California Unemployment Rate Hovers at 12.4%

Unemployment in California is sitting pretty steady, and now sits at 12.4%. December of 2008, the unemployment rate was a 8.7%. The job market continued to be extremely weak, with 80% of the states reporting an increase in unemployment.

The biggest sectors to lose jobs over the past twelve months are:

Construction, down 16.1%
Manufacturing, down 7.7%

The unemployment [...]

Mountain View Increases Density on County Land; Sale Will Be Attempted Again

The Mountain View City Council upped the density on a piece of land owned by the county to allow 50% FAR (floor-area ratio), up from 30%. The 3.6 acre parcel is located at 590 E Middlefield Road.
The county had previously put the property up for bid, but bids came in too low for the county’s [...]

Heading North – CA Unemployment Up To 12.5%; Santa Clara County 11.9%

The EDD released unemployment figures today, and the rate was up to 12.5% in October, a 20 basis point increase from September’s 12.3%. Last year, it was 8% in October signalling a 50% year-over-year increase! In raw numbers, year-over-year, we’ve shed nearly a million jobs in California alone total, nearly 700K if you look at [...]

County Planning On Buying, Flipping Out Former San Jose Hospital Site

The Business Journal is reporting that Santa Clara County is stepping up to acquire the 13-acre former hospital site on Santa Clara Street in Downtown San Jose. The county plans on opening a 30,000 square foot clinic on the site, land banking the balance, and then flipping it out to a developer when the market [...]

California Unemployment Up To 12.2%

Unemployment numbers are out for California from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are not looking good. California’s unemployment rate is up to 12.2% (August), a brutal number and a record level. The rate is up 30 basis points from July. Year-over-year, the rate is up 460 basis points.
Nevada also reached a record level [...]

Mountain View Deal Highlights Trauma in Land Values

With development anticipated to be dead for at least 4-5 years, land has lost incredible amounts of value. Just two years ago, Dostart development paid some $60+ psf for a 15 acre site on East Middlefield Road. Two years later, the county has offered up a 3.6 acre piece next door to that site, and [...]

January 2009 California Residential Foreclosure Numbers

California’s 2009 foreclosure numbers have been released by ForeclosureRadar. The number’s still are ugly, but at least lenders are providing more incentive for third party buyer’s to buy on the courthouse steps. According to the report, average lender discounts from outstanding loan balance was 41.4%, whereas it was only 16.1% a year earlier. There was [...]

California Unemployment Rate Skyrockets From 8.4 to 9.3% in One Month

California unemployment numbers are out for December and they are abysmal. The EDD is reporting an unemployment rate of 9.3% for December 2008, a huge jump from November’s rate of 8.4%. 
In Santa Clara County, the unemployment rate is 7.7%, and in San Mateo County it is still a healthy 5.9%. San Francisco County is 6.6%. [...]

Unemployment Rate Update

November 2008 unemployment numbers reveal a 20 basis point increase from the previous month in California, when unemployment numbers registered in at 6.5%. The national rate hovers right around 6.7-6.8%, seasonally adjusted.
Locally, the unemployment figure in Santa Clara county according to the EDD is 7.1%. In San Mateo county, the number is a much healthier [...]

Closing Customs and Costs in San Francisco Bay Area Counties

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the closing customs vary from county to county. Some cities also assess a city transfer tax in addition to the county transfer tax. In most areas where the city doesn’t assess a city transfer tax, the county rate is $1.10 per $1,000 in property value. The below shows how closing [...]