November 11, 2008

When was the United States in a deeper consumer and economic funk? 9/11, or today?




Retailers Report a Sales Collapse

Sales at the nation’s largest retailers fell off a cliff in October, casting fresh doubt on the survival of some chains and signaling that this will probably be the weakest Christmas shopping season in decades.

64 comments:

Anonymous said...

Consumer and economic funk? There is no comparison. The 9/11 funk lasted all of 2-3 months and even at the peak there was a tremendous community spirit as we realized that we were all in this thing together. By 6 months out, the memory was fading fast and now it takes an annual reminder to do anything at all for Bush's approval ratings.

I really don't recall seeing so many people so down in the old US-of-A as I do now. It is almost sad.

When the music's over, turn out the lights.

Anonymous said...

Keith, why do you have to be so negative about America? We are a great nation. We will get through this just like we always had. For all of you America hating folks like Keith; you will soon have egg on your face!

Roccman said...

The same group of "terrorists" pulled off both events.

Really keith...google bldg 7.

Anonymous said...

Today. But people not spending, it's a good thing. People saving. People paying their bills. More people potentially not foreclosing, not going BK.

If we have an economy 2/3 based upon consuming and spending, well then, bad on us. That's not wise. That's not sustainable. It's time for that to change. YES WE CAN!

Anonymous said...

Some people are still in denial.

Link to more housing disaster porn:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27648884/

I love this stuff. Every time a homedebtor thinks their magical cash machine house is worth more then what the real world will pay it makes me so happy.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful image.

Perfect analogy for the way Bushco-Chneneyburton have destroyed America in 8 long years of failure, death, doom torture and blatant unyielding corruption.

The cloud coming towards you is the US economy crashing and burning never to fully recover.

America, a so-so broke and destitute turd world nation thanks to the George and Dick Show.

Revoke their passports
Censure immediately no pardon powers)
Seize all assets
Allow 24 hours to vacate Washington or imprison awaiting trial(s).

Punish the GUILTY.

GOP: THE PARTY THAT KILLED AMERICA

Anonymous said...

It's the same funk + the backlash from our seven year credit orgy. And it's going to get a whole lot funkier!

Anonymous said...

From presidential radio address 9/22/01:
"Our economy has had a shock. Many workers lost their jobs this week, especially in the airline and hospitality industries, in restaurants and in tourism, as companies struggle to remain afloat. I applaud those companies who are making extra efforts to avoid laying off workers even during difficult times. Many Americans have also seen the value of their stocks decline. Yet, for all these challenges, the American economy is fundamentally strong. We have the best-educated, most productive work force in the world. Our factories produce more goods, and a broader variety of goods, than any country in the world."
"We have taken action to address our year-long economic slowdown. Tax rebate checks continue to arrive in Americans' mailboxes. The $40 billion in tax relief these rebates represent will nearly double next year to over $70 billion in tax relief, with more in each of the next 10 years, as the child credit gets bigger, tax rates come down, and the marriage penalty relief kicks in.

You can look forward to an improved business climate in America in the years ahead. The Federal Reserve has done its job of keeping our financial system strong and stable, cutting interest rates in half in the last eight months. Energy prices have remained steady. In fact, they are lower now than they were in the spring."

Deja-vu all over again?

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that the "IOUs for Chinese crap paid off on a credit card" era is coming to an end. The
sh*t is only knee-deep now, and it's going to get a lot worse than 9/11. Let's not forget that 9/11 was followed by the era of buy Chinese crap on credit and home values only go up.

The sources of the so-called wealth of the American middle class, namely home equity extractions and cheap credit are drying up. People are focusing on the most necessary purchases and looking how to save a buck on the Chinese junk. Why buy it at Macy's when you can buy it at the same crappy quality in Target or Walmart? Why give useless gifts that will end up at a garage sale in the spring, when you can give a prepaid debit card which can be used to buy gas and food?

Link to more housing disaster porn:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27648884/

"The executive entertainment area". haha!
Keith, when realtors are convincing sellers that their houses are worth LESS, does this mean we're getting past the denial stage in the housing market?

Honica Jewinski said...

Well, it appears that the brain washed and brain dead, ignorant American goyim have finally maxed out all of their credit cards.

Wouldn't it be great if Americans coordinated some kind of mass, simultaneous chapter 7 bancruptcy? You know, a show of protest to our jewish masters getting bailed out with our money. If everyone would just max out all available lines of credit, and then file chaper 7, we could really bring this fucker down!

