All on the Same Page

Yesterday I remarked how it seemed that many of the speculators involved in buying residential properties seem to be realtors. Also, I suggested that the coming decline in realtor commisions will eventually snowball into lower house prices because realtor take home pay will not be enough to cover the monthly costs of carrying various investment properties.

Portions of this article from the Dallas Morning News point out how connected the overall economy is to the real estate market.



"Housing jobs

OK – by how much?

Northern Trust Co.'s Asha Bangalore estimated recently that 43 percent of the jobs created since 2001 have stemmed from housing. It stands to reason that a slowdown in housing will just as easily take away what it has so generously given to the workforce.

Mr. Hatzius figures that the nation as a whole could lose upward of 1.3 million jobs, or 1 percent of the pie, in a housing-bubble recession. And California would get hit twice as hard, losing some 2 percent of its jobs.

These estimates assume that employment in housing-related industries falls back to 1990 levels, when housing employed 4.4 percent of the U.S. population and 5.3 percent of California's. Today, it employs a record 5.2 percent of the nation as a whole and 6.3 percent of California's population.

Mr. Hatzius limited his definition of "housing-related" to construction, contractors and real estate services. That explains why the numbers don't look so bad."

Full article...