Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
- Treasury On Mortgage Modifications
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- Investors May Skew Housing Reality
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Despite Government Aid, Foreclosure Crisis is Not Improving
- Housing Data Delivers Mixed Messages
- Appraisals Now Center Stage in Housing Recovery
- Underwater Mortgages Could Sink Even Deeper
- First Time Buyers Rescue Housing: Realtors
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
MOST SHARED
- The Executive Job Search
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- Hyundai-Kia Targets Rapid China Growth in 2010
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- China Unveils Carbon Target Ahead of Copenhagen
- Wal-Mart Price Pressure Hurts China Workers: Report
- Oil Friday
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Share Trading on London Stock Exchange Resumes
- China Overcapacity Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Black Friday to Avoid Red Ink; Greenback Gets the Blues
- Wal-Mart Price Pressure Hurts China Workers: Report
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
RSS FEED
Realty Check
Text Size 
 |
As builders put projects on hold, laborers are finding themselves out of work and unable to make their mortgage payments, not to mention that fewer are now coming into the area because there are fewer jobs to be had. Not surprisingly, Prince William County now has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the region. What’s strange is that in August, the region had the lowest unemployment rate of any metropolitan area in the country. The trouble is, that of course doesn’t measure the illegal population.
Prince William County also recently instituted new and “ambitious” policies to crack down on illegal immigrants. So it begs the question: if illegal immigrants are driving the housing market, then does driving them out make sense when the market is in such turmoil? Not all of these immigrants are in the home building sector, so many may be able to make their house payments just fine, unless of course they lose their jobs or their ability to be here.
I know the immigration debate is, arguably, a testy one, but in the context of the housing slowdown, it’s certainly an added dimension that should be considered. Some politicians have brought up housing and home building in arguments involving illegal immigration, but only now are we really beginning to see the coinciding numbers. As illegal immigrants leave the county, they are leaving empty foreclosed properties behind. Nearly 20% of the county’s population is Hispanic, and an estimated 7-8% are illegal, so the danger of further damage to the housing market is real.
I’m torn on this one. I’m no fan of illegal immigration. I just wonder, which is the lesser of two evils? The illegal immigrants living in our neighborhoods, or the empty neighborhoods they leave behind when they’re forced out?
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes