Builders Are Building Again, Despite Risk

And there's no bottom in sight

(NEWSER) - The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today's Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal . The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter's 3.6% drop, is evidence of a "double dip in home prices across much of the nation," says an S&P official. The percentage of homeowners, meanwhile, has fallen to 66.4%, on par with levels in 1998, reports the New York Times . That's down from 69.2% in 2004. More»

False incentives will hurt us in the long run

(NEWSER) - In case you missed it, be advised that home sales have fallen off a cliff. This week's grim numbers will no doubt raise the call for the Obama administration to reach into its bag of tricks (bring back that tax credit, maybe?) to encourage people to buy and thus keep prices from falling further. Here's hoping the government does no such thing, writes Tom Petruno in the Los Angeles Times . More»

Retail decline due mainly to big autos drop; foreclosures depressing housing values

(NEWSER) - The housing market continued to plunge in the first quarter of 2008, as single-family sales dropped 22% from their year-ago pace, to 4.95 million annually. Bloomberg reports that the median home price is off 7.7% from a year ago, to $196,300, as foreclosed properties drag down values. Meanwhile, US retail sales were off in April, mainly because of a big drop in autos. More»

'Nonsense,' say others, as student debt is fraction size of housing

(NEWSER) - With student loan debts soaring to $867 billion last year, student debt is a "bomb" waiting to explode, bankruptcy lawyers tell the Washington Post. The figure is bigger than the $704 billion owed by all Americans on their credit cards , and of the 37 million borrowers, 14.4% have at least one past-due account. “This could very well be the next debt bomb for the US economy,” said the head of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys—a potential bomb the Post compares to the "housing mortgage loan crisis." Of course, the lawyer clarifies that "student loan defaults are not going to have the same ripple effect through the economy that mortgage defaults did." His belief: "Our best and brightest won’t necessarily get the education that they need to move us forward" because they'll decide not to take loans in the first place. More»

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.