Devestment said...

911 WAS GOOD FOR MY BUSINESS BECAUSE IT POINTED MY CUSTOMERS TOWARD PATRIOTISM, generated sales, and ultimately caused my asset prices to skyrocket.

Today is good because I sold many of my assets and held cash that has appreciated in many asset sectors.

Now that sales are way down I can buy goods for pennies on the dollar from upside down unemployed and homeowners.

The BO plan stinks to high heaven for most. Taxing the rich has historically caused asset depreciation due to the trickle down effect. The people that will benefit in his administration are those with the ability to buy distressed assets and hold them.


Things are what you make of them.

Anonymous said...

Keith,
I am so glad you are not gone. Thank you so much for Housingpanic. You are the best.
Lauren

Mammoth said...

"When was the United States in a deeper consumer and economic funk? 9/11, or today?"
---------------------
A month after 9/11 I was laid off and couldn't find work for 7 months.

Today, though, I still have a job - everything is fine!

But tomorrow...?

Anonymous said...

That's easy. Just look at most any time of republican rule and you'll find economic misery and deep. painful recessions.

08- Bush
91- Bush
82- Reagan
74- Nixon

And the mother of all recessions, The Great Depression which, like today, followed 30 years of republican dominance.

Conservatism is a disease and a failure.

Anonymous said...

my friends, let me tell you, the 76-80 was a pretty bleak time, perhaps worse than right now.

does that mean we won't surpass that ? I think we will, it will be worse than 76-80 my friends.

Yes it will!

and it will happen during obama's reign. and he will be voted out for it, even though there was nothing he could do about it.

it will be so bad that there is a chance that palin could get swept into office from the democrat back lash.

Anonymous said...

WTF are you comparing it to 9/11?

There is not comparison. better to compare it to other economic downturns.

Ross said...

From the article referenced by Vanilla Ice:

They built the stucco home four years ago for $380,000 and poured more than $80,000 into it, putting in hardwood floors, granite countertops, ceiling fans, blinds, drapes and a built-in surround-sound stereo system. They also expanded the deck by the pool, turning it into what Cicero called an "executive entertainment area."

"You think you have this wonderful home and people will want to buy it," he said, "but you're wrong."


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anonymous said...

It's much worse now. And will get even harsher soon.

I hate to say it, because I love "choice in shopping," but frankly, there was just too much retail square footage in the US.

Huge stores in huge malls with much of the same stuff, over and over, never seemed all that busy even during the boom. It was hard to imagine who had the time to shop so much and still have a life.

Now many of these stores will disappear, which means even the marginal choices we once enjoyed will vanish. On the other hand, so will the acreage of sameness.

Maybe the surviving stores' buyers will work a little harder to edit for merchandise that's truly hard to resist.

Anonymous said...

Quote:
Anonymous said...

Keith, why do you have to be so negative about America? We are a great nation. We will get through this just like we always had. For all of you America hating folks like Keith; you will soon have egg on your face!

November 11, 2008 1:24 PM
#####

At least Keith is not a coward that post with an 'anonymous' name. And that's what most American is nowaday.

Frank R said...

Definitely 9/11. Right now business is just a little bit slow but not bad. For several months following 9/11 it just stopped completely for me and was VERY tough.

Just wait until this little plan takes hold:

http://is.gd/6ZYq

Anonymous said...

9/11 was a harbinger of massive radical change in the world. It was a loud knock on the door of our complacent population. We stuck our heads out the door, didn't see anything we recognized and went back to bed. But the world has changed. Our old policies don't work. Things have happened that we don't understand and old heads can't compute. We are watching the dizzying changes happening around us and many of us are just standing around confused as the world blurs by us. We are in a funk, but we have to snap out of it and get on the bus. It's leaving the station with or without us.

Anonymous said...

Well the funk did start back then, when the middle class was encouraged to go into debt up to their ears in order to "go shopping" to save the economy. (It was OK that wages didn't increase though, which overall made people poorer I think.) I do think it is worse now, yet more realistic now. I think we are in deflation and the end just doesn't seem to be in sight any time soon. I know nothing, and the unexpected always seems to happen, but I do wonder where will buying power come from in the next few years or longer? What WILL propel the economy?

Anonymous said...

