I’ve noticed that major homebuilders have resumed building here in Las Vegas in the last few months, which is rather amazing considering that there is a huge inventory of unsold homes and forclosures either on the market or kept waiting in the wings by the banks that own them. I don’t know who they think will buy these homes. As has been mentioned elsewhere, these are projects that were designed before the crash hit, probably in 2006 or ’07, so you can’t expect to see any new work coming out of them unless they decide to radically restructure their offerings to include more small homes. Maybe they’ll be eliminating some features from subdivisions which will call for redesigning. So yes, there are signs the economy is improving, but it is not likely to allow the AEC industry to grow much for a while. A former co-worker of mine who had gone to Dubai in ’08 was laid off a few months ago, so even the Middle East is far from safe. It is well-known that companies there laid off by the dozens as well, and the newly unemployed left behind leases and abandoned cars in the airport lot. Due to the U.A.E.’s strict debt laws, they will face arrest if they ever return to the country.
