Reads for the Weekend

Published: Thursday, July 2, 2009 6:55 PM PDT

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Burnt out on Michael Jackson biographies? Check out some of these stories I've not had a chance to post this week:

The Economist throws water on the idea that slowing declines in the Case-Shiller index means the worst is over for American housing. (Thanks to reader CM for passing this and the CAR snafu along.)

Why the long faces, Economist? One reason: federal agencies announced this week that defaults on prime loans (the least risky ones) more than doubled in the first quarter compared to a year earlier. (Jim the Realtor says he thinks of me now when he reads about defaulting loans. What a reputation. But check out my recent story about the trouble lurking in subprime's wake locally if you missed it.)

The New York Times chronicled the fascinating drama at the Four Seasons, including the trouble in our own backyard. If you're getting as intrigued by hotel real estate as I am, this one's definitely worth a read.

In our pages, my colleague Will Carless tells of a local affordable housing developer's trouble with the law in other place, and Rich Toscano gives us a graphical look at the changes in local home prices.

Happy Fourth of July from this Canadian-American!

-- KELLY BENNETT

2 Comments so far on this story...

Happy Canada Day

Posted by JtR | reply to this comment
July 2, 2009 9:10 pm

There was a funny piece in the NYT the other day by a bunch of Canadians about what they missed from their homeland: one person said she missed the "u" in color. I am going to send it to Canadian friends who finally became American citizens only to move lock, stock and barrel to Edinburgh, Scotland, where they are a lot happier than they were in San Diego. Go figure, there's not even a beach there; but maybe they have a Central Library.

Posted by LJresident | reply to this comment
July 2, 2009 11:25 pm

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