According to the latest Federal Reserve regional business survey (a.k.a. The Beige Book), economic growth has slowed in nine of its twelve districts. And the Twelfth District of San Francisco is one of the nine, not one of the three.
Economic activity in the Twelfth District appears to have been largely flat on net during the survey period of March through the beginning of April. Upward pressures on labor costs continued to moderate in some sectors, while upward price pressures were subdued for most products but remained strong for food and energy-intensive items. Retail sales weakened further and demand growth for services continued to slow. Manufacturing activity was mixed across sectors but appeared to hold steady on net, while agricultural producers saw solid growth in sales. Demand for residential real estate remained exceptionally weak, and demand for commercial real estate softened a bit in some areas. Banking contacts reported that loan demand was largely unchanged or fell slightly on net and credit standards tightened further.
What does economic activity have to do with real estate activity? We’ll just pretend that you didn’t ask that question (if for some strange reason you did).
∙ Federal Reserve Bank: Beige Book Summary (April 16, 2008) [federalreserve.gov]
Note that the San Francisco district is the western US.
dan: details, details!
Western US and Alaska and Hawaii.
At least your not like sf.curbed claiming the sky is falling without understanding this.