in Costa Rica...there has been no slow down in residential or office space since the late 90s. prices are now ridiculous. places on the beach are approaching california prices...i heard a report of undeveloped beachfront land going for $2,000,000 per acre. in the central valley where locals live...most people are priced out of the market...with high adjustable interest rates and poor terms on mortgages. a decent place is $100k...in a country where the average family income is less than $10k per year. i rent a place for $900...to buy it would be over $1500..so it is half the cost to rent. people are saying "prices NEVER go down in Costa Rica"..so i am expecting a crash soon. especially with the majority of buyers coming from the US...and getting beat up...why would they come down here to get beat up by another bubble?
They still can not build houses fast enough here in Calgary. The pace has slowed slightly from last year (huge record year ~60%)although most are predicting 10-20% mininum increases again this year. Many houses are still selling at or above the asking price. I bought my current home in March 2000 for only 196K and it was just recently appraised at 510K as we are in the process of building a new home.
The same holds true here in the Los Angeles suburbs. They are building on all sides of me and the "free land" at least in my small part of the state is being gobbled up fast and furious. Not saying anything about the prices that they are fetching but the place acros the street from me just tore down there "Starting in the $600,000's" sign and replaced it with a "Starting in the mid $700,000's" sign.
The Home Depots here are empty most of the time. Don't know if the well publicized management problems drove all the customers away or it's a reflection of the bad local economy.
Prices are holding flat in San Francisco. Stuff sells, but not as fast anymore. There's a lot of noise about throwing up some more new high-rise yuppie condos, but significant political opposition to further "Manhattanization" of SF may ground that plan..
NYC is still red hot. I wonder what will happen when the stock market starts the inevitable correction down the road... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/n...em&ex=1172120400&en=676fc9719a79da9b&ei=5087
We have 30% of the Condos listed for sale over one year now in our building in Metro Denver, CO. but I am not looking to move...I am working on getting my condo paid off...and trade my way to retirement in Retail Spot Forex ...lol