Just a little anecdote that applies to the retail slowdown. Friend works at a Fred Meyer (kind of like a WalMart, owned by Kroger). The company issued it's own credit card a few weeks ago - thought they would make 6 million in 14 weeks. For this particular store, they estimated 73 people a week would sign up for it.
The first week there was one. The second week there was one. I haven't talked to my friend lately.

Anonymous said...

No more foreclosures from Citi.

Govt will re-write everyone's mortgages down.

So tell me again why it was a bad idea to buy a house?

Anonymous said...

Keith, I think the situation today is a good deal worse than at the time of 9/11. Once the initial panic and confusion cleared on 9/11, people realized the attack was external and containable. What we have now is an internal problem brought on by the supposed best and brightest minds in the financial services industry, and the cure will be a good deal more painful and prolonged.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm in a deeper funk now.

I knew this sucker was going down, but this week my two favorite small businesses went out of business. I hadn't really thought too much about the small businesses, I've been watching the big ones teetering. The small nursery and hardware store had both held on, somehow, against Home Depot, Lowes and Wal*Mart for a long time. Why? Because they both offered great personal service and unsurpassed knowledge. So, as obvious as it probably is, the small businesses will be the first to fall, and we'll be left with the big box stores. I love the small, local, mom and pop businesses in my town. I want these to be the survivors and for the big boxes to go away. Just now, the opposite is happening.

Anonymous said...

I was a bad idea because the neighbor next to you, you who is not getting a bailout, is armed.

Anonymous said...

Correction, meant to say: It was a bad idea because the neighbor next to you, who is not getting the bailout, is armed.

Anonymous said...

The terrorists that pulled off 9/11 are still in charge today. The same criminals behind 9/11 are now looting America with their "bailout" plans.

Do your research on 9/11. Those that still think 9/11 was perpetrated by third world arabs and that Osama Bin Laden is a criminal mastermind that is still hiding out in a cave in Islamojihadistfascistastan is delusional.

How many of you have actually done your research on 9/11?

Here's a somewhat crude blog that has some good (incomplete) analysis but lots of good links to get you started:

How 9/11 Was Done

Anonymous said...

Hey Keith!

Why don't you talk about this:

More on the Government Strengthening and Protecting Confiscating Your 401k

Yeah, those awesome Democrats want to confiscate the American people's 401Ks and force them onto the bankrupt Social Security system.

How do you like that HappyLiberal? I'm sure you find some weak-minded way to justify it.

Why don't we have a discussion on this? Sounds more important than discussing missions to Mars and fawning over Obama the Savior.

Anonymous said...

"No more foreclosures from Citi.

Govt will re-write everyone's mortgages down.

So tell me again why it was a bad idea to buy a house?"

*********************************
First of all, that is just a headline, right? it won't automatically stop all of the pending foreclosures like magic and it ONLY would apply to those that can't pay and to those who actualy reside in the house, so all the "investors" will be shit out of luck. Now, Citi can only write down those mortgages that they actually own not ones that they sold off as MBIS to God knows whom (or at least it wont' be the easy to get an agreement from an outside MBIS investor). Also, they will stick a bunch of conditions onto the mortgage I'm sure like that when the homedebtor sells the house down the line, Citi will be given most of the profit, etc. I'm not sure how many desperate, pre-foreclosure people will be able to go through this process and come out satisfied or even come out of it successfully. the other thing to consider: will these homedebtors, who got in way over their heads, be able to even afford a refinanced, written down mortgage? There has to be some limit as to how far Citi can and is willing to write down. People are losing jobs. Are there just a lot of lost causes out there who just shouldn't have a mortgage/house? I think so. It's not going to work out as easily as you would hope; it will be a nightmare still. So, nice try troll!

Anonymous said...

nOW!
Coconutz!

Anonymous said...

In my state, all government workers have today off. Which, for my state, is one-sixth of all workers in the state. Since I work in the dreaded private sector, I had to work. Since I had meetings here and there across the state, I was on the road for most of the day. Most week days these roads would be generally free of traffic, at least during work hours. Today all of the holidaying government workers were out shopping and clogging up the roads. I sat in traffic for much of the day surrounded by vehicles full of merchandise. When the mass of traffic which surrounded me rolled past the nearby Mall, I noticed that the lots were full of cars.

And so, even though my state is 300 million dollars in the red (and counting) the state workers are shopping like its 1999.

Paul E. Math said...

The post-9/11 recession was due to a 1-time exogenous event. It was not fundamental, not structural.

