What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Overbuilding? "'The Southeast region of the United States 'recently has begun to suffer from too much of a good thing when it comes to housing,' Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said today."

"Builders, lenders and others didn't see the end of the 2001-2005 housing boom coming, he said, and 'in the aftermath of residential overbuilding, a painful adjustment is taking place with house prices stagnant or declining and housing starts dropping sharply in many areas in the region.'

Industry changes? "A growing number of agents – spurred in part by current market conditions – are crossing the street to work exclusively for the buyer. 'It has always been very important, in my opinion, for a buyer to have his own representation,' said Dallas real estate agent Sally Snyder. 'But now that the market has turned, it is even more important.'"

"'Since I've been an exclusive buyer's agent for over 10 years, this is the first time it has really been a buyer's market,' she said."

More defaults? "Foreclosure filings in Delaware continued their upward climb in October, increasing 53 percent overall compared with the same period last year, county court records show. Sussex County had a record-breaking 72 filings, up 80 percent from a year ago."

"Gerry Kelly, deputy bank commissioner for consumer affairs, said he expected foreclosures to continue to rise in 2008 as interest rates for Delaware's subprime mortgages begin to reset."

"'It's starting to hit the trend, which is a 50 percent increase. I would expect to see that over the next few months,' Kelly said. 'We'll be peaking in April or May of next year.'"

Related layoffs? "Rheem Heating and Cooling Division announced late Thursday that it will lay off 125 workers at its Fort Smith plant effective Nov. 26. The layoff comes on the heels of a previously announced temporary layoff that will affect nearly all of the 1,225 workers at the plant."

"The housing market slump has caused low sales figures for the company’s heating and cooling division, which has caused inventory to build up."

Signs of speculation? "If the inevitable real-estate cycle had any sense of drama - or farce - it would designate this week as the top of the wheel and the height of folly."

"First came the money-mad 'launch' of 1 Bloor East, the epitome of a frenzy. One man who held a place for a real-estate agent in the ruly mob that camped for days beneath the hoarding told The Globe and Mail he earned $2,000 for the service. Given the way prices rose throughout Tuesday's launch, that payment was likely a 'sound investment,' to use a phrase often heard in this market."

"But the 80-storey, Kazakh-financed Bloor Street tower had less than a week to shine as the city's tallest theoretical residential building before a usurper appeared. Yesterday, a competing developer unveiled an equally dramatic and potentially taller condominium tower, called Aura."

"After the shocking events in October 2007, when thousands of people jostled to buy apartments at The Vista and Sky Garden III at abnormally high prices, the HCM City Construction Department made an inspection tour of the projects and found out that the projects’ investors had violated Article 39 of the Housing Law."

"According to Nguyen Van Dung, Director of the HCM City Construction Department, Article 39 stipulates that investors of projects can only mobilise capital from the public to serve the projects’ construction after the housing designs have been approved by state management authorities and the buildings foundations have been completed."

"In the cases of the three projects, the investors raised funds for the projects’ implementations when they only had idle land."

"Major sales by the rival auctioneers Christie's and Sotheby's this week are under scrutiny, as the art world wonders and waits to see if the inflated market stays high, or follows shares and property prices into a global decline."

"Last week, Sotheby's sale of Impressionist and modern art in New York took a damaging turn when a Van Gogh painting failed to sell, along with works by Picasso, Renoir, Gauguin and Matisse."

"'It's very similar to the housing market and the same people buying property are buying paintings, the people who've made money from finance. Prices are high, really high,' said The Art Newspaper's art market editor, Melanie Gerlis."