REAL ESTATE + MANHATTAN = ANOMALY

If you want to know what's going on in the world of US real estate the best place to go is Jonathan Miller's blog - Matrix.

All the voices of consequence are posted and discussed in detail here. A couple items to motivate your jump are the S&P/CASE-SHILLER HOME PRICES, a summary of the one year change in the nationwide markets. Leading the list on the downside (bad news first) is Las Vegas (aka Lost Wages) tied with Miami at a minus 19.3%. The good news is steamy Charlotte at a plus (and the only plus on the entire list) of 1.8%. New York comes in number eight at a minus 5.8%. This number is deceiving because it lumps together all five boroughs. Taken separately it's a whole different story.

BTW coming in second to Charlotte at .5% is one of our most beautiful cities, Portland, Oregon. Wind surfing capital (Columbia River), Mt. Hood as the backdrop and oh those rose gardens - so beautiful and fragrant, it's heaven.

Enter Manhattan market - Market Overview 1Q 08. "Jump in prices as number of sales fall." This pretty much sums it up. The median sales price gained 13.2% from the prior quarter! Read and believe.

Thank you Jonathan Miller, you are truly a chart master - when we read this stuff it makes instant sense, endless parsing not necessary!