Proposing a Toast to a New Economy

Is it 2010 yet? Here’s hoping that New Years Day will arrive faster than a New York minute so we can stop being bombarded with the unrelenting doom and gloom reports of 2009’s economic woes. And even though champagne corks popped across the nation when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the recession was likely over, the Wall Street Journal is quick to remind readers that happier days are not here yet.

Just as the dot com bubble burst into thousands of tiny suds, negative nellies across the nation are predicting that the burst of the real estate bubble will still be soaking its victims well into next year. Referencing several pieces of data compiled by the real estate website Trulia, WSJ broke down housing prices in various markets based on zip codes, offering a glass-is-half-empty analysis. The figures are not extraordinarily surprising, particularly considering that all year long we have heard Chicken Little clucking about the falling sky. Is it news that some of the wealthiest per capita regions of the country have discounted asking prices for luxury real estate? Beverly Hills, Aspen, Colo., New York’s Upper East Side, Newport Beach, Big Sur, and Monterey, and Malibu are among the areas included in the statistics.

Via The Wall Street Journal