'Mixed Signals' For Local Real Estate Sectors
Long Beach Business Journal
Sean Belk
While local real estate sectors are hoping to improve from last year, the presence of more foreclosures and sluggish job growth may further depress recovery in coming months, according to experts and economists.
Uncertainties such as inflation and rising gas prices have also become recent topics of discussion. Just as local real estate sectors started to see marginal gains in the later half of 2010, either artificially through leftover stimulus funding or by a true rise in sales activity, residential and commercial markets continue to be impacted by state and national economic uncertainties.
..."Unfortunately, I think it's still going to be more of the same for the next couple months," said Gary Painter, associate professor for USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate. "I think what we're going to need is about three months in a row of sustained job growth. That will get people confident to start getting back into the market...Right now, we're in a little bit of a standstill."