U.S. housing slump hammers Mexico

Those looking for more evidence that the U.S. economy might be tipping toward recession should check the latest remittance figures from the Bank of Mexico.

In November, remittances sent to Mexico totaled just under $1.8 billion. That's down 1.6% from November 2006. On the year, growth in remittances is virtually stagnant, up just 1% to $22.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006. Most of those funds come from Mexican-born workers living in the United States who wire money to family members south of the border.

  The slowdown is stunning considering that remittances had been growing by more than 20% annually in recent years. It underscores the deep slump in the U.S. construction sector, which employs one in five Latino immigrants.

-- Marla Dickerson in Mexico City

Comments

[frabk carter]

Mexicans send less then two million USD to Mexico, mind you they have worked for that money and they do as they please.

I don't see mo-body crying when Oprah gives 20 million dollars, money from the USA to black school i South Africa???

[ChuckH]

I always wondered if illegals help keep up the home prices, because they rent and they help buy.

Also it may not be just the economy but new immigration controls affecting the number of workers who send money back.

Possible equation: fewer illegals = lower home values.