Why The Triangle is on The Leading Edge of a Recovery…Is it counter-intuitive to think that this housing market will recover while we’re seeing the staggering number of layoffs on a weekly basis across the nation?

A couple of notable statistics for you to digest today. Prior to 10am there were already announced job cuts exceeding 50,000! What a start to the week! On the opposite end of the happy spectrum is that existing home sales showed a surprise jump in December by over 6%. Are we on the way to recovery or are we simply seeing an anomaly?

Builder sentiment hit a new all time low for December in a report released last week.
Getting back to basics is critical for American consumer confidence – it’s time that we start to see real action and execution on policy rather than just political rhetoric.

Housing starts have been decreasing for a number of months now, which is good news for the overall housing market – but bad news in general in that it means that builders are still suffering under the weighted umbrella of this iron-clad economic hurricane. The supply and demand equilibrium must return before we can begin to see a strong economic future.

I know what you’re thinking… so Jeremy, what does this mean for homeowners here in the triangle? Well, I am still quite bullish on the overall long-term picture for both housing and economic well being for us here in the triangle. One main reason is that we have an extraordinary level of intellectual capital – aka – lots of really bright people. This asset tends to be a magnet for other bright people, and when you combine that with our very attractive living climate and diversified business climate, I believe that creates a formula for success. Of course only time will truly tell, but statistics have shown that while we won’t see a robust jump in economic recovery anytime soon, a slow and steady approach is good not just in basic economic terms, but for long term success in avoiding the wild pendulum swings that we’ve seen in other markets.



Sincerely,


Jeremy M. Salemson
CEO
Corporate Investors Mortgage Group, Inc.
www.cimginc.com