There seems to be a large discrepancy on how local economies are fairing.

It is apparent we are not suffering equally. Individually it can vary because of social economic status but the regionally the economy might be harshly affected and other regions not quite as bad.

I suspect the region I live in ( southern B.C.) is not doing quite as badly as other regions. Our building permit values for Jan. & Feb are on par with 2007 & 2008. There has definitely been a slow down in single family housing starts but other sectors are holding their own. Houses are selling because of reduced prices and low mortgage rates.
We are holding our breath, hoping for a decent season for tourism and agriculture.
The forest industry really sucks.

How are you faring in your region?

 

In Kentucky, the unemployment rate is 9.4%. Some builders are now working out special financing for their homes at 4.25% for 30 years. There are only a handful of homes for sale in my neighborhood, but in the city, I understand that there are some blocks were there are several homes for sale. The largest employers are UPS, Ford, and hospitals. Like other area's retail is in terrible shape.

 

While home prices in my sister's neighborhood in Austin, Texas have dropped 2% in the last year, ours (South Orange county) have dropped by over 30% in the last two years. A couple of neighborhood bank repo's have really took a chunk out of home values.

California is leading the pack with 10.5% unemployment. Shops right after Christmas had huge sales--at least 70% on everything. They're slowing down, but retailers seem to be liquidating their stock.

 

Our local real estate has held up relatively well having only dropped 7% compared to 30% in nearby towns.
Home sales have dropped 30% here though.

 

Here in ND, my home value (which really doesn't mean anything) went up around 5k from last year. Also, we have been looking to fill a full time, with benefits job at work for about a month now, but we can't do it. Of course, it doesn't help that you have to pass a drug/background check. By the way, did I mention the state government is thinking about abolishing non-business property tax, since we have a one billion dollar surplus?
I think we are doing okay so far, only because we never saw the extreme high the rest of the country saw 1-2 years ago.

 

Real estate prices in my town are still very low. But people have started snapping up many of the homes that have been on the market for 1-2 years.

 

Here in ID we seem to be doing o.k. in relation to the rest of the nation. Not as good as usual for here, but better than other places.

 

Grand daughter just bought a house on 1/2 acre in western Kentucky for $10,500. It had been initially listed for $47,000.

Lots of houses for sale here in Georgia have turned into rentals.

 

The DC area is still pretty strong economically, except for some areas outside the Beltway, where foreclosures have been a big problem. In Arlington County, VA (where I live, right across the river from DC), housing values only dropped 2% last year. We are benefiting from one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country (second only to Oklahoma City). Real estate sales have slowed quite a bit, but prices have not come down that much. I think incentives are being thrown in on new places.

 

Here is SFL, the housing market seems to have stablized a bit, and (in a very generalized sense) it may be possible to say it's bottomed out. There are even hints of a slight upward creep in some localized areas. However, the ripples with respect to jobs and so on are still tossing people about violently.

Out west, where our other house is, the Realtors are reporting that housing appreciated by about 5% last year. That's probably not true in general (especially in the Denver suburbs), though. HPH