The Housing Bubble

The Voice of San Diego reports from California. “With sales rates withering, price reductions multiplying and foreclosures mounting, the region’s housing market is getting accustomed to life in slump times. Prices for standalone resale homes in San Diego County logged an 8.3 percent drop over the year ending in August, according to the) Case-Shiller home price index. For new detached homes, the price per square foot was $262 compared to $282 a year previous, marking a 7 percent decline, according to Peter Dennehy of the Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors.”

“‘Price per square foot has gone down pretty consistently,’ Dennehy said. ‘That doesn’t include any incentives, and they’re pretty rife in the market.’”

“‘The issue is whether the real estate market and the economy will digest these over the next year or two, or if housing market distress will bring the economy to its knees,’ said DataQuick’s often upbeat president, Marshall Prentice, in the group’s report.”

“‘Right now, most California neighborhoods do not have much of a foreclosure problem. But where there is a problem, it’s getting nasty,’ Prentice said.”

The Union Tribune. “San Diego County’s mushrooming number of foreclosures is starting to hobble homeowners associations large and small as cash-strapped owners cease paying their monthly dues.”

“Even worse, associations are facing the prospect of raising dues or levying special assessments to make up for the unpaid fees.”

“Especially vulnerable are smaller condo-conversion projects and developments in more affordable areas, such as eastern Chula Vista. ‘The problem is everyone in our association is being affected, and as we look at services we can cut, it’s going to impact our property values…We will most likely need to raise the dues for everyone to make up for the dues not being paid, so every homeowner will suffer for this’ said Jennifer Zornow, board president at a 104-unit condominium conversion project in City Heights.”

“Over the past several months, more than 20 owners there have not paid their monthly dues of $245, amounting to roughly $20,000 in lost revenue, Zornow said.”

“Attorney Jon Epsten, whose San Diego firm Epsten Grinnell (said) his firm is handling about 3,000 collections related to unpaid monthly fees, most of those in San Diego County. That’s three times more than a year ago, he noted.”

“‘It’s kind of devastating,’ Epsten said. ‘Our only remedy once the lender forecloses is to pursue the matter in small-claims court, which is often futile because the owners are nearing bankruptcy and have pulled every cent they can out of every equity source.’”

“‘I’m more nervous than I ever had been,’ said CityFront Terrace community manager Barbara Wilkinson. ‘because it used to be that the owners would talk to the board about a payment plan. But now they’re in a position where they can’t do a payment plan, so it appears it’s going south very quickly.’”

“For a small condominium complex in Imperial Beach…two of the seven homeowners have defaulted on their monthly dues of $170, said resident Mark East, a former board president. ‘The building needs to be painted, and it still has the original roof, and our checking and savings accounts are down very low,’ said East.”

“‘The association has never been in the disarray it is now, and if we want to rent or sell these units, no way will that happen,’ East said. ‘We’re all stuck in a quagmire.’”

The North County Times. “Troubles in the housing market may have scared away a developer who was planning to build Sycamore Creek Estates, a high-profile housing project on a piece of overgrown city-owned land in central Vista, city officials said this week.”

“In early October, Newport Beach-Based Pelican Properties decided not to move forward with a residential-retail project on city-owned land downtown. At that time, Pelican partner Dick Hamm said the company could have potentially made the project work in 2010, but that the sliding market made it difficult to move forward before that.”

“‘The risk is just way too high,’ Hamm said.”

The Daily Bulletin. “Affordability, mortgage gridlock and good old-fashioned reluctance on the part of buyers are the factors wreaking havoc with (Inland Empire housing) demand. The mortgage market is the biggest of the problems.”

“‘Almost all loans in California are either subprime or jumbo,’ said Steve Johnson, director of the Metrostudy’s Southern California division, ‘This source of funding either has disappeared or requirements for borrowers have changed.’”

“‘Early estimates indicate that at least 40 percent of the market used subprime or Alt-A financing,’ he said. ‘The potential for a greater number of foreclosures in the Inland Empire is significant.’”

