(written on September 12/2012) A paltry 96,000 jobs were added in August 2012, while at the same time there are an estimated 120,000 to 140,000 net new additional people entering the workforce – and that happens every month. So in reality, unemployment got worse. But… Read more

Demand for retail real estate is a pure function of how much consumers are spending. Period. The following graph shows total U.S. retail and food service spending in real terms (adjusted for inflation). Although retail sales have yet to reach the peak seen prior to… Read more

If you looked at the basic U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers, you would conclude that the U.S. is gaining economic ground.  [Note: GDP is the total market value of all recognized goods and services produced by a country or state.  Typically not in the… Read more

There are positive signs spanning the spectrum indicating a turning real estate market despite some weak spots across the country.  Just a few days ago,  USA Today reported that the number of existing homes for sales had dropped 22 percent from a year ago and… Read more

There are very few globally-recognized locations as small as Aspen, Colorado (the entire County in which Aspen is located, Pitkin County, had a population of 17,148 in 2010 according to the U.S. Census Bureau).  In the 1970s and early 1980s I did numerous appraisal assignments… Read more

Apartment asking rents increased 2.8 percent last year according to Rents Marcus and Millichap while effective rents (after consideration of all discounts, giveaways and specials) jumped 4 percent.  At the same time, median U.S. home values declined 3.9 percent.  Marcus and Millichap expects 2012 to see… Read more

A recurring comment from many people has been a believe that there is no relationship between crude oil prices and refined gasoline prices.  They believe they are taken advantage of when buying gasoline.  In simple English, they want to know if consumers are getting ripped… Read more

Some Home Builders Run Out of Lifelines- WSJ.com Imagine an industry that just six years ago built 1.3 million new homes and now is on a pace of building less than 300,000 units in 2011 – the fewest number since statistics commenced being collected in… Read more

July 2011 Existing Home Sales Up 21 Percent From July 2010 at 4.67 Million SAAR — But Were Down 3.5 Percent Sequentially From June 2011 — Median Price Down 4.4 Percent Year-Over-Year at $174,000 Year over year home sales rose 21 percent from July 2010… Read more

States make gains in taxes- USA today   A major concern across the country has been reduced local and state tax collections arising from reduced sales of goods and services (cars, bars, burgers, shoes, electronics etc) and lowered property taxes from declining property values.  The… Read more