The Housing Bubble

The LA Times reports from California. “The bottom line: The bottom isn’t here yet, some experts say. ‘The urgency that characterized the boom has definitely dissipated,’ said economist Leslie Appleton-Young of the California Assn. of Realtors. ‘For the first time in the last 10 years, we forecast a softening in the median home price.’”

“Economist Christopher Thornberg said he was suspicious of reports that (prices) were still going up in some areas. ‘The numbers keep getting worse and worse,’ he said. ‘Housing has no more ‘up’ in it. Prices have to start coming down or the market will stall.’”

“In Orange County the inventory of housing for sale is growing, with the number of homes in escrow at half the level of the year-earlier period, said Steven Thomas, president of Re/Max Real Estate Services.”

“‘We were trucking along nicely in February and then sub-prime [mortgage woes] hit in March,’ he said. Inventory will rise through the spring and summer, Thomas predicted, before ‘frustrated unsuccessful sellers throw in the towel’ and cut their prices.”

The San Francisco Chronicle. “The for an existing single-family home rose to $580,090, up from $562,130 a year ago. While that 3.2 percent median price increase slightly outpaced the rate of inflation, Kleinhenz and others said that the increase is misleading, as prices fell in many geographic areas.”

“Christopher Thornberg put it bluntly. ‘The median price is a bunch of hogwash,’ he said. ‘You can have prices looking like they’re up when they’re down, because it is incredibly subject to where slowdowns are occurring. You could show the median price going up just because there is a shift in the type of product being sold.’”

The North County Times. “Sales of existing single-family homes plummeted last month in San Diego and Riverside counties, and in nearly every other California market, amid growing anxiety over the collapse of the subprime market, real estate officials said Tuesday.”

“According to the California Association of Realtors, values declined significantly in (the) neighborhoods of Oceanside, Escondido and Ramona. Prices also declined in Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar.”

“With declining prices and sales, and many getting behind on mortgages, some homeowners are going to lose their homes, said John Husing, an Inland Empire economist. That’s not all bad, he said.”

“‘To some extent, this is about investors who made bad bets,’ Husing said. ‘Frankly, I could care less about that group because, frankly, they have caused part of our problem (of a constrained supply and inflated prices).’”

The Tribune. “The median price of an existing, single-family home in San Luis Obispo County fell to $550,400 in March, declining 5.2 percent from the same period a year ago.”

“The declines, said Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, could be attributed in part to news related to the subprime fallout, sellers becoming more realistic about pricing their homes and a slowdown in the secondhome market.”

“‘The (second-home) market in 2007 is not what it was in 2006 or 2005,’ he said. ‘That can contribute to greater softness.’”

The Ventura County Star. “In the Thousand Oaks area, the stock of unsold homes is increasing while the number of would-be buyers who qualify for mortgages is on the decline, said Allen Reznick, president of the Conejo Valley Association of Realtors.”

“‘We’re not worried about foreclosure sales driving down prices,’ economist Bill Watkins said. ‘The bigger risk, and perhaps part of the current slowdown, is the changing lending standards.’”

The County Sun. “Home prices in the San Bernardino-Riverside area suffered a year-over-year decline in March. ‘It’s nothing we haven’t been expecting,’ said Redlands-based regional economist John Husing.”

“Research by Zip Realty for Southern California shows that roughly a third of the homes sold so far this year have involved some sort of price concession by the seller.”

“‘We have moved into a buyer’s market, particularly in the Inland Empire,’ said Tracy Malone, district manager for Zip Realty. ‘Buyers have become very well educated about the market and with more inventory available, they have more choices.’”

“In general, prices are slipping. Husing says there are three factors that will continue that trend through the rest of 2007.”

“‘New home builders are downsizing to try and reach particular price points,’ he said. ‘There are also lots of speculators trying to sell, and some of them will sell for less than they paid just to get out. Then there are the people with the creative financing who are going to find themselves needing to sell.’”