“According to DataQuick, there were 14,755 homes listed as under construction, completed yet vacant or model homes at the end of the third quarter. That’s an 8.6-month supply of inventory on the market, and rising foreclosure numbers only exacerbate the problem.”

“‘The sheer size of the new home industry reflects a tremendous capacity that has been developed over the past five years and now must be scaled back,’ Johnson said.”

The Press Enterprise. “The housing market’s distress is reflected in soaring foreclosure activity, with a 250 percent increase reported in the Inland area in the third quarter over the same period in 2006.”

“Economists and housing experts said the (Federal Reserve’s) quarter-point cut, following a half-point cut in September, won’t be enough to revive the Inland housing market.”

“‘As recently as a couple of months ago, the Fed said they didn’t think (housing) was a problem,’ Inland economist John Husing said.”

“Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi said…many existing homeowners will no longer qualify to refinance at a better rate under tighter underwriting standards that lenders have adopted. He also said as home values continue to drop, it will be increasingly difficult for homes to appraise high enough to refinance.”

“Adibi said he expects the depressed housing market to be ‘a huge drag,’ slowing job growth and spending, ‘especially in Southern California, because we disproportionately benefited from a robust housing market and now the bust hurts us more.’”

“John Marcell, immediate past president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, believes the biggest obstacle is the rising foreclosure rate. ‘When investors are sitting on billions of dollars of loans that are not performing, they are not too anxious to jump back into the market and get beat up again,’ Marcell said.”

The Modesto Bee. “Whoever takes the open Modesto City Council seats up for grabs in Tuesday’s election won’t be labeled a developer’s puppet. For the most part, builders are staying on the sidelines for this election, campaign finance records show.”

“‘The presence of developers never goes away,’ said attorney Robert Farrace. ‘The thing right now is, the growth issue is less of an issue because the market is in the tank.’”

The Record Searchlight. “Homes lost to foreclosure in Shasta County increased 562 percent — from 37 to 245 — in the first three quarters of 2007 from a year ago, county records show.”

“The spike in foreclosure activity has been blamed on the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market. ‘When these loans reset, they can go to 10 or 12 percent, so their payments can go up at least 50 percent,’ said Karen Johnston of Eagle Home Mortgage in Redding.”

“Homes lost to foreclosure are reflected in recorded trustees deeds. In Shasta County, the 245 trustees deed recorded through September of this year was the most since 2000, when there were 284, the Shasta County recorder’s office reported.”

“In 1998, 314 trustees deeds were documented from January through September in Shasta County, the most for any year between 1990 and 2007.”

“What sets the current foreclosure spike apart from other years is the sharp increase in activity. Numbers peaked in 1998 after five years of steady increases, starting with 169 homes lost to foreclosure in Shasta County in 1994.”

“Homes lost to foreclosure bottomed out at 19 in 2005 — the height of the housing market.”

“Mike Van Bockern conducts public foreclosure auctions in Shasta County. Notices announcing those auctions through October have jumped 136 percent from a year ago — 273 to 645, Van Bockern said.”

“‘I think it’s a typical down cycle, but I think it’s relative to the last up cycle,’ Van Bockern said of the market. ‘Houses appreciated much faster, so just the opposite is going to happen. It will cut farther and deeper.’”

9 News reports from Colorado. “Neumann Homes, the builder of the Village at Harmony Park and three other local developments, has declared its intention to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That is a big problem for Lori Hartman who lives at Harmony Park in Westminster. She recalls the day her problems began. ‘We heard water dripping,’ Hartman said. ‘It was raw sewage in the light fixtures.’”

“Even the VP of the Harmony Park Homeowners Association, Glenn Potter, says he can’t get his phone calls returned. ‘They all want to build a house and get your money and after that, it’s kind of your problem,’ said Potter.”

