Unanimity is rare in surveys of business people, but the St. Louis Fed found it among area car dealers. The Fed’s latest Burgundy Book survey says that all the dealers it talked to expect lower sales this year.  Other retailers aren’t quite as pessimistic, but half of them expect sales to fall and only one-third expect sales to rise.

In real estate, the Burgundy Book notes that residential construction remains slow, with building permits down 41 percent in the first four months of 2009. It says the commercial market is in relatively better shape, but adds a note of warning:

Still, a contact in the St. Louis area noted that the demand for industrial real estate is waning and that the market is currently overbuilt.