The Daily Breeze. “Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said that trouble will be greatest in the Inland Empire and central part of the state because those areas saw a surge of new home construction in the past several years.”

“He agrees that buyers no longer feel a sense of urgency to jump into the market.”

“‘The pendulum has definitely swung in their favor. If you qualify you can go out armed and dangerous and find out how motivated the seller really is,’ he said.”

The Press Enterprise. “The number of homes on the market in the Inland region is at its highest level in eight years, according to Multi-Regional MLS, which tracks resale homes in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties and eastern Los Angeles County. The service reports that more than 34,700 homes are listed for sale in the region.”

“The month’s supply of listings, or how long it would take for this supply of homes to be sold at the current pace, is at 13.2 months, up from 6.9 months a year ago.”

“‘That’s a pretty significant leap,’ said Steve Johnson, director of a Riverside real estate consulting firm. ‘We’re just not coming out of the gate as fast as most of us in the real estate industry thought.’”

“Johnson said he expects the number of homes listed to go up for at least the next six months. ‘We have a lot of people listing their houses in fear that they won’t be able to refinance, because they can’t really jump into another subprime loan,’ he said.”

“According to the report, the number of properties sold in the first quarter of 2007 also dropped by about 20 percent compared with the same period a year ago. ‘In many respects it is bad news for the sellers because the market will become more competitive,’ Johnson said.”

“Riverside County homeowners suffering from a recent plunge in the housing market might see some relief on their property tax bills, but experts say it won’t be enough to stave off looming foreclosures.”

“The move comes at the request of Supervisor Jeff Stone, who said property taxes should be based on present-day home values and not the values of an overheated market. ‘Predatory lending practices have created a housing debacle in our county,’ said Stone, whose Southwestern county district has been roiled by the tumultuous market.”

“Foreclosures in Riverside County have spiraled from 522 in January 2005 to 3,514 foreclosures last month, according to RealtyTrac. The sagging market, Stone said, has particularly affected the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Moreno Valley, Hemet, San Jacinto and Desert Hot Springs.”

The Desert Sun. “With property values falling throughout the county and Coachella Valley, the taxes could drop and save homeowners money, Supervisor Jeff Stone said.”

“Among the few who may benefit from falling values: People who bought recently at the market peak, only to see prices drop.’To get a tax cut, you have to buy a home at the peak and have it lose value quickly,’ Assessor Dan Goodwin said. ‘You can’t enjoy double-digit increases in your home value and then expect a tax cut when the market dips.’”

From CBS 2. “California reported 80,595 first-quarter foreclosure filings, about 18 percent of the national total and numerically more than any other state, according to RealtyTrac.”

“‘It’s not just low-end homes that are going into foreclosure; we’re seeing a rising percentage of foreclosures with an estimated market value of more than $750,000,’ said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.”

The Denver Post reports from Colorado. “In metro Denver, home resales were down 3 percent in March from the same period a year ago. The median price of single- family homes also fell 3 percent as foreclosures pushed down home values. ‘People’s interest in wanting to do something has gotten stronger,’ said Broker Duane Whisler. Still, he said: ‘The consummation is not there.’”

“Whisler said he worked with a client wanting to sell in the Club Crest neighborhood of Arvada. Of the 29 homes recently listed there, 13 were foreclosures that were priced below the owner-occupied homes.”

“‘People were ready to say the housing market had turned the corner. If you look closely at the numbers, it didn’t happen,’ said Michael Kone, an analyst in Boulder.”

From ABC News. “One out of five houses in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood is in foreclosure, so community activists are out knocking on doors trying to help homeowners before they lose their homes.”

“Evan Elliott lost the home he grew up in after the monthly payment on his adjustable-rate mortgage went up by $600. ‘I was ripped off,’ Elliott said. ‘They weren’t worried about me, they didn’t care. And I talked to them and they told me that’s what the terms were and there’s nothing really I could do about it.’”