The current decline is different and worse. Our problems now are structural, fundamental problems of our own making.

The post-9/11 decline was primarily due to the fear and caution that it produced in consumers. When there were no further attacks, that fear dissipated and consumers resumed their spending.

Today, the decline is not just based on fear. Yes, people are afraid, but they are afraid because they realize that they really can't afford to pay for the homes they bought, the balance they ran up on their credit card, even if they don't lose their job, which, is another real possibility.

Anonymous said...

This is much worse. After 9/11 the credit spigot opened and anyone with a pulse was given loans to buy things they couldn't afford. This time credit is tighter that a virgin butt hole.

Mammoth said...

Arlene said:
"Maybe the surviving stores' buyers will work a little harder to edit for merchandise that's truly hard to resist."
-----------------------
Actually, for many, many people it is quite easy to resist buying non-essential merchandise.

The proprieters may try all they can, to make the stuff which they sell, attractive to customers; however if these customers wean themselves from the habit of living on credit - which I believe is happening - then those store owners will not see their sales volume increase.

-Mammoth

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

I think worse. I just read a story about stores like 7-11 that used to get one or two job applications a week are now getting hundreds. They have former corporate managers putting in applications for 8.50 an hour jobs.
Still, 9-11 was the reason/excuse that Greenspan flooded the economy with loose money at low interest rates for too long and caused the mess we're in right now.

Anonymous said...

The terrorists that pulled off 9/11 are still in charge today. The same criminals behind 9/11 are now looting America with their "bailout" plans.

Do your research on 9/11. Those that still think 9/11 was perpetrated by third world arabs and that Osama Bin Laden is a criminal mastermind that is still hiding out in a cave in Islamojihadistfascistastan is delusional.

---------------------------

geez, i hope these wing nuts have given up their "bushco will declare dictatorship" conspiracy theories after obama is president.

Anonymous said...

That's easy. Just look at most any time of republican rule and you'll find economic misery and deep. painful recessions.

08- Bush
91- Bush
82- Reagan
74- Nixon
-------------------------

that is because they inherited messes from democrat presidents.

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

Keith, you need a seperate thread for off topic posts. Since you don't, I'll post this here.
The UAW and auto exec's want 50 million from the government to help cover retiree health benefits. HUH??? I don't and most Americans don't get lifetime health insurance when they retire and now Pelosi wants me to pay for somebody else to get this benefit. Let them use medicare like the rest of us. This is wrong and everybody should write or e-mail their reps to tell them so.

Anonymous said...

The BO plan stinks to high heaven for most. Taxing the rich has historically caused asset depreciation due to the trickle down effect. The people that will benefit in his administration are those with the ability to buy distressed assets and hold them.
--------------------------

Yep, BO is about to create some opportunities.

Anonymous said...

geez, i hope these wing nuts have given up their "bushco will declare dictatorship" conspiracy theories after obama is president.


You don't even know the first thing about 9/11. Do you know about WTC7?

WTC7 : The Smoking Gun of 9/11

Do you know that the hijackers were trained at US army bases?

Hijackers Trained at US Bases

Do you know that Israeli Mossad agents were arrested in New York on the day of 9/11?

That they were witnessed dancing on the top of their white van shortly after the towers collapsed?

That they admitted they were there to "document the event" on national Israeli TV?

9/11 - Detained Dancing Israelis : "Our purpose was to document the event"

That police tapes record the arrest of these Israelis?

9/11 Police Radio Transmissions


And there is sooo much more that has never been explained to the public.

Why is that? Can you answer that or can you only say "conspiracy theory"?

ApleAnee said...

Anonymous said..

When the mass of traffic which surrounded me rolled past the nearby Mall, I noticed that the lots were full of cars.

And so, even though my state is 300 million dollars in the red (and counting) the state workers are shopping like its 1999.

As their pensions go poof :-).

These are the people that you just can't get out of your house after a terrific party. They just won't go home until they are slobbering drunk.

Their hangover will be way worse than ours.

Anonymous said...

Look on the bright side the US Dollar is getting stronger so you can plan your Christmas holiday oversea.

Well, maybe not Japan because the Yen is getting much stronger over there also.

But if you like to go to New Zealand or Australia then you like the rapidly falling KIWI.

http://www.nzx.com/news/
markets/4758457

Anonymous said...

