Downturn hits vacation enclave of New York elite

Downturn hits vacation enclave of New York elite

Throughout the United States, the housing market is suffering its worst downturn since the Great Depression. A huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures have slashed home prices.
The Hamptons, a summer vacation playground for New York's financial and celebrity elite, are being hit hard as Wall Street power houses like Lehman and Bear Stearns succumb to the financial crisis.
According to a report by Douglas Elliman, real estate prices fell 11.1 percent in the third quarter in the Hamptons, an exclusive section on the eastern tip of Long Island, less than 100 miles from New York City.
The financial sector has announced 220,506 job cuts so far this year, the most of any industry, according to a recent report by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
In November alone, there were 91,356 job cuts announced, the report showed. Citigroup has said it plans to eliminate a whopping 52,000 jobs, while Bank of America has said it will cut 35,000, with some of the job losses expected to be in New York.