At Least it's a Recovery

By Elliott Pollack

The fourth quarter Greater Phoenix Blue Chip Real Estate Consensus reaffirms that the panel believes 2010 was the bottom of the housing market in terms of permits.

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U.S. Job Growth Slow But Steady

by Lee McPheters

The nation added 103,000 new nonfarm jobs in September, according to the latest report from the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Almost as important as the September employment increase was the size of the recent revisions that now put the average monthly gain for the third quarter at 96,000 jobs, similar to the average monthly 97,000 jobs added during the second quarter. Taken as a whole, job growth during the past six months continues a pattern of slow but steady positive economic expansion.

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Greater Phoenix Real Estate Outlook (Slowly) Improving

by Elliott Pollack

If the consensus of the Blue Chip forecast panel is correct, the worst is over for the Greater Phoenix real estate market and things should be getting slowly better from here. While commercial markets have a long way to go before there is any meaningful construction activity, by 2013 single family activity should double. This is significant because the local economy cannot have much of a recovery without a significant increase in construction activity.

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Q2 GDP Growth Was Anemic – Will Q3 Be Any Better?

by Lee McPheters

Output of the national economy in the second quarter (Q2) of the year grew at an inflation adjusted annualized pace of 1.3 percent. While the Q2 rise in GDP was an improvement over the 0.4 percent increase in Q1, the gain was the second weakest since the recovery began in mid-year 2009. Economists say a double dip is possible but not certain. Meanwhile, surveys of the general public find most people think a recession is already underway.

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