Not a Good Week in Cars, Homes, and Retail: Round-Up

Last week, the economic glass seemed half-full. Now, it looks half-empty.

First Chrysler sent letters to six New Hampshire auto dealers to say that they would no longer be part of the troubled carmaker’s operation. The news was no surprise in general but the exact names of the dealerships were. Then General Motors announced it would do the same for 11 hundred dealers nationwide.

The affected firms are not shutting their doors right away and might not ever. Some might be able to shift to used cars and service. Still, there is plenty of concern about the ripple effects. Peter Herz, a VW dealer, says we should remember, some of these dealers have hefty mortgages with local lenders.

HERZ: It’s more than just the local restaurants. It’s more than just the local shopkeepers. It could also be the banks.

The housing market did little to brighten the mood. Coming off an uptick in sales in March, the April numbers were down 11% from a year ago. Prices also declined. Realtors said there is a silver lining. They’re seeing more homes on the market priced low enough to draw multiple bids.

Nationally, retail sales were another downer. They dropped 4 tenths of a percent – they’d been expected to stay flat. UNH economist Ross Gittell says everyone better get used to the idea that households have started saving more.

GITTELL: They’ve learned their lesson from their past overspending and they’re not going to return to spending so fast and that’s going to affect the ability of the economy to recover.

The state had some very important stimulus news for school districts. After weeks of discussion, the department of education told districts what their share would be of 29 million dollars from Washington. The money comes under the Title One program. Title One aims to help kids from lower income families.

Wealthier communities such as Amherst and Bedford got no money. Manchester on the other hand got an extra 5.9 million and Nashua an extra 2.8 million.

The transportation department unveiled a list of 35 road and bridge projects slated to get federal and state dollars. They range from over 3 million dollars to rebuild a bridge in Merrimack to 142 thousand to preserve a stone bridge in Hillsborough.

With this round up the week's economic news, I'm Jon Greenberg.