The Greeen Valley News from Arizona. “Long Companies CEO Rosey Koberlein says sales in the Tucson-area market are down 17 percent from March 2006 to March this year.”

“Lynn Robinson, branch manager for the Green Valley and Sahuarita branch of Long Realty, has sold homes in here for 28 years. She said she sees more homes on the market, but added the numbers don’t necessarily represent reality, either.”

“‘Some people will say, ‘If I can get what my neighbor did in 2005, then I’ll sell,’ and that is simply not realistic,’ Robinson said.”

The Arizona Daily Star. “Pulte Homes has pulled out of a proposed Anthem housing development in Benson, citing the weak national housing market.”

“‘Right now is not the time for us to be making that type of investment,’ Pulte spokeswoman Jacque Petroulakis said. ‘We need to be focused on our current offerings.’”

“By dropping the plans for Anthem at Whetstone Ranch, Pulte Homes walked away from a ’substantial’ investment in planning the community and purchasing an option to buy the land, said Tucson lawyer Pat Lopez. Projected prices ranged from about $120,000 up to $500,000, according to minutes from a Benson public meeting.”

“R.L. Brown, a longtime Phoenix housing-market analyst, said he is not surprised at Pulte’s decision, because market conditions have worsened since this and other projects were planned. Every builder is reviewing its projects, and many have been put on hold, Brown said.”

The Arizona Republic. “Developers showed up, some with checks in hand, but none bid Tuesday on 125 acres of prime state trust land in the Scottsdale Airpark area. The Arizona State Land Department was seeking a minimum bid of $549,000 per acre, or $68.5 million, for a 99-yearlease of the land.”

“Department officials still hope to get that price or more at the rescheduled auction on May 24. ‘We’re disappointed, but we’ll get it done and set a record a month from now,’ State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman said.”

The Daily Courier from Arizona. “The construction business of former Arizona Senate candidate Elise Townsend of Paulden filed for bankruptcy this week, three months after the Arizona Registrar of Contractors revoked its license.”

“Townsend filed the bankruptcy for her Pres-cott-based business just one day before her major lender planned to auction off 1,120 vacant acres she owned in southern Arizona because she hadn’t made any payments in recent months.”

“Townsend said she went from selling 151 homes in 2005 to fewer than a dozen this past year. She’s stuck with 37 she can’t sell right now. At least a half-dozen are not finished and the values have dropped 20 percent to 30 percent. ‘This isn’t just a Townsend problem, it’s a national problem,’ Townsend said.”

“The bankruptcy filing lists at least 72 mostly unnamed individual investors, including some who were local residents.”

“‘It’s kind of got me devastated,’ said Dixie Northcott from Dewey. She invested $200,000 of her savings in one of the homes that Townsend was building in the Park Ridge area of north Prescott Valley. She said she also agreed to a $50,000 temporary loan that Townsend never paid back.”

The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. “Las Vegas homebuilder Jim Rhodes has suspended his large-scale development in Mohave County, a company representative confirmed.”

“Rhodes has pulled work crews from his Pravada development in Golden Valley southwest of Kingman, where he has plans approved to build more than 32,000 homes on about 5,750 acres.”

“‘We haven’t really shut down,’ said Lisa Urias, a spokeswoman for the company. ‘We are basically just pulling back because it’s taking a long time and he’s working on a couple of other developments right now in Nevada. It’s a business decision that he’s made to allocate his resources in the areas that are ready for development.’”

“Rhodes became the most influential developer in the East Valley in December when he was the successful bidder on more than 1,000 acres of critically situated state trust land in Apache Junction.”

“The Mohave County Board of Supervisors approved general plan amendments for four Rhodes developments in December 2005. But his plans to build more than 130,000 new homes there have stalled because the Arizona Corporation Commission has yet to issue a certificate to operate a water and sewer company that would serve his development in Golden Valley.”

