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MADISON, Wis. (11/23/09)

  • In October, unemployment increased in 29 states, rising to record levels in California, Delaware, South Carolina and Florida, the Labor Department said Friday. Michigan registered the highest unemployment rate with 15.1%, followed by Nevada (13%) and Rhode Island (12.9%). The 29 states reporting an increase in unemployment in October is up from the 22 that did in September. Last month, the national unemployment rate reached 10.2%--a 26-year high. "We're still going to see the unemployment rate in many metro areas and many states rise for quite some time, going into next year," said Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody's Economy.com. "Employers won't start hiring again until they're confident the economy has really started to turn around, and they're convinced there's work for them to do" (Bloomberg.com Nov. 20) ...

  • The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity rose 0.9% to an index reading of 102.4 in the third quarter from 101.5 in the second quarter, but is 11.1% below a reading of 115.3 in the third quarter of 2008. The index in the second quarter was at the lowest level since the first quarter of 1994. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) track of the commercial leading indicator dates back to 1990. The recent steep economic downturn has had a significant impact on commercial real estate sectors, but credit availability is the big unknown that will determine how soon commercial markets recover, according to NAR. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said some initial movements earlier this week in commercial mortgage-backed securities are encouraging. "The first commercial mortgage bond deal in over a year shows the Federal Reserve's efforts to sell securities through the TALF program can be fruitful, but the level of activity is well below what is required to resuscitate the commercial market," Yun said. "Credit availability needs to significantly rebound for any hope of a meaningful commercial recovery in 2010" For Commercial Real Estate Forecast Uncertain, use the link ...

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