Briefcase

Idaho home prices drop 14 percent

Idaho home prices tumbled 14 percent between August 2009 and August 2010, the worst depreciation in the country, according to business information provider CoreLogic.

In Washington, prices fell 5.1 percent – eighth worst in the U.S. Oregon ranked fourth, with a 6.3 percent decline.

Spokane homes lost 7.4 percent of their value, and those in Coeur d’Alene lost 9.1 percent.

Nationally, prices fell 1.5 percent, the first decline this year, CoreLogic said Monday.

The results include short sales and homes taken back by lenders.

Excluding what CoreLogic calls “distressed sales,” Spokane prices were down 6.3 percent, and Coeur d’Alene’s prices fell 12.1 percent.

CoreLogic said home prices by August had retreated 28.2 percent from their peak in April 2006.

The Spokane Association of Realtors previously reported that August home prices were flat year over year.

LaunchPad plans tech panel, show

Spokane area business group LaunchPad Inland Northwest will host a tech panel and trade show at the Meadowwood Technology Campus on Wednesday from 3 to 8 p.m.

The site is the former home of Agilent Technologies, at 2100 N. Molter, in Liberty Lake.

The session, which costs $10 per person in advance or $20 at the door, is the first of a LaunchPad Emerging Trends Forum Series.

A goal of the series is to highlight the growing tech sector in the Spokane area, said organizer Bill Kalivas.

It begins with a panel discussion on the benefits of cloud computing running from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Representatives from IT-Lifeline, EMC, EasyDesk, Dell, Cisco Systems and Salesforce will be on the panel, Kalivas said.

The panel will be followed by a keynote address by Cisco VP for Mobility Sales Tom Wilburn.

The trade show and networking portion of the event runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the main level cafeteria.

Delta defers Boeing 787 order

Delta Air Lines has pushed out its order for 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners by a dozen years, the airline disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday.

The deferral – until 2020 at the earliest – could mean that in the end Delta may never take the 787 at all.

The order was originally placed by Northwest Airlines in 2005 and inherited by Delta when it acquired Northwest in 2008.

“A 2020 commitment is essentially meaningless,” said Richard Aboulafia, aviation consultant with the Teal Group.

By 2020 or 2022, Boeing will have rolled out its next new airplane – likely a revamped 777 or all-new replacement – and Delta will have the option to switch its Dreamliner order to that model.