“Supervisor Buster Johnson said he also has been contacted by several real estate agents chastising him for the treatment Rhodes has gotten in the county. Todd Tarson, past president of the Kingman-Golden Valley Association of Realtors, defended Rhodes in an electronic posting on his newsletter.”

“Supervisor Pete Byers said he is skeptical of warnings from the agents that Rhodes could abandon his developments if he does not get better treatment from elected officials. Byers added the slump in the Mohave County housing market might also be a factor in Rhodes’ decisions to put his plans there on hold.”

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, “Boosted by warmer weather in the Northeast and Midwest, sales of new homes increased by 2.6% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 858,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Sales of new homes were off 23.5% compared with March 2006.”

“The inventory of unsold homes rose by 1,000 to 545,000 in March, representing a 7.8-month supply. Sales in the previous three months were revised lower as well. February’s revised annualized sales pace of 836,000 was the lowest since September 1999.”

“It can take up to six months for a trend in sales to emerge. New-home sales have averaged 924,000 per month over the past six months, compared with 951,000 in the six months ending in February. The six-month sales average is now down 23% from last March’s 1.20 million pace.”

“Home builders have piled on incentives to sell homes and reduce inventories. Such incentives are not subtracted from the sales price reported to the government. Home builders have reported a large increase in cancellations in recent months. Cancellations are not reflected in the government data, so the reported sales are likely overstated.”

From Bloomberg. “‘Considering the weather was unseasonably mild in March, the report certainly wasn’t overly positive news and is consistent with the idea that sales are still struggling,’ said Phillip Neuhart, an economist at Wachovia Corp.”

From Reuters. “Bank of Spain governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez attempted to reassure financial markets yesterday that the country’s housing market was in only a gradual slowdown. This came after real estate stocks tumbled on fears that a decade-long property boom was unravelling.”

“‘We think the property market, construction in general, is going to have a soft landing, which is what it’s having,’ Ordonez said after speaking in congress. ‘You know what the stock market is like: it’s calm one day, goes up the next. It doesn’t do things based on reality.’”

From Ireland Online. “Economist Diana Choyleva said holiday home owners who flocked to Spain over the last couple of years could now see the price of their investment fall. She added: ‘This is not good news for foreign investors in Spain. The problem is in supply. We have had over investment on a gigantic scale and it has already started a slowdown in house price growth.’”

The Financial Times. “Investors got the jitters after Astroc, a Valencian real estate developer, went into free-fall last week when its audited accounts revealed some of last year’s profits came from the sale of Astroc assets to Enrique Banuelos, its chairman.”

“Meanwhile, the heavy debt load of some real estate groups and worries about oversupply, with 800,000 new housing starts approved for this year, compared with an estimated demand for 600,000, also contributed to the sell-off.”

“Cheating on mortgage applications is so widespread and so seldom punished that it’s fueling an increase in foreclosures that will prolong the housing slump, said Robert W. Russell, counsel to the director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings and loans.”

“‘Misstatements about employment and income are being made every day,’ Russell said. ‘The brokers are just putting down on paper what the underwriters would require. There are borrowers providing false information as well.’”

“Loans that require little or no documentation of income soared to $276 billion, or 46 percent, of all subprime mortgages last year from $30 billion in 2001, according to analysts at Credit Suisse Group.”

“As part of a pending class-action lawsuit in State of Minnesota District Court alleging Ameriquest Mortgage Corp. charged borrowers extra fees, former account executive Mark Bomchill, who worked in the Plymouth, Minnesota, branch office, said it was ‘a common and open practice at Ameriquest for account executives to forge or alter borrower information or loan documents.’”

“‘I saw account executives openly engage in conduct such as altering borrowers’ W-2 forms or pay stubs, photocopying borrower signatures and copying them onto other, unsigned documents and similar conduct,’ Bomchill said in a sworn statement.”

“‘It wasn’t really done behind closed doors,’ Bomchill said.”

