Schmidts was at second and Girard. Northern Liberties. It is under development by Bart Blatstein and Tower.

Wanderer - leave some of the neighborhoods alone. I love it when people want to yup up the entire city.

And inflation has had little to do with real estate prices. We've had virtually no inflation since the mid-90s - yet real estate prices have soared. Much more to do with interest rates (at record lows for nearly a decade, now) and the end of the stock boom - before 1999-2000, everyone was going to get rich in the stock market . . . now, everyone is going to get rich in the real estate market. This too will pass.

The problem with a real estate bust is that no one owns their real estate - as opposed to stocks and bonds. Most people own a small fraction of their house, condo, etc. - the bank owns the rest. If a real estate bust occurs, and there's no reason to think it won't, it's going to hurt a much larger swath of the economy.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

it's true, except for the inflation part. inflation is back...although it really never went away. just look at commodity values, services where there has been no gains in productivity (healthcare and education), energy prices, gas, etc. inflation is alive and well....just not in government statistics.

Sorry, Chris:

But I got to represent my pary of the city, as well, just like you do yours. ;-)

I'm not sure I have a neighborhood, anymore. ;-)

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Record home sales rate

Realtors' report shows a pick-up in pace of older homes in November, topping forecasts.
December 29, 2004: 10:11 AM EST



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sales of existing homes set a record in November, according to a trade group report Wednesday that topped Wall Street expectations.

The National Association of Realtors' (NAR) report showed homes selling at an annual pace of 6.94 million, up 2.7 percent from the revised 6.76 million October sales pace.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast sales at an annual rate of 6.75 million, unchanged from the prior month.


Last month's sales activity was 13.2 percent above the 6.13 million unit level in November 2003. The previous record was 6.92 million in June 2004, the report said.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said low interest rates get much of the credit.

"Mortgage interest rates dropped a quarter of a percentage point in late summer and then stabilized," he said in the report. "Coupled with a growing labor market and a rising economy, this created optimal conditions for the housing sector."

Lereah expects economic conditions in 2005 will be comparable with this year.

"Our forecast for the housing market is for a continuation of strong home sales, although down a little from the record-setting pace of 2004," he added. "We think slower sales will help to create a better balance between home buyers and sellers, but with tight inventories of homes available for sale, price appreciation hasn't slowed yet."

The national median existing-home price was $188,200 in November, up 10.4 percent from November 2003 when the median price was $170,500. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/29/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes