Apparently, only bad real estate news is to be believed
The mindless prices-always-go-up mantra of the bubble years is long gone.
But I wonder whether it has been replaced by a knee-jerk negativity about all things real estate.
My post on early signs of what could be a modest rebound in the downtown Boston luxury condo market drew disbelief and even downright suspicion from some of the regulars on this blog.
Certainly a rise in luxury sales sounds odd at first given the drumbeat of bad economic news out there.
But if you look closely, it's hardly far-fetched the rich are coming out of the Great Recession a lot faster than most of us.
Just take a look at these surprising - and rather sad - jobless stats.
The bottom 10 percent of the labor market is dealing with a crushing 31 percent jobless rate, while for those in the middle, the rate is a still pretty tough 9 percent.
But just 3.2 percent of those making $150,000 and above are unemployed right now, according to a recent Northeastern University study.
And this number is likely even smaller for the executives, entrepreneurs and investors who have the kind of bucks to blow on a multimillion-dollar penthouse. Many of whom, mind you, are paying in cash.
Despite the rebound over last year's dismal numbers, the downtown condo market has a way to go.
But potential moves in one direction or another are certainly worth noting, even if they are not backed up by a full-fledged academic study. That's what bloggers and reporters do.
More on that for another post. Let's just say there are some huge misconceptions out there as to what drives most reporters, especially those ink-stained wretches still toiling for various newspapers.
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