Do you like opal for Christmas Australia got good quality opal and with the strengthening US Dollar and falling Australian dollar you could get more opal for your US Dollar.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/
bs.nsf/Article/A-opens-weaker-on-
lower-Wall-Street-L9VXH

Anonymous said...

I think todays funk would better be compared to the great depression. We won't have 25% unemployment but we will have at least 10%.

This mess will last for years. You also got rid of your other site a few years to soon. The housing crash isn't over yet. To many Americans have huge debt, no savings, bad credit and soon lots will be unemployed. The Fed is broke, most States are broke, most Cities are broke, less taxes are being collected now, Dow 5000 is a very good possibility, the fat lady has sung, we are screwed.

Anonymous said...

With the stronger US Dollar you can go to Guangzhou for Christmas and get some discounted toys.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/
Article7223.html

Anonymous said...

How about vacationing in Iceland or South Africa for Christmas.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/
travel/just-in-travel-news/story/
754154.html

Bad-news economy, good-news travel deals

The recordholder is Iceland, but now in second place is South Africa. One year ago, the U.S. dollar bought 6.60 South African rand. Today, the dollar buys almost 11 South African rand -- an increase of 67 percent.

Those U.S. honeymooning couples choosing Cape Town for a blissful vacation are now able to buy almost double what they could earlier -- hotels, meals, shopping purchases and more.

Anonymous said...

If oil keep on falling like it did in 2001 to $18 - $19 per barrel, you can get those cheap airline tickets for Christmas.

Just dropped to $59 per barrel today.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/
stories/2008/11/10/daily22.html

Anonymous said...

roccman,

google 'conspiracy kook'


Really...google 'conspiracy kook'

Anonymous said...

You know, I am getting so tired of all this. All the disgusting payoffs and bailouts, all the talking about it and all the politics, all the continual marketing on the media. I am so tempted to get rid of all the info gunners. I am hooked on it to a degree, but I am getting tired. Maybe it is time to do things with people again. Or even by myself in a quiet place.

Anonymous said...

US consumers might not have allot of money for Christmas, but Wall Streets still getting their bonus for Christmas.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/
article/125352/Bail-Outrage-
Misuse-of-Funds-Lack-of-
Transparency-a-National-Disgrace?
tickers=GS,MS,JPM,BAC,C,WFC,XLF

Anonymous said...

brokersleaveyoubroke said...
"I think worse. I just read a story about stores like 7-11 that used to get one or two job applications a week are now getting hundreds. They have former corporate managers putting in applications for 8.50 an hour jobs."

Why don't they become cops? I just heard on the radio the other day that where I live, there are 3 applicants for every police officer job opening. There used to be hundreds.

Another way of looking at it as after a hard day at the office, working behind a counter for extra cash isn't as stressful. The news is full of people falling behind on their mortgage and maybe they just need a little more money. In my 20s I did janitorial jobs, paper routes, gas stations, etc. for two reasons. 1) PT night jobs in my field are practically non-existent; 2) The rigors of my day job prevent me from doing it 16 hours a day - pushing a broom for a few hours a night to get an extra hundred or two a week is better than nothing.

Anonymous said...

Within days of 9/11, I went back to my business of being a usually-drunk college student.

Today I own gold coins,silver bars, hoard food,basic medical supplies, hygeine products and liquor, cigarettes (for barter, never smoked) and I am now a gun-toting member of the NRA, unbeknownst to most friends and family who would never imagine it.

So, either I'm a lot more paranoid today than I was seven years ago, or this looks much worse. Perhaps some of each.

Anonymous said...

How can it be that the goobermint simply cannot produce enough money supply to restore the credit markets? I realize it would cause rampant inflation, but why would the goobermint care? Shouldn't the goobermint, being the worlds largest debtor, WANT hyperinflation to erase its debts?? The goobermints offspring, the state and local goobermints, would also benefit, as their bloated deficits and existing pension obligations would become increasingly irrelevant as wages and prices rose by 20-30% year.

Inflation just seems like the answer. And there is no gold standard holding the Fed back. Why don't they just flood the system already? Are they holding back for some reason? Or can they really just not pump money faster than it unwinds??

Anonymous said...

anon. they for posting 9/11 info and research. god have mercy on this administration.

Anonymous said...

Today. 9-11 pales in comparison.

Frank R said...

I love how Reid/Pelosi are strangely missing from the "Who or what had the most destructive impact on the world this decade?" poll.............

Anonymous said...

Bldg. 7 collapsed in a very orderly way and there was a loud explosion prior to it coming down.

