earnings as house-price growth eases. To contact the reporter on this story: Duncan Hooper in London at dhooper@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Kirkham at ckirkham@bloomberg.net. Heather Harris at hharris@bloomberg.net.