how is the economy in your area?

In many areas of DC Metro housing prices are still really depressed. Condo owners are basically screwed.

However, if you can make the payments it's probably still ok. Unemployment is a little elevated but isn't enormous. If you are a federal contractor life couldn't be better other than the Redskins being any good.

Flat, reside in North Texas...about 2 hours NNW of the Metroplex...manufacturing base continues to erode and housing has slowed to a crawl

I have a couple of friends who have a home repair business, and the work just dried up instantly about a month or so ago. No steady drop off - just all of a sudden, no work. And they know others in similar lines of work who are experiencing the same sort of thing. Its very scary if you ask me.

Things still seem to be doing fairly well here in the N.O. area. Lots of government funded infastructure projects are helping that.
I never really saw much of a negative in the housing market.

My contractor friends have all said business is a little slower in the last few months though and I have noticed more vacant strip mall properties popping up.

'How is the economy in your area?'

Drive down almost any beach front road in Florida and count the completed but almost empty condos, the almost completed but vacant condos, the half completed condos where weeds are growing up and there are no workers on site, the holes dug in the sand where new condo parking garages were going to be located under the condos that were never built.

Time shares? Forget selling one of those turkeys.

Residential RE for sale everywhere but little is selling and if the gov was not offering to help out with $8K, even less would be selling.

Jobs? Forget it. People are leaving the state in droves in search of jobs...I don't know where they are going. I met a couple at breakfast last Sun morning that had just moved here from Hammond La seeking work. I didn't rain on their parade and I wished them luck. Even the garbage collection company that used to run a continuous ad in the paper for help is turning away applicants. People working at fast food joints are getting about 22 hrs per week, and they are not hiring. The city and county have rolled back 2% pay increases for public workers this year. Nary a peep was heard from the workers...those who haven't been laid off are glad to have a job.

Anecdotally...I believe food prices are declining. I say this because Publix, Winn Dixie, and Wall Mart are offering lots of 2 for 1 deals and rolling back prices on many items.

What is selling well here? It's hard to find bullets at any price (Wal Mart especially...as soon as a shipment arrives it's sold out), same with guns.

Cheap beer is selling well.

In that sector. Do you have a link to total job loss/growth in BR?

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In that sector.

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That's why I wrote "construction jobs."

Sure but you also wrote

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So, it looks like Baton Rouge is doing OK.

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I mean, I don't know. Maybe the rate of gain/loss in construction jobs is considered a reliable bellwhether for the local economy as a whole. I'm certainly open to that idea.

But failing that, it's a far jump to go from "the construction sector is doing OK" to "Baton Rouge is doing OK." And you'd be the first to jump the shite of any other poster who made such an assumption.

Fellow Nashvillian here, and the local economy seems to be in tuned with the nation as a whole. Our unemployement rate is almost identical to the national one.