From everything I’ve seen, people are staying put in the property they have instead of selling quick to make a profit in order to upgrade to a nicer property. Trend is towards people fixing up what they already have instead of upgrading to a more expensive property that is already done up. I think people have the money to buy, but are afraid still – given the unemployment rate for men i s~10.8% and women ~8%, and overall the unemployment rate nationally is ~9.8% and climbing to the teens. People who have jobs don’t want to risk it, but want to live in a nicer place. So home renovations of existing residences is on the rise, employing more need for designer services.

I watch this show on Bravo channel called Flipping Out (Jeff’s show, with a funny house keeper named Zoila). It tells the story of a California designer who for the past several golden years in California’s past flipped to become a wealthy multi-millionaire. Given the last year + change in the market (especially Cali), he had to get out of the flipping business and return to his first profession as a designer. He says the same thing – no one’s buying, but instead people are making their existing homes nicer – thus an increase in the designer business.