Some one need to tell this to the home builders and drivers of Silicon Valley.
Everyday I see more McMansions going up and everyday I see more new SUVs
blasting down 101 and 85. :confused:

Our local market is holding its own.

Real estate in NYC is red hot, its amazing how hot that market is. Fairfield county is doing really well partly because of all those hedge funds.

Fuel costs and taxes seem to hurt people more than anything else.

I'm sitting in an apartment at the corner of 79th and York.

There is a storefront on the NE corner of 79th and York that was a branch of the Chase Manhattan bank. The bank relocated and the storefront has been empty for least one year.

There is a storefront on First between 79th and 80th which has been empty for two years. A drug store abandoned the space...........couldn't make it.

There is a storefront on First between 80th and 81st right next to the Gracie Mews diner. It's been empty for at least one year..........a magazine store abandoned the space............couldn't make it.

There is a storefront on Lexington between 77th and 78th. It's been empty for at least six months.

There is a huge storefront on the NW corner of 79th and First. It had a restaurant called "Agata and Valentina". It closed last December...........couldn't make it. It's still empty to this day.

.............not exactly what I'd call.........."red hot".

^^^Where? Ohh the fun of Google maps:D

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=79th+and+York&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=40.771877,-73.950455&spn=0.000873,0.0018&t=k&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.771437,-73.95055&cbp=1,56.51162790697663,,0,3.8160281868267303

Quick Brian go outside and wave Google is driving by!:eek::D

I don't know, all I know is I have been reading about how much Manhatten office space is going up.

This just in:
Slowing Economy Stalls Manhattan Market
A slowing economy stalled Manhattan's office market in Q1, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The market's vacancy rate grew 40 basis points to 6.1%, its highest level since 2006, while its 3.1% rent growth was the lowest quarterly gain in two years. The volume of office, hotel, multifamily and retail property sales that closed or went under contract in Q1 dropped to $5.1 billion from a record high $13.7 billion in Q1 2007.

Yep, that's the place...........the large building on the NW corner. The building looks a bit strange.........almost like it's overhanging the street..........it extends from 79th all the way to 80th. 260 unit apartment building.

Declining market heat map.

http://21stcmb.typepad.com/photos/un...arkets_map.jpg

Nice!

Weezianna is green just like real life:). I'm on the green part of Michigan, its amazing how one county will be stable while a neighboring county with similar demographics is getting pounded. For fun overlay a foreclosure heat map with a gas tax map http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/upload/GAS_TAX_MAP_JANUARY_2008-2.pdf

and you could make a strong case that high taxes corrolate to foreclosures or economic downturn.


http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/02/foreclosure_hea.html

..........if you completely ignore New Jersey...........

There is always going to be an anomaly in the equation, NJ is the biggest but they are still in deep foreclosure trouble. http://www.realtytrac.com/blog/photos/foreclosurepulse_photos/images/4867/original.aspx

But NJ is still listed as a declining market, NJ foreclosures are up 51% for Q1.

I'm in the not so orange part of CT! :D

Omegaman, the thing that always amazes me is driving through the subdivisions full of McMansions, is the number of swingsets...which means young people live there. My suspicion is that some/many of them got caught up in buying too much house, doing interest-only loans, counting on a growing market to produce equity, and didn't leave themselves any wiggle room for a downturn or other adversity. Again, I don't have any hard evidence, except personal observations, but another thing I have noticed is that whewn I drive through the newer subdivisions, with lots of homes for sale, a LOT are FSBO or Assist2Sell and other deep discount brokers, which means they have little or no equity to play with.

I did a door-knock on a delinquent mortage over the weekend...caught the homeowner in the driveway, pulling up in a new Pontiac G8, with temp plates. Now, maybe their other car died, or maybe it's a company car, but if they can't make the mortgage and bought a new car, they deserve anything they get.

Not anymore, if you got a loan in the last 12-18 months you were qualified!

No builder these days is building with shaky bank money. I only know of one possible two banks that will do construction loans in my area. The deals also better be good. All the stuff you see going up is either with the builders money, or hard money. The big guys around here all build with there own money.

People like big homes. Raw SF, granite counters, and stainless appliances sell. They don't give a damn about things like quality.:rolleyes:

I have noticed that I am chasing a lot of tradesman, carpenters, and electricians, on their truck loans...no work this year. I met an electrician Sunday who got stiffed for $43xxx worth of work by a builder, and the builder is his son in law! Bet things are tense during the holidays in their family. He has filed suit and they live right across the street from each other.