NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Conde Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, resorts, and car rental agencies worldwide. The awards appear in the November issue (on newsstands October 20) and are derived from the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey. This year, 25,008 readers voted on more than 10,000 properties and destinations.
News
Record Streak Continues for Pending Home Sales
From Real Trends.com: Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index, which began in 2001, according to the latest survey. The Pending Home Sales Index rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5.
Leading Economists Declare End to Recession
From RealTrends.com: The recession, which began in December 2007, has ended but the nation still faces a long slow recovery, according to economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. More than 80% of respondents to the quarterly NABE survey said they believe an expansion has begun.
Construction Spending Up
From RealTrends.com: Construction spending rose 0.8 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of $941.9 billion, above the revised July estimate of $934 billion. The August figure is 11.6 percent lower than a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. During the first eight months of the year, construction spending was about … Read more
Pending Home Sales Jump 6.4 Percent
Seventh straight month of gains is highest since March 2007
From Reuters: NEW YORK – Pending sales of existing U.S. homes rose sharply in August, for a seventh consecutive month of gains, reaching the highest since March 2007, data from a real estate trade group showed Thursday.
Home Prices Rose in June
From RealTrends.com: U.S. home prices rose slightly in July, signaling a stabilizing market, the federal government said recently. But another private home pricing index tells a tale of two Americas-one in housing recovery, and the other still in trouble, according to an article on DSNews.com. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said last week that prices rose 0.3% in July from the prior month-an estimate made possible when June’s numbers were cut from a .5 to a .1% increase.
Leading Indicators Show Recession ‘Bottoming Out’
RISMEDIA, September 23, 2009—(MCT)—The U.S. recession is bottoming out and a recovery is near, economists for the Conference Board said recently after reporting that the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August 2009, the fifth straight increase.
Builder Confidence Edges up Again in September
From RealTrends.com: Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes edged higher for a third consecutive month in September, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released this week. The HMI rose one point to 19 this month, its highest level since May of 2008. Two … Read more
Market Stabilizing as Unit Sales Level With 2008
From RealTrends.com: Following a month that saw the first year-over-year improvement in four years, August results in the REAL Trends Housing Market Report were level with August 2008. While these results were not as good as the July results-where unit sales had been up marginally-it does show that the floor of housing unit sales may have been reached. Nationally, unit sales were down 0.2% in August 2009 over August 2008. The Western region again showed the greatest strength with unit sales up 7% while the South region lagged other regions with unit sales down 3.3%. On the pricing front, the South showed the best results with average prices for all homes sold down 9.5% while the Western region continued to suffer the largest price declines with a decrease of 18.2%.
Positive Signs – House Price Declines Continue to Moderate
RISMEDIA, September 8, 2009—House prices in the U.S. continued to depreciate in the second quarter 2009 but at a much more moderate rate compared to the fourth quarter 2008, the peak of the collapse in home prices, according to a quarterly housing valuation analysis by IHS Global Insight. Prices fell at a 2.7% annualized rate in the second quarter 2009, compared to 2.1% in the first quarter and a 12.5% rate of decline in the fourth quarter 2008, according to the new House Prices in America, the quarterly U.S. housing valuation analysis from IHS Global Insight, one of the world’s leading companies for economic and financial analysis and forecasting. Nationally, house prices have fallen 11.0%, on average, below their peak in the spring of 2007; when weighted by market value, the nation is now 11.1% undervalued, and 12.6% undervalued when weighted by housing units.