Latest S&P Numbers: Surprise! They Ain't Good
The Journal reports that the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller indexes, which covered home-price trends in 20 major metropolitan areas through April, show home prices dropping 15.3 percent in the past year—a record decline. The continued devaluation of residential real estate across the country set home prices back to where they were a whole three years ago,…
The Journal reports that the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller indexes, which covered home-price trends in 20 major metropolitan areas through April, show home prices dropping 15.3 percent in the past year—a record decline. The continued devaluation of residential real estate across the country set home prices back to where they were a whole three years ago, even though eight of metropolitan areas included in the index showed a bit of improvement over March of this year. There was no region studied, however, that did not post a year-over-year decline in prices. Vegas and Miami saw the biggest price drops between April ’07 and April ’08, while Charlotte and Dallas fared the best. The New York region was somewhere in the middle, with a year-over-year decline of 8.4 percent and a 1.3 percent dip between March ’08 and April ’08. “There might be some regional pockets of improvement,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of Standard & Poor’s index committee, though “on an annual basis the overall numbers continue to decline.”
Home-Price Gains Are Erased, Now Stand at 2004-2005 Levels [WSJ]
Graphic from the Wall Street Journal.
I live in New Jersey and I drive about 12,000 miles per year…just under the 15,000 a year average. My wife does the same. You do know that sitting in traffic for an hour at the Lincoln Tunnel or Garden State Parkway pollutes more than driving on an open highway, right?
Guest 1:47,
There’s different angles for looking at the safety of your children. I also grew up in the suburbs (Westchester). I have two kids (ages 14 and 12) and have raised them in the City. There are some things that our less safe about the City but things that are more safe than the suburbs. For example, I know I sweat bricks about my 14 year old taking the subway. On the other hand, I remember all the drunk driving that teenagers did in the subrubs when I was growing up there. Realistically speaking, my guess is that kids have at least as high a chance of geting hurt in the suburbs because of car accidents etc. than they do in the City because of something like crime.
I think your recollection of the suburbs might be dated too. I know when I was growing up every kid got around by riding their bicycle and the town facilities (ballfeilds etc) were busy with pick-up games. I don’t see that when I go back now. Kids are chauffered around by their parents and most of the play is structured + organized. On a summer day, it seems like more kids are inside playing on their computer + watching TV than there are outside playing.
the columbus symphony orchestra just went bankrupt.
a sign of what’s happening with other B level cities in general.
so sad.
2:42 – the areas where people are driving “avg miles” are not like the nyc area. no trains, no subways. in “avg. america”, even if you live downtown, you WILL have to drive somewhere (e.g. mall of america or wal-mart). with our excellent commuter train system here, your argument is worthless. i could live in CT and drive less than some people living in park slope do. if YOU would rather live in “a city” where you can save $480k by driving less, knock yourself out. i hear they have pretty cheap condos in downtown minneapolis or columbus. enjoy.
Please spare us your saintlihood 2.42. I’m sure your regular air travel and Ipe decking don’t figure in your calculations. Co2 emissions and ozone depletion caused by passenger jets and forest destruction make car emissions look puny. Get the facts before you try to get beatified.
I don’t know real estate very well, but one thing I do know is oil, and the truth obviously lies between many of the extremes here.
$9/gallon, $300/barrel? Not anytime soon – sorry. Oil speculation does affect the price of oil, but it doesn’t affect hald of its current price. Oil has strong support at $80-100 a barrel, and ending oil speculation could have the opposite effect of rising prices. Further, the world’s supply of sweet crude (aka the “good stuff”) is smaller. There is plenty of oil out there, but the best kind is harder to get to. Further, much of the price of gas you see at the pump is a result of refining costs. As the supply of the best crude gets less, refining gets more expensive, and the US hasn’t added significant refining capabilities in more than 30 years because there’s no incentive to do so (and GW Bush has opposed any significant effort to increase the refining). As a result, instead of refining oil into gasoline in the US,US companies often have to outsource refining (and then ship it back in here), which is frankly absurd.
I think the best way to restrict speculation is to not allow anyone to trade on futures unless you actually have the ability to accept physical delivery in some capacity. This would force people to take the time to construct partnerships, leading to less volatility. If we cut off speculation, though, the result will be that the speculators go elsewhere (Dubai markets anyone?)
We will never again see $1/gallon, but we won’t be seeing $9/gallon. The best plan is to restrict oil speculation slightly here, add refining capacity and start realistically investing in alternative energy sources.
9 dollars a gallon for a family with 2 cars will mean they will be spending approximately $16,000 per year in gas for the two cars driven at the average number of miles per year.
16K times 30 years (think mortgage) is $480,000.
I think I’d rather spend that on a house in a city, myself. To each his/her own though.
At least I can see, touch, live in, enjoy memories with the 480k and not spew it into the atmosphere to kill our planet.
$300 dollars a barrel in 2013 means approximately $9.00 a gallon for U.S. drivers.
Enjoy it suburbanites!!!!
In May, 2008, Arjun N. Murti and other Goldman Sachs analysts issued a research report predicting oil prices are likely to rise to between $150 to $200/bbl in the next six to 24 months
Near-term peak oil proponent Matthew Simmons predicts a rise to $300 a barrel or higher by 2013 as sweet crude petroleum becomes more scarce and major producers begin failing to meet demand.