Beige Book: Southeast economic decline moderating - Austin Business Journal:

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Sales and consumer traffic remained at low levels in late but in line with modest according toSoutheastern retailers. Retailers' future sales outlook remained Most regional auto dealers notedf further declinesin sales, with several pointinfg to reduced credit availability and industruy uncertainty as reasons for the poor Reports from Realtors indicated existing home sales were stabilizingb overall. Homebuilders noted new home inventories were trending down ona year-over-yeard basis as construction remained at low levelse and new home sales improvedx modestly. Home sales prices continued to declines according tomost reports. Commercial real estate activityremainefd weak.
Vacancy rates continued to rise in many partw ofthe Southeast, putting downward pressure on rents, most notably in the retail Contractors reported more projectsd being postponed or canceled. Commerciaol real estate players anticipate more space will become vacang in the coming months and that construction will continureto slow. Most Southeastern manufacturers said the rate of declinse in production and orders moderated in For thecoming months, most in manufacturin noted more optimism about future production and employment. Several businessx contacts reported difficulty meeting financing needs because of restricted availabilityof credit.
Roughlhy one-quarter of non-auto retailers and one-third of non-financial/non-retaipl contacts cited some difficultt obtaining loans forinventory purposes. Auto in particular, said that obtaining vehicle inventoryt financing wasvery challenging. Banking contacts continued to indicate generally low levels of demand for new loansw and increased use of existing lines of Labor market conditions continued to be Many firms reported additional cuts in hours or had instituteed mandatory unpaid days off forsome However, the pace of layoffs appears to have as fewer firms reported layoffs than earliedr in the year.