Real Estate Industry News
Why residential real estate is killing the economy
Thursday, 03, June 2010
Technically the Great Recession is over. It just doesn't feel like it. There are two reasons for this: Unemployment is too high and the housing market is still in the dumps.That's my feeling, anyway.The unemployment thing is pretty easy to understand. People don't feel financially stable if they're worried that they could lose their jobs at any moment.The housing thing might be a little more complex. But it's every bit as important to the health of our economy.
I work as the editor of Midwest Real Estate News, a trade magazine covering commercial real estate. Today, the commercial real estate industry is suffering terribly. Office vacancy rates are high. Asking rents are low. New retail isn't being built because so many retail tenants have gone out of business. New industrial construction isn't happening, either. Even healthcare, the one segment of the commercial real estate industry that many felt was recession-proof, has fallen into its own slump.