The intense concern and panic that swept the nation after Lehman Brothers collapsed last September has apparently subsided. Even our officials have cautiously said that the recession probably ended last month; in a moment of prudent honesty, they added that it might be a long time before employment numbers show improvement.
Many areas are taken into account for such assessments, including improvement in new car sales and positive signs in housing construction. Another sign was surely a resurgent stock market, which has returned $2 trillion of the money lost by people who held equities, either privately or in retirement plans prior to the crash.
But things aren’t always what they seem. In the past week the numbers coming out of Sacramento’s home market were more than disturbing. Foreclosures in that metropolitan area have now topped 42,000. From its peak in the summer of 2005, the average price of a home there has fallen by 53 percent, and the sales rate for homes is headed toward 1967’s figures.
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Many areas are taken into account for such assessments, including improvement in new car sales and positive signs in housing construction. Another sign was surely a resurgent stock market, which has returned $2 trillion of the money lost by people who held equities, either privately or in retirement plans prior to the crash.
But things aren’t always what they seem. In the past week the numbers coming out of Sacramento’s home market were more than disturbing. Foreclosures in that metropolitan area have now topped 42,000. From its peak in the summer of 2005, the average price of a home there has fallen by 53 percent, and the sales rate for homes is headed toward 1967’s figures.
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