Just sayin'

Anonymous said...

Hey Frank, Pelosi and Reid have been in power for less than 2 years. Republicans were in power for 28 of the past 30.

How long will it take the brainstems to blame Obama? I've seen some that do already! Idiots, they haven't absorbed the fact that their abysmal performance governing is what led to the democrat takeover.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Keith must be really proud. He's got a bunch of "9/11 Truthers" already posting to this site. Mentally ill conspiracy sociopaths who believe that the WTC was imploded by demolition and the Pentagon was hit by a missile.
You reap what you sow Keith. You're new site has only been up about a week and already a dumping ground for sociopaths and hate filled liberals who can't take a dump without blaming it on some Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/Big Oil conspiracy. Congrats!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Keith must be really proud. He's got a bunch of "9/11 Truthers" already posting to this site. Mentally ill conspiracy sociopaths who believe that the WTC was imploded by demolition and the Pentagon was hit by a missile.
You reap what you sow Keith. You're new site has only been up about a week and already a dumping ground for sociopaths and hate filled liberals who can't take a dump without blaming it on some Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/Big Oil conspiracy. Congrats!!!


Have you got an explanation for WTC7's instantaneous, free-fall collapse that is better than NISTs explanation of "thermal expansion"?

If not, then you don't really have much of an argument do you?

All you can say is:

"hahaha Keith you've got a bunch of conspiracy kooks on your site hahahaha blame Bush/Cheney/Halliburton hahahaha I looooove Boooosh and I looooove Rush Limbaugh ... I love Ameeeerica ... I love fighting for our freeeedoms in the Iraq hahha kill me some araaaabs yeeeeeeah!!!".

Yeah brilliant stuff there, genius.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Keith must be really proud. He's got a bunch of "9/11 Truthers" already posting to this site. Mentally ill conspiracy sociopaths who believe that the WTC was imploded by demolition


That's an incredibly ignorant and uninformed statement. Without going into a massive diatribe and presenting the vast amounts of evidence to you all I can say is that if we're kooks then there's an awful lot of us at every strata of society including government officials, foreign governments including Japan, Canada, Italy and Germany, intelligence agents, physicists, architects, media etc etc...

Here's a few examples:

Another UN official goes public on 9/11 doubts

9/11 Japanese main opposition party questions 9/11 in parliament

9/11 Questioned in European Parliament

So to dismiss these questions offhand as "kooky" is totally naive. Anyone familiar with covert operations and false flag terrorism will tell you that in a terrorist attack the first place you should look is the perceived victim.

Anonymous said...

I just sold my business in this area of SW Florida.Just in time, I think. This is not the bottom yet. Note the 9.2% unemployment rate.

Fort Myers, Cape Coral home woes worst in Florida

By DICK HOGAN
dhogan@news-press.com

Almost one in three Lee County homeowners owes more on his or her mortgage than the home is worth.

And the situation is likely to keep getting worse as foreclosures mount and unemployment rises, according to a report issued Wednesday by housing information company Zillow.

The report by the Seattle-based firm found the county's home prices had suffered the fifth worst decline in the country over the past year, behind only the Merced, Stockton, Modesto and Salinas areas in California's Central Valley region.

The median home value dropped 19.6 percent to $177,718, Zillow reported.

There's not much hope for the immediate future, Zillow vice president for communications Amy Bohutinsky said, noting the backlog of 29,000 foreclosure actions already in the court system, plus a skyrocketing unemployment rate, would likely keep prices going down.

Lee County's unemployment rate in September was 9.2 percent compared to 5.7 percent a year earlier.

"It is staggering," Cape Coral-based real estate agent Steve Koffman of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty said of the bleak economic numbers.

Already, he said, the market for home sales is dominated by banks selling foreclosed houses and by short sales, in which the lender agrees to forgive part of the mortgage so the deal can go through.

Of the roughly 20,000 residences for sale in the county, Koffman said, about 34 percent are short sales and 15 percent are bank foreclosures. Of the 895 homes sold in the past month, 378 were foreclosures and 146 were short sales.

According to the Zillow report, 79.1 percent of those who bought in 2006 at the height of the real estate boom owe more than their homes are worth now. That compares to 44.8 percent nationwide.

Koffman said even more people likely will find themselves "upside down" or owing more than their homes are worth because prices are still going down. "It looks like we're losing a percent or two a month in some areas" such as Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral.

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