This is not good.
A) Which sicko wants to live in a desert ?
B) Aren't they running out of water there at some point in the next few years if this growth continues ?
A) Me. I'd love to live there. LOW humidity and sitting by the pool at 90 degrees with a 5% humidity is awesome.
You can have humidity that low? As a resident of South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, I say that "You Lie!"
Chapped lips, guys. Chapped lips and premature wrinkling.
As for the subject of the thread - it is really astounding that they are building homes again. I would have thought the only homes to be built nowadays would be for the very high-end luxury market - say at least 800,000-1,000,000 dollar plus houses (double that for CA, etc.). This income bracket is doing well as is this housing bracket. But everything below is sheer deflation.
Upper middle class neighborhoods in Socal are in rather pronounced price upswing at the moment actually. I even see signs of life out in the desert in those gated golfing communities. Indio however is still prostrate.
http://goo.gl/maps/GnIo
Could this be why?
No one commutes to Indio, probably not even from Riverside or San Bernardino. Rather the area is a retirement community which creates some jobs, there is substantial farming close by, and there was also a substantial boom there in housing. Those jobs building the houses are gone now and the neighborhoods where those construction workers would live are still in trouble. The more wealthier areas there which would mostly be purchased by retirees seem to be doing ok now. That area overall has a lot of income inequality. It's GINI coefficient would be very high.