Analysis

There will be no Realtors Caravan tomorrow, which means that there are not three new listings ready or willing to have the thundering herd roar through them tomorrow.

Too bad – because it is equally a social time for some of us. We are friends – one competitor called to day and said he would be out of town for a few days and asked if I would cover his clients for him.

From that you might gather that many of us are friendly competitors.

Today the Wall Street Journal published a matrix from the National Association of Realtors with comparisons of median prices in various cities First Quarter 2008, 2009, percentage change and the March 2009 jobless rate.

That matrix was interesting only in the aggregate, because no one is going to move anywhere else, but it brings immediately to mind that our area is expensive compared to most of the rest of the country. That is common knowledge, but it is more emphasized when the numbers stare you in the face!

And it was interesting the way the NAR categorizes our area: “San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos.” I do not know, but suspect that the numbers do not include areas south of Rte. 8, at the very least.  The numbers show a 29.8% decrease in price over that year.

The article also indicates that the Wall Street Journal economic  forecasters believe there will be a general improvement in the jobless rate in the first quarter of 2010.