Tag Archives: Unemployment

A report published by turnaround management firm Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos found that a recent move by the Obama administration to clear office space in Atlanta could strangle the city's still-recovering commercial real estate sector, potentially throwing back markets in a state with the fifth-largest amount of government real estate outside of Washington, D.C. The firm fears that a reduction in government-owned property will also crimp employment.

Job growth slammed into a wall last month, with employment figures dropping and the number of jobless rising a grim indication that the housing markets may lose steam. According to Census data, the economy added only 18,000 new jobs in June, falling short of expectations that data would trump the 25,000 jobs brought on in May. Numbers for job loss in April and May also hit 9.2 percent and 9.1 percent, with economists saying that the market still needs a net gain of about 150,000 jobs.

Home sales in Massachusetts fell by more than 25 percent over May in comparison with rates from the same month last year, while home prices shot up, interrupting a five-month-long trend, according to The Warren Group.

The health of the labor market has a far-reaching impact on many areas of housing. When the economy is growing and the number of employed rises, so do home sales and mortgage originations. According to the research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, there's also a definitive link between employment and home prices. The firm's analysts examined metro area job data juxtaposed with price trends for new homes, and their conclusions illustrate that jobs and housing "are joined at the hip."