The Herald. “The shutdown of wholesale lender Mortgage Investment Lending Associates Inc. was sudden, but not a surprise to many of the employees laid off over the past year.”

“‘I’ve been waiting for it,’ said Amorita Simon of Everett, who lost her job there in February 2006. ‘And I knew the way that MILA ran itself, it was only a matter of time.’”

From Law.com. “While the bankruptcy engagements are likely to be short due to the lack of operations and asset selloffs by some of the failing companies, the selloffs will benefit other attorneys. Mergers and acquisition colleagues are stepping in to assist the companies in selling some of their loan portfolios at discount prices.”

“‘We’re seeing this hit across multiple practice areas,’ said Jerry Biederman, an attorney in Chicago, adding that this is the start of ‘a whole panoply of subprime-related legal issues.’”

“Investors who bought some of the mortgage-backed debt securities, which have also declined in value, may also have claims against subprime lenders, attorneys said. Class actions on that front may also reach beyond the lenders to the banks that were selling the securities on behalf of the lenders, said Chris Seeger, a plaintiffs’ attorney in New York who is researching a lawsuit he plans to file this month.”

“‘We have many people who are contacting us and feel like they’ve been victims of the subprime lending industry,’ Seeger said.”

From McClatchy Newspapers. “Anyone looking to point a finger of blame for the meltdown in the subprime mortgage market may need more than two hands. It took the action, and the inaction, of many players to produce today’s mess, which threatens to slow the U.S. economy further.”

“‘Everyone has a share in the blame; lenders, borrowers, regulators, investors. There were a lot of mistakes, and everyone made them,’ said economist Mark Zandi.”

“‘It’s hard to blame the regulators for most of this, because these guys like New Century and other outfits in trouble are unregulated,’ said Robert Litan, an expert on federal regulation.”

“‘We have a structural flaw in the system, and lenders and borrowers took advantage of this, and people got whacked,’ said Former Federal Reserve Governor Edward Gramlich. ‘Most of the fixes are, and have been all along, measures that could only be changed by legislation.’”

“‘We knew there was excessive use of adjustable (mortgage) rates. That was a time when the Fed had interest rates very low, for good macroeconomic reason, but it made everyone vulnerable to this problem’ that we have today, said Gramlich, a Fed governor from 1997 to 2005 and the author of the forthcoming book ‘Subprime Mortgages: America’s Latest Boom and Bust.’”

“Recovery of the US market for new homes could take another year if trouble in the adjustable-rate subprime mortgage market spreads to other types of residential lending, credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s said.”

“‘We do not expect to see a recovery for most rated home builders until 2008, under the best of circumstances,’ the rating agency said in a research note. ‘In fact, a rebound could easily slide into 2009 if a subprime contagion spreads to the Alt-A and prime products.’”

“S&P said rising foreclosure rates and tightening consumer credit raise additional red flags regarding a cyclical housing downturn that was already deeper and broader than previously anticipated.”

The Vancouver Sun. “West Fraser Timber president Hank Ketcham said Tuesday the forest industry is facing the worst recession he can recall with no end in sight.”

“‘To us it is a typical cycle. We have seen it in the mid-’70s, early-’80s and early-’90s. In real dollar terms, lumber prices today are lower than they were in 1982, which was the worst recession I remember,’ the West Fraser president, a lumberman since 1973, told analysts.”

“The benchmark price for lumber from the B.C. Interior dropped to $253 US a thousand board feet in the first quarter of the year, down from $343 US a thousand board feet one year.”

“‘Every time you get into this it sure seems to take a lot longer than you would like. But sitting where we sit, we think we could be in this for a while and we’ve just got got to buckle down and drive our costs down. That’s what we are doing every day,’ Ketcham said.”

The Ledger reports from Florida. “For the first time since the housing boom began in 2005, Polk’s median home prices decreased 5 percent from March 2007 to March 2006: $178,300 to $168,300. Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Panama City and Punta Gorda all posted double-digit declines in median prices, which is happening to coastal communities where prices were heavily inflated by investors during the peak of the building boom.”

