CR Note: This is from housing economist Tom Lawler. Meritage Homes, the 11th largest US home builder in 2009, reported that net home orders in the quarter ended 6/30/10 totaled 900, down 21.5% from the comparable quarter of 2009. Home deliveries, in contrast, jumped by 35.6% from a year…
From the Sacramento Bee: Schwarzenegger orders more furloughs [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's] new executive order requires employees take three unpaid days off per month. But unlike that policy, it has no termination date: Furloughs will end when lawmakers pass a 2010-11 budget. … The governor made the decision this week after…
Note: This is based on information collected on or before July 19, 2010. From the Federal Reserve: Beige book Economic activity has continued to increase, on balance, since the previous survey, although the Cleveland and Kansas City Districts reported that the level of economic activity generally held steady. … Manufacturing…
From the Census Bureau : New orders for manufactured durable goods in June decreased $2.0 billion or 1.0 percent to $190.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the second consecutive monthly decrease and followed a 0.8 percent May decrease. … Shipments of manufactured durable goods in June,…
Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi will release a new paper tomorrow analyzing the impact of the policy response to the crisis … Sewell Chan at the NY Times has a preview: In Study, 2 Economists Say Intervention Helped Avert a 2nd Depression In a new paper, [Alan S. Blinder, a…
Earlier today the Census Bureau released the homeownership and vacancy rates for Q2 2010. I posted a few graphs this morning, and I noted that the homeownership rate had fallen to the 1999 level of 66.9%. A few years ago – when the homeownership rate was at 69%, I forecast…
As a follow-up to point 6 of the previous posts on the 2nd half slowdown (cutbacks at the state and local level), here is a new report released today: Job losses projected to approach 500,000 (ht Brian) The effects of the Great Recession on local budgets will be felt most…
“For me a double-dip is another recession before we’ve healed from this recession … The probability of that kind of double-dip is more than 50 percent. I actually expect it.” Professor Robert Shiller, July 27, 2010 (via Reuters: Chance of Double-Dip US Recession is High: Shiller ) Now that…
Note: Usually I don’t post all the regional manufacturing surveys, however with the inventory adjustment over, export growth appearing to slow, and domestic consumer demand sluggish, these surveys might provide a hint of weakness in the manufacturing sector. From the Richmond Fed: Manufacturing Activity Moderates in July; Expectations Slip In…
The Census Bureau reported the homeownership and vacancy rates for Q2 2010 this morning. Here are a few graphs … Click on graph for larger image in new window. The homeownership rate declined to 66.9%. This is the lowest level since 1999. Note: graph starts at 60% to better show…