Toluu

The Biz Buzz

Boeing employment declining gradually in WashingtonYesterday

Boeing Co.'s employment numbers in Washington have begun to slip gradually as the economy cools and development work on new jetliners slows.

New figures from the company show it employed 76,417 workers in Washington as of Dec. 31. That's 452 fewer than this year's peak on the last day of October.

The company's Commercial Airplanes division, headquartered in Seattle, showed a similar pattern. As of the year's end, that division employed 67,659 workers, down 407 from its Halloween high.

Both the Washington and Commercial Airplanes figures were up over employment figures from January last year.

Those figures showed the company employed 2,391 more Washington workers at the end of the year than in the first month of 2008. Commercial Airplanes figures were up 2,811 during that same period.

JetBlue offering reduced fare West Coast flightsYesterday

JetBlue Airlines today joined the crowd of major airlines offering post-holiday fares to travelers.

The airline is offering fares as low as $39 one-way from its West Coast hub at Long Beach, Calif. to San Jose, Calif.

From Sea-Tac, the least expense sale fare is $59 one-way to Long Beach.

The fares are available for flights from Jan. 12 through April.

Certain holiday blackout days apply.

Costco partners with NutriSystemYesterday

Issaquah's Costco is partnering with NutriSystem to promote the company's weight-loss system.

The wholesale retailer will feature NutriSystem displays in all of its 384 continental U.S. stores.

Those displays will contain information about the NutriSystem prepackaged food diet.

Those who opt to sign up for the diet can enroll either by phone or on NutriSystem's Web site.

The Nutrisystem food can be ordered either by phone or on the Web. It won't be available at Costco.

AG urges Congress to changes to help distressed homeownersYesterday

Washington's Attorney General has joined 21 other attorneys general to encourage Congress to loosen bankruptcy rules in an effort to reduce home foreclosures.

Current bankruptcy laws allow judges to readjust mortgage debt on vacation homes and farms, but not on primary residences.

The attorneys general would like to see that changed.

"Current bankruptcy laws were developed when home mortgage defaults were relatively isolated," said Attorney General Rob McKenna in a news release.

"Global economic conditions now play a much larger role in forcing consumers into foreclosure. Changing bankruptcy laws can help reduce foreclosures and generate new loan terms to help both borrowers and lenders," he said.

Under the amendment urged by the Attorneys General, homeowners and investors would share the benefits and losses, according to the news release.

"Allowing the bankruptcy courts the ability to order loan modifications is a sensible and workable approach that can provide our housing market with the stability our country so desperately needs," McKenna said.

Home prices continue to decline in Pierce CountyJanuary 6

Kelly Kearsley sent this in:

Snow, cold temperatures and a sluggish economy pushed Pierce County’s median home price down by 13 percent in December, according to figures released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service Tuesday. That was the largest year-over-year monthly decline in 2008.

The end-of-the-year snowpocolypse didn’t help the already weakened real estate market as the weather kept buyers and agents from touring homes or even making it to work.

“I wasn’t seeing too many faces during the last half of the month and a lot of it had to do with the weather and it being too dangerous to drive,” said Dick Beeson, a NWMLS director and broker/owner of Windermere/Commencement Associates in Tacoma.

At $235,000, the median price for a single-family home or condo did perk up a bit from November when it was $230,000. The median home price in December of 2008 was $269,950. (Median means half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.)

Pending sales in the county during December were down almost 14 percent and the number of homes and condos for sale decreased by 11 percent compared to the same month last year.

The latter is good news for home sellers.
“The (high) inventory levels have been one of the problems,” Beeson said. Too many houses for sale makes buyers nervous and tends to drive down prices.

Whether the county has hit the bottom of its price depreciation is anyone’s guess, though