“No More Up’” in Housing; Anxious in The OC

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Quote of the Day goes to LA economist Christopher Thornberg, who tells the LA Times, ‘Housing has no more ‘up’ in it. Prices have to start coming down or the market will stall.’ Crunching yesterday’s weak sales numbers, Thornberg also offers an interesting take on the ‘affordability’ issue: Years of rising prices have shrunk the pool of potential buyers so much that momentum is now impossible to sustain, Thornberg said. A 10% down payment to get into today’s median-priced Southern California home requires a buyer to spend $40,000 a year in housing costs from then on, he estimated. ‘How many families can afford that? The answer is: not many,’ Thornberg said. Elsewhere, OC Register business columnist and real estate blogger Jon Lansner points out the peril of Orange County’s increasing reliance on real estate and financial jobs. He notes that employment in real estate and finance in the county has started to decline and asks, ‘Did you know that 115,000 of those 425,000 jobs added in Orange County since (1993) came from real estate or finance? That’s 27 percent of the workplace.’ Comments? Use the comment button. Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.