On Tuesday, October 26 the Wall Street Journal reported "Home sales picked up in September, but the long-term picture for housing is growing grimmer, say analysts and economists who are pushing back forecasts for a housing recovery...Now, some economists don't see a recovery until late next year or early 2012."

On Wednesday, October 27 the Journal reported "Home prices appear to be weakening, which could create a drag on the economy and leave more homeowners stuck with houses worth less than their mortgages. Home prices slipped in August according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes."

Here's a link to an article that summarizes the 2010 changes to the Georgia property tax law:

http://georgia.realestaterama.com/2010/04/30/georgia-property-owners-triumph-with-general-assembly-passage-sb-346-ID0198.html

As reported in today's Wall Street Journal:

New Home Construction Rose 4.4% in September
... Even though the level of monthly housing starts is up...by the standards of the last 50 years, it is still low, noted New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley in remarks to reporters Tuesday.

FDIC Aims to Shed Some Real-Estate Assets
With more banks collapsing because of commercial real-estate lending, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is working on a new way to sell failed banks' hard-to-value real-estate assets back to the private sector, according to people familiar with the matter...commercial mortgages have been rising as "a source of distress" for banks in addition to construction and land loans.

My take: Neither residential nor commercial real estate are out of the "woods" yet.

Mecklenburg County property owners! Check the assessor's property description now before it gets changed for the early 2011 revaluation. Do the before and after check...and a reality check!

http://meckcama.co.mecklenburg.nc.us/relookup/

Here's your link to all of the Georgia Counties Assessors websites:

http://www.gaassessors.com/