NAR released a statistic today, claiming that 56% of agents surveyed called open houses “pointless”, meaning that half know how to work them and half do not.  Or it means that half of the Realtors surveyed just like sitting in an empty house with free Wi-Fi and  gourmet cupcakes on the counter–and half do not.

The Empire State index plummeted 14.9% this month, the lowest measure of activity for the manufacturing sector of New York in over six years.  New York State accounts for 12% of our country’s GDP, which is why we care about this number.

Another sector that we care about is housing, and today brings the ever volatile New Construction numbers of Building Permits (which declined 16.3%) and Housing Starts (up 0.2%).