More Macro Signs For Texas, California

More info for those who believe California and Florida will lead the U.S. out of the housing slump. Looks like Texas, which may have been weathering the housing slump through oil revenues, is not faring so well any longer:

As noted on Hovnanian’s FQ408 conference call:

A: In general the margins in Florida and California have been particularly lousy.

Q: That’s just gotten that much worse then the last few months?

A: I think that may be fair.

Q: Since you’re in Texas and other places, any places that have held up better including the Northeast over the last few months?

A: In general on the margin front, Houston has held up better but on the volume front in recent months Houston is definitely feeling the effect of the national slowdown as well. Up until that point that had been our strongest market.

For diversity’s sake; from restaurant chain Darden Restaurants’ FQ209 conference call:

What we are seeing is weakness across the country and some of the regions that had been strong, I’m thinking Texas in particular, did soften up in the second quarter… And it got a little worse in Florida and a little worse in California.

Comments

[Scott Sambucci:]

Texas is definitely showing signs of weakening. It will be interesting to see what effects are seasonal with the holidays and how the TX markets respond in the Spring. Showing on-market home prices in the Austin, Dallas, & Houston,TX markets: tinyurl.com/73fo4b

Florida never took a breather in its slide through last Spring, so again - what will happen this Spring? Are Miami, Tampa, & Orlando, FL markets reaching a low point yet?: tinyurl.com/7zoyqk

In California, we're seeing slides in LA, San Diego, & Sacramento, with San Francisco holding: tinyurl.com/9fl8nk

2008 Dec 23 08:56 AM

[Ames Tiedeman:]

Austin started to see a drop in home prices in November, 2008. I have seen some homes that are quite nice and in Golf Course communities go from 325k to 268k. These are homes that would cost 750k in places like San Diego, Ca.

Feb 21 09:43 AM

[Mad Hedge F...:]

The golden State will lead. I ran into governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at San Francisco’s Mark Hopkins yesterday, much to the distress of his posse of ex Marine bodyguards. He was there to take credit for hammering together a compromise solution to his state’s $42 billion budget fiasco in front of 400 admiring members of the Commonwealth Club of California. After heavies physically dragged hecklers out of the ballroom, the retired Terminator confessed that enduring the tedious, and often contentious negotiations was worse than watching his first movie, “Hercules in New York.” The shortfall was so gigantic, that even firing all 200,000 state workers would not have filled the gap. Well funded special interests from both the right and the left make it impossible to get anything done in Sacramento. Unrestrained gerrymandering means that extremists are rewarded at the polls, and moderates punished. Of course, the budget compromise still requires an amendment to the state constitution which must be approved by voters on May 19, not exactly a sure thing. I have never been a big fan of the “governator,” but a lot of what he said made sense.

Mar 23 06:37 PM