In her recent story about the ground breaking for the Seabrook drinking water plant, NHPR's Amy Quinton made an important point. She noted that of 56 drinking water projects in the state, only about 25% of them are under contract, that is, in the hands of contractors who will then do the work. This gives a sense of when one can expect jobs to appear based on these bricks and mortar projects.

When looking at the impact of the stimulus, the general forecast is that direct job creation will peak in the spring of 2010.

Declining home prices continue to help residential sales in New Hampshire. Prices are down about 11 percent and sales for the year are a hair above what they were in 2008.

Real estate agents are pleased with the October numbers. After a grim period stretching from last fall to early spring, there’s been a consistent if modest upward trend. The number of homes sold last month rose compared to this September and compared to October a year ago. The data come from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.