Comments on: Bay Area rental market prices and trends

By: anon

anon — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:49:59 +0000

Amazing how quickly the market is moving considering how illiquid real estate is.

I guess that’s what happens when everyone’s overleveraged.

By: anon

anon — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:48:14 +0000

prime willow glen…one rung up from the bottom…knees cut out from under… losing… valuation.

I knew it would come, but this quickly? Wow…

By: nomadic

nomadic — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:49:18 +0000

Gee, with a headline like that, I wasn’t expecting just 1.7%.

…so, you don’t suppose a 567% increase is an alarming trend? At what point would you say we should start to be concerned? If PA defaults hit 2% you wouldn’t be worried?

By: bob

bob — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:44:04 +0000

That sounds just like the profession you were in yourself!

WTF are you talking about? Give up RE. You’re grasping at straws.

By: bob

bob — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:42:12 +0000

Funny how you RE cheerleaders call negative RE news “hype” and positive news “Great news!!!!”

Morons…

By: nomadic

nomadic — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:21:13 +0000

wow, you’ve been cherry picking again this morning!

Also from your Chron article:

At some companies, the layoffs really are swift and severe.

Caterpillar announced 20,000 layoffs last week including 15,000 that have already taken place. The rest will be done by March 31.
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Given the cascade of layoff announcements, Prakken says the national unemployment rate will keep rising until next year and will surpass 8 or even 9 percent. It was 7.2 percent in December.
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Challenger notes that layoff announcements are growing not just in number but in scope. Unlike last year, when they were concentrated in finance, autos and housing, this year “it’s in heavy equipment, pharmaceuticals, retail. It reached into every corner of the economy.”

It’s even hitting the corporate-jet market. Last week Cessna announced 2,000 job cuts on top of 2,600 it announced since December. Total reduction: 30 percent.
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Challenger says employment might be nearing a bottom, but he doesn’t think companies will start hiring anytime soon. “We may go into a period of jobless recovery,” he says. After the previous recession ended in November 2001, employment didn’t show sustained growth for 18 months.

If things don’t improve in the first quarter, we could be in for another round of job massacres in April.

Wall Street economist Ed Yardeni thinks it could happen sooner. “This has the potential for being ongoing,” he says. Companies “are not going to wait for their next quarterly earnings announcement to actually fire people if things continue to deteriorate.”

By: Real Estater

Real Estater — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:06:03 +0000

Now checking the Mercury News...they put out another hype headline: Mortgage crisis spreads to more affluent areas of Silicon Valley Let's look at some details: according to a Mercury News analysis. What? The Mercury News is now in the economic analysis business? The late-payment problem is creeping across the valley into areas such as Willow Glen, Campbell and Sunnyvale. These are "affluent" areas? Take, for example, San Jose's 95125 ZIP code, which includes the picturesque, sought-after Willow Glen neighborhood. The portion of serious delinquencies — loans that were at least 90 days overdue — rose steeply from November 2007 to November 2008, from just 0.3 percent to 1.7 percent. Gee, with a headline like that, I wasn't expecting just 1.7%. While the portion of loans in the county that are overdue is still small, the growth trend is troubling Basically, there's no problem now, but let's hype it!

By: Real Estater

Real Estater — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:51:16 +0000

This article from the Chronicle sounds much like what I posted before:

Putting news of job cuts into perspective

Despite a healthy earnings report, global software giant SAP said last week it will reduce its worldwide head count by 3,000 jobs or about 6 percent by year end. But the cuts will come mainly from attrition.

Microsoft said it will eliminate “up to 5,000 jobs,” or 5 percent of its workforce. About 1,400 positions are already gone but the rest will disappear over 18 months.

Santa Clara’s Intel said it will shed 5,000 to 6,000 jobs, or 6 to 7 percent, but the cuts will take 12 months and more than half will be overseas.

Home Depot said it will close its Expo Home Center and Yardbirds chains, resulting in 7,000 layoffs by the end of April. That’s terrible, especially if you’re one of the 7,000, but it’s only 2 percent of Home Depot’s workforce.

By: madhaus

madhaus — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:37:24 +0000

Dunno about Real Bay Area rents, but in Real New York City, rents are down 10-15%.

By: madhaus

madhaus — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:50:06 +0000

Gawd, I have been trying to find a song with the same rhythm as those three words all fracking week! I tell ya, this needs a song! You know, I have never heard of salesmen hiring shills, Roger. How cynical of you to suggest such a thing. Yep. He fell into my trap a second time.