As the cost of renting rises and home values keep dropping, it gets easier and easier to figure out whether it’s smarter to buy or rent. A new study indicates that in 98 out of 100 U.S. housing markets, buying is the more affordable option.
Gas prices are soaring: The national average has increased 13¢ per gallon in the past week alone. The rise comes after weeks of steadily soaring gas prices, which is especially disturbing because February usually sees a decline in gas prices. Now, there are already signs that consumers are changing their behavior to cope with what [...]
It has been a huge year for retail sales so far in the holiday shopping season, with $52 billion spent over Black Friday weekend and another $6 billion spent online during the “Cyber Week” that followed. Here’s one more hot consumer trend, which is unsurprising given the still-shaky state of the economy: More and more [...]
Housing prices of 20 cities were flat from July to August, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller housing index. Year-over-year and on a seasonally adjusted basis, the composite 20 index was down 3.8% from August of last year. That’s a slowdown from the previous year-over-year drops of 4.1% in July and 4.6% in June.
It’s actually cheaper to buy than rent in 74 percent of major U.S. cities, according to data from real estate search engine site Trulia. So as high rates of foreclosure continue to send home values down and rents up, there’s one group who stands to score a big win in these cheaper-to-own areas: buyers.
A market for ultra-cheap homes has emerged in cities around the U.S., and the result is that in many cases it’s much less expensive to buy a house than it would be to purchase a new car.
The bad signs include canceled sales tax holidays, dark street lights, the reappearance of gravel roads, and the elimination of every one of your city’s employees.
Some towns are defying the recession, with cranes dutifully piecing together new buildings, new businesses opening, populations showing increases, and average resident income actually growing. How do they do it? Chances are, Uncle Sam has given them a helping hand.
In Detroit, a few Cheers will get you a beer. In Pittsboro, N.C., Plenties are accepted as payment in the food co-op and at Piggly Wiggly. And in western Massachusetts, BerkShares are as good as greenbacks in local businesses. These and other local currencies, created by grassroots groups and given names like the Cheer or [...]
In case you missed it, this past Sunday’s New York Times had a four-pack of fascinating, off-beat stories about how people are coping with the recession and troubling local economies in their respective cities: Iowa City, Atlanta, New York, and Detroit.