“Home sales around the county dropped nearly 42 percent from 592 in March 2006 to 345 last month. ‘Right now, it’s hard to sell and slow to close,’ said Brooks Chandler, a Realtor in Lakeland. ‘You have the hills and valleys and that’s how it is.”

The Herald Tribune. “In the Charlotte County-North Port market, sales of single-family homes fell 25 percent from March 2006 last month. Prices in that market also took a beating, dropping 14 percent to $193,000 and well below the $200,000 price point on which the area had been teetering. Sarasota-Bradenton posted a pricing decline; 9 percent.”

“‘Buyers are looking for bargains, there’s no question about it,’ said David Lipstein, founder of Manasota Key Realty. ‘They are making offers that are much lower than list prices. In the past, sellers would have been insulted by such low offers and would not have responded, but now most of them want to be insulted. At least that gives them a starting point for negotiations.’”

“There were 8,376 single-family homes listed for sale in Sarasota as of April 15, according to Team DuToit at Keller-Williams Realty. The result is that Sarasota’s MLS has been left with a 110-week supply of homes at the current sales rate.”

“That makes for odd requests: ‘I’d like to make an appeal to everybody who does not need to sell to take your home off the market,’ said (realtor) Marianne Zoll.”

The Miami Herald. “In March sales of existing single-family homes were down 33 percent in Miami-Dade County and 25 percent in Broward compared to a year ago. For condominiums, sales plummeted 45 percent in Miami-Dade and 32 percent in Broward.”

“Nearly 75,000 houses and condos were listed for sale in March, a 4 percent increase over February and a 58 increase over a year ago. ‘Sales are soft. I think the next thing will be a softening in home prices. That would be a very good sign, part of the healing process in our real estate market,’ said Richard Barkett, CEO of Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.”

“Four months ago Marty Blondwine put her 2-bedroom condo in Fort Lauderdale up for sale. Since then she has dropped her price from $269,000 to $239,000. ‘No buyers yet, no showings,’ said Blondwine, an accountant pondering a move out of the state because of the high cost of living. ‘I can’t lower the price anymore. If I do, I will lose money.’”

The News Journal. “Sales of existing homes plunged in March, with the median price for a home in the Volusia-Flagler market dipping below $200,000, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.”

“‘Home buyers are now able to negotiate with sellers since there are so many homes on the market,’ said Jalene Stockhausen, president of the West Volusia Association of Realtors. ‘I think the mentality is that homes need to sell quickly, so sellers are more willing to bargain.’”

“The number of existing single-family homes sold in Volusia and Flagler counties was down 24 percent in March to 681 from 897 in March 2006, according to the state association. The median sales price was $199,600 in March, down 12 percent from $225,700 a year ago.”

“‘Buyers are in the driver’s seat,’ said Maggi Hall, a DeLand Realtor. ‘A lot of sellers are lowering prices to get their homes to sell,’ Hall said. ‘It’s good to see a lot of people adjusting their prices to reflect the market, and being much more realistic.’”

The Palm Beach Post. “The Treasure Coast suffered the biggest drop in single-family home sales in the state last month, the clearest evidence yet that the housing boom has gone bust.”

“‘There was a tremendous amount of speculative investment in the home-buying market in 2004 through 2006,’ said analyst Stan Gerberer. ‘Some reports, and some anecdotal evidence, show as much as 50 percent were speculative sales. Everybody who plays the investment game hopes the buck stops with the next guy rather than him.’”

“‘We seem to be selling less and less, and listing more and more,’ said Sheri Wetzel, president of the Realtors Association of St. Lucie County. Bob Lowe, a Treasure Coast broker and a Florida Association of Realtors officer, agreed. ‘The market has totally done a 180-degree turn and has become a buyers’ market,’ said Lowe.”

