House hunters

Tuesday, 02.26.08

Photo by Flickr user Pepandora

The next slum?

March 2008

Christopher Leinberger predicts the decline of the exurbs.

Home Depot reports that 4th quarter earnings fell 27% year-on-year, and the company said it was forecasting a decline in sales of 4-5%. This was sharply lower than expectations.

The drop reflects a broader trend in the housing market. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) just reported that home prices fell 1.3% between the third and fourth quarters of 2007. At that, they may be a trifle optimistic. The other major housing tracker, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, estimated that they fell 2.1% in the same period. The full year drop was 9.1% -- the largest drop on record.

The market, oddly, doesn't seem to care. Home Depot shares actually rose slightly, to close at 28.83. The dark days in the home improvement industry are forcing change on a company grown complacent during the house-flipping mania. And there's still the hope, however wan, that lower interest rates will stop the market's free fall.
— Megan McArdle

Like Iraq

Daniel Gross compared the housing collapse to the Iraq War in Slate last year. As of yet, however, there are no plans for a "Housing Surge."

Bob's your uncle

BusinessWeek was singing Home Depot's praises in 2006, when then-CEO Bob Nardelli was praised for his military-style management.

Black sheep Bob

Within less than a year, Nardelli was booted from the CEO slot, widely condemned as a sign of everything that's gone wrong with CEO pay.

Suffer the little bankers

John Cassidy reports on the federal government's massive effort to rescue banks and mortgage companies in Portfolio.

Filed Under: business, Economics

(1)

Hi, interesting article.

but i'm writing 'cause i'm the one who took the photo you used (and here is cut and streched!!) i'm glad you liked it, but, as i wrote in my profile too, i'd like people to tell me if they use some of my pic, and usually is appreciated to put a link to the page [http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepandora/2263238547/]

thanks! PePandora

Posted by Petra - PePandora | June 9, 2008 7:58 PM

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