Word: forecasts
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Home prices were down nearly 20% at the end of last year, according to two new reports. But there is plenty of further room to fall, say economists who forecast where the housing market is headed. The median sales price of existing homes fell to $175,400 in December, down 15.3% from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). And the S&P/Case-Shiller index shows that home prices in 20 cities fell 18.2% in November compared with the year before. Both measures make houses about as expensive as they were...
...That forecast, gloomy as it is, still assumes the government is able to create economic-stimulus and foreclosure-prevention programs that work. If not, then home prices could be expected to fall even further. Major layoffs - there are more each day - keep downward pressure on home prices, since people without jobs are less likely to buy a house, or even to make the payments on the one they have. Foreclosures exacerbate the problem, as banks tend to sell repossessed properties on the cheap. December saw a surge in existing-home sales, especially out West, but 45% of those were distressed...
...rate at which that pace is quickening since the beginning of the year is nearly beyond imagining. Will one million people lose jobs in January? The anecdotal evidence would support a number much nearer to that than the 500,000 or so that most analysts have forecast. (See pictures of a city battered by unemployment...
Despite 2009's gloomy financial forecast, conference founder Klaus Schwab remains optimistic about the conference's success. "The extraordinary participation in terms of political and business leaders and other stakeholders demonstrates that our Annual Meeting will be the place where key actors can address both a crisis of unprecedented scope and at the same time, the sort of world we collectively want to see emerging once the crisis is over...
...Chinese astrologer takes all these factors into consideration when charting an individual's personality or determining what a new year will bring. These predictions aren't just for carnival sideshows or fortune cookies: in many Asian cultures, each year's forecasts are studied carefully for portents relating to business, romantic and family decisions for the coming year. Some Chinese plan births during dragon years to improve their children's fortune. Some people born in "wrong" years have reportedly been excluded from attending weddings and funerals. As for those making plans for 2009, be warned: because the element of fire...