“There are several homes at Harmony Park that are only partially complete. Jena Sautter pointed at one of the homes across from her own. ‘That house doesn’t have a roof on it,’ she said. ‘Can it last through the winter without falling down completely?’”

The Arizona Republic. “Vacant homes are a big reason why Valley home prices are falling. At least one out of every three homes for sale across metropolitan Phoenix is empty, and owners are motivated to cut prices to sell.”

“About 36 percent of the Valley homes posted on the Arizona Regional MLS are empty. That’s almost 20,000 of the record 55,000 houses for sale now. And a growing number of vacant houses are owned by lenders that foreclosed on the properties and want to cut their losses by selling them quickly and often cheaply.”

“‘There’s a whole collection of must-sell sellers in the Valley’s housing market now,’ said Jim Sexton, president of the Phoenix real-estate firm John Hall & Associates. ‘It’s a great time to buy, but sellers have a lot of competition now.’”

“These empty, bargain homes aren’t clustered in just a few neighborhoods. According to the MLS, vacant homes for sale are scattered throughout most Valley neighborhoods.”

“Home prices dropped in more than half of all Valley ZIP codes during the first eight months of this year, according to The Republic’s recent Valley Home Values report.”

“Existing home sales fell to 3,050 in September, the lowest monthly level for resales in several years. During August of this year, 4,240 existing homes changed hands.”

“‘There are a lot of people who have to sell now, ‘ said Brett Barry of Realty Executives. ‘We tell our clients to drop their prices every 30 days because they have to compete with so many other motivated sellers.’”

“Sales of existing homes in Pinal County dropped to 625 in the third quarter of the year from 970 resales recorded in the second quarter of 2007. The same quarter in 2006 saw 850 sales of existing homes. Pinal experienced its record high in the third quarter of 2005 with 1,550 recorded resales.”

“The median price has steadily eroded from $220,000 in fourth quarter 2005 to $200,000 in second quarter 2007, and $193,000 for the third quarter. The median price was $199,900 a year ago.”

“The median price has steadily eroded from $220,000 in fourth quarter 2005 to $200,000 in second quarter 2007, and $193,000 for the third quarter. The median price was $199,900 a year ago.”

“‘Although affordability has improved, higher gasoline prices, more congested highways and limited employment opportunities continue to adversely impact the housing market in Pinal County,’ said Jay Butler, director of Realty Studies at ASU.”

The Arizona Daily Star. “With the real estate slowdown settling in, local real estate professionals have been diving into volunteer efforts for first-time home-buying programs.”

“‘It’s a great time for buyers, especially first-time home-buyers because homes are a little bit more affordable than they were a year ago,’ said Judy Lowe, president of the Tucson Association of Realtors MLS.”

“Amado-Tellez, of Chicanos Por La Causa, said she’s happy to see more real estate professionals taking an interest in first-time and lower-income home-buyers. That hasn’t always been the case, she said.”

“‘I always can tell when things are slow because they start calling us,’ she said, referring to real estate agents looking for program participants as clients. ‘When things are really, really hot, they can’t be bothered.’”

The Review Journal from Nevada. “The Bureau of Land Management is holding its next public land auction Thursday at the Clark County Government Center. A total of 167.5 acres in parcels will be available for sale under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998.”

“The previous auction in March resulted in four parcels totaling 25 acres being sold for nearly $12.5 million, or roughly $500,000 an acre.”

“Fewer than 100 people attended that auction, which was held at the BLM’s Las Vegas field office. Past auctions have packed up to 2,000 people into venues such as Sam’s Town Live and 500 into the Cashman Center Theater and the Clark County Government Center.”

The Nevada Appeal. “Placer County is still accepting applications for residential building permits allocated by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency for 2007.”

“In another measure of the state’s slowdown in housing construction, nearly half the county’s share of about 50 residential building permits remain available.”

“In recent years, heavy demand for the annual allocations have led planners to conduct a lottery among hopeful applicants. That’s not the case this year. The remaining 23 allocations are available on a first-come, first-served basis.”

“Each year, the bistate planning agency decides how many new houses should be allocated and distributes them to local governments in the Basin: Placer and El Dorado counties in California, Douglas and Washoe counties in Nevada and the City of South Lake Tahoe. Any remaining unused 2007 allocations will be forfeited and returned to the Tahoe agency.”

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Reuters, “GMAC reported a $1.6 billion third-quarter loss on Thursday, as housing and capital market disruptions caused losses to hemorrhage at its home lending unit. Results reflected a $2.26 billion loss in GMAC’s Residential Capital LLC, or ResCap, mortgage unit, including a $1.81 billion operating loss and a $455 million goodwill write-down.”

“Moody’s on Thursday downgraded GMAC and ResCap’s debt ratings deeper into ‘junk’ territory, saying ResCap may need more capital to keep operating normally.”

“‘The third-quarter financial performance of ResCap is a major disappointment,’ GMAC CEO Eric Feldstein said in a statement. ‘Weakness in the housing market and mortgage industry continues to prevail.’”

“Like many lenders, ResCap has struggled as falling home prices and rising interest rates have made it tougher for many homeowners to keep up with their mortgage payments.”

“Credit Suisse said third-quarter profit at its investment bank was all but wiped out by writedowns…of over 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.9 billion) in leveraged loan commitments, residential mortgages and collateralized debt obligations.”

“‘The extreme market conditions that characterized the third quarter affected many of our businesses,”‘ CEO Brady Dougan said in a statement on Thursday. ‘It is too early to predict when all of the affected markets will return to normal levels.’”

“Chief Financial Officer Renato Fassbind left open the possibility of Credit Suisse having to make further valuation changes, which may include writedowns to its credit markets exposure, cautioning that ‘fair value accounting is subject to market developments.’”

From Bloomberg. “Radian Group Inc., the third-biggest U.S. mortgage insurer, reported a loss of $703.9 million, the largest yet in an industry roiled by claims from failed home loans.”

“The worst U.S. housing slump in 16 years deepened as homeowners with private mortgage insurance defaulted on 22 percent more loans in September than a year earlier, according to an industry trade group.”

“‘Radian has higher exposure to some of the riskiest product lines, including second liens, which may continue to add to losses in the quarters ahead,’ Andrew Brill, an analyst at Goldman Sachs said today. ‘Major risks remain.’”

“‘Mortgage insurance credit losses will continue to impact our results for the foreseeable future,’ CEO S.A. Ibrahim said in the statement.”

“Credit-default swaps tied to Radian soared 123 basis points to 835 basis points, the widest level in 11 weeks, according to CMA Datavision in New York. The derivatives are used to speculate on the company’s ability to repay its debt, or hedge against the risk it won’t. They rise as investor confidence deteriorates.”

From Business Week. “An exotic form of bond insurance could be the next hidden hazard to blow up in the global credit minefield. An obscure company called ACA Capital might spark the explosion.”

“Now the crisis is spreading from Wall Street, which has taken $35 billion in subprime-related write-downs and lost more than $220 billion in stock value, to a less well known corner of the financial world, that of the bond insurers.”

“These firms sell insurance to banks and other major investors for bonds backed by mortgages and the complicated investments that hold the bonds, known as collateralized debt obligations [CDOs].”

“Anxiety has focused on ACA Capital, a small player with big exposure to CDOs.”

“A New York company with less than $500 million in annual revenue, ACA has just $326 million in capital for potential payouts if the CDOs it insures go bad. Yet it has sold coverage worth nearly $16 billion, with most policies written for CDOs created in the past couple of years.”

“Those are especially problematic vintages because lending standards grew so lax in 2006 and 2007. Many believe the subprime debacle has yet to run its course.”

“‘There was a perception that the worst was over,” says Timothy M. Ghriskey, a co-founder of the $250 million Solaris Asset Management. ‘But there’s no question this is going to go on for a while.’”

From Forbes Financial. “The US financial sector will still see ‘considