Business

Home values may have plummeted in the past year, but prices are still significantly out of line with apartment rents, according to a new study.

Daniel Stevens, 27, is weaving together his love of climbing trees with a successful business.

Himalayas Salt Lamps & More has opened at the Mesa Riverview shopping center at Loop 202 and Dobson Road.

Coin-operated stamp machines have been removed from the lobbies of Valley post offices, replaced at many locations with automated postal centers that can dispense stamps if you have a credit or debit card.

Car sales in Scottsdale are slipping by double-digits, and construction is slowing down, but restaurant sales and bed taxes, a hotel surcharge paid by tourists, were up slightly for the last nine months.

Sands on Broadway, a 4-year-old used car dealership that replaced a Mazda and Volkswagen franchise, closed last Wednesday.

NEW YORK  -  Video game publisher Activision’s fiscal fourth quarter was exceptional, with sales of “Guitar Hero III” and “Call of Duty 4” pushing profit and revenue well above estimates.

MILWAUKEE  -  It’s a few days before Mother’s Day and Robert Jenkins jumps every time the phone rings.

TOKYO  -  Battered by a slumping North American auto market and unfavorable currency swings, Toyota is forecasting a double barrel of bad news this fiscal year: its first year-on-year sales slide in nine years and first profit slip in seven years.

NEW YORK  -  Caught in the maelstrom of higher gas and food prices, Americans — even more affluent ones — are seeking shelter in wholesale clubs and discount apparel chains.

LOS ANGELES  -  Warner Music Group Corp., whose artists include R.E.M., Madonna and Green Day, said Thursday that higher costs and a shift to digital music resulted in a wider second-quarter loss and it suspended dividends.

BOSTON - If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she’d rake in a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year.

A north Scottsdale activist group hopes the city will crack open its pocketbook to buy land adjacent to Pinnacle Peak Park for a new parking lot at a June 30 State Land Department auction.

Gasoline prices in the East Valley on Thursday hit a record high of $3.44 a gallon on average and are expected to continue to climb, according to AAA Arizona and fuel analysts.

Here’s the good news: Valley home builders and real estate agents have been reporting more interest from buyers since the beginning of the year.

Work began last week on a dense residential, retail and office development near the future light-rail track in Mesa. The 3.3-acre site that will house Main Street West Village is the former location of Tracker Marine Boat Center.

Just 15 months ago, Mesa entrepreneur Sam Thomasson opened his first store to sell his new invention, Zounds, a hearing aid aimed at significantly reducing background noise and eliminating screeching feedback.

Tempe-based US Airways is paying employees again for turning the once-beleaguered airline into the best on-time performer among the major U.S. carriers for March — and for the entire first quarter.

A metropolitan region is emerging that stretches from the Mexican border at Nogales, through Tucson and Phoenix, to the Prescott area — a region that will double in population to 10 million in the next 30 years.

Two north East Valley Disney Stores will close as soon as they sell off most of the merchandise.