Housing Slowdown May Claim 800,000 Jobs

A sustained decline will hit the U.S. housing market next year, costing the nation as many as 800,000 jobs, according to a new economic report released Wednesday.

The slowdown is likely to last several years, with as many as 500,000 construction jobs and 300,000 financial sector positions lost, the quarterly Anderson Forecast predicted.

"We expect housing to start slowing the economy this quarter or the next," said Edward Leamer, director of the study done at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Some jobs in manufacturing might well disappear as a result of weakness in housing, but this may be offset by jobs brought home or not lost to foreign competition," he wrote.

The forecast said eight of the last 10 economic recessions were started by housing market slowdowns. Though the coming cooldown will cause a drag on the nation's economy, it will fall short of triggering a recession, the forecast said.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051207/ap_on_bi_ge/economic_forecast

about 800,001 jobs repairing them.

I just checked out my "new" (3 years old) house here in Florida, the rafter design I figure will only withstand 100mph winds with the amount of wind load the steep northern style roof presents. im going to be spending all weekend adding more crossbeams and hurricane straps to get it to a rating of 175 or better... No wonder the sheeting almost peeled off during wilma, the %@$% was moving around too much for the nails to stay in the wood!

Not to even mention the screen patio for my pool got hozed, as I was cleaning out the pieces, I noticed the reason the structure failed was that the ground fasteners snapped and allowed the thing to pull up. Plus, the attachment to my house was done on surface only, the screws only went through my sofet's siding & not into any studs. (which then ripped out during Wilma).

at least the place is a deal at 250k (and by deal, i mean at current prices), the place was valued at 350k but the northerner owner didnt want to come down and make repairs or have to go through the process of hireing contractors. I put on a new roof for 7K in materals and now have a nice place... :)

I thought Florida code required class 4 design???!!! Evidently not, this place passed inspection.