This morning brings a slew of big, scary numbers to quantify (again) how bad things are economically.
Starting locally: The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) released its 2008 annual market report, and (as expected) the real estate picture was bleak, with annual area sales the lowest since 1998 and down 24 percent from last year.
Home sales were down 32 percent in Albemarle County and 14 percent in Charlottesville. The average number of days on the market is up to 113 in Albemarle and 110 in Charlottesville. And statistics corroborate the troubles home builders have been having recently, with sales of new homes dropping 30 percent from 2007.
The numbers only get worse when turning to the national picture. Unemployment is up to 7.2 percent, and the U.S. lost 524,000 jobs in December for a total of 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008.
With all the sorry news, what’s a soul to do? Get some tips from Scott Weaver.