“A recent report revealed a 21-month supply of existing single-family homes and a 27-month supply of condos in Palm Beach County. ‘The speculative days are over, but there are some very tempting deals from builders,’ said economist Bradley Hunter.”

The Sun Sentinel. “The South Florida home and condo market could get worse before it gets better. Nearly 37,000 homes and condominiums were on the market last month in Broward. At the current pace, it would take several years to sell those properties.”

“Analyst Brad Hunter of West Palm Beach said buyers might seriously consider new single-family homes because builders are slashing prices and offering ‘mind-boggling deals.’”

“Properties that are selling have two things in common: they’re renovated and priced slightly below market value.”

“‘I think that over the next two months most of the buying will be done,’ said David Dweck, an agent in Broward and Palm Beach counties. ‘Come summertime, with hurricane season, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of buying and we’ll see a lot of motivated and desperate sellers.’”

“Frank Pagliughi’s looking for a two-bedroom condo in Broward, and prices for similar-sized units vary wildly. Two nearly identical condos in Sunrise, for example, were priced $60,000 apart, he said. The price gap, along with the uncertainty surrounding property taxes and insurance, makes Pagliughi wonder why he’s going through the hassle.”

“‘I ask myself, ‘Do I really want to buy right now?’ he said. ‘It’s just off the wall what people think they can get for their homes.’”

The Tampa Tribune. “Sales of single-family homes in the Tampa Bay area continued to plummet in March, and the median sale price of homes fell by $9,000 from the same time a year ago, according to new housing data.”

“Carrollwood resident Elaine Fernandez decided to sell her three-bedroom house and buy a town home about a year ago. But the selling part wasn’t as easy as it sounded. ‘Now I’m the proud owner of two houses,’ she joked.”

“The number of existing single-family homes sold in March in the Bay area fell to 2,502 from 4,006 in March 2006. That’s a drop of 38 percent. The condominium market was even softer in March, with 500 condos sold in the Bay area, compared with 968 condos sold in March 2006, a 48 percent drop.”

“Overbuilding is partly behind a huge inventory of homes on the market. According to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, for example, Tampa had 19,814 homes on the market in March, which is up from 12,230 homes a year ago. At the current pace of sales, it would take 14.6 months to sell that housing stock, according to GTAR numbers.”

“Aside from cutting prices, many sellers understand it’s more challenging to sell a home today than it was at the height of the real estate boom, said real estate agent Bill Knecht. ‘They have a certain level of resolve,’ he said. ‘They are certainly willing to try things that maybe weren’t on the table before.’”

The News Press. “In Lee County, there were 636 single- family homes sold with the assistance of Realtors in March. That’s…below the 955 sold in March 2006. ‘Some of the sellers have adjusted to the new reality. Some say we need more price reductions from the sellers. It’s the sellers who are overpriced at 2004, 2005 prices who need to come down if they’re stuck in la-la land,’ said (realtor) Brett Ellis in Fort Myers.”

The Naples News. “In March, the median price of a single-family home sold with the help of a Realtor in Lee County was $268,000, 5 percent below the 2006 March median of $281,300.”

“Condominium sales continued to plummet also, down 19 percent in one year. The median price of condo in Lee County dropped drastically from $318,900 in March 2006 to $250,000 last month. ‘The developers are killing the condo market,’ said Wes Brodersen with Exit Gulder Real Estate in Bonita Springs.”

“He said that with the condo inventory high, developers are offering up to 10 percent finders fees to agents to bring them clients. Brodersen said that in the past it was hard to even get 3 percent from builders. ‘The developers are making deals on top of deals just to sell condos,’ Brodersen said.”

“Fort Myers agent Bob Oxnard also blames developers for creating a saturated market. He said developers held their product out of the market last year in fear of speculators making more money than them. Now developers are paying the consequences, Oxnard said. ‘Now they will sell you anything at anytime for almost any reasonable offer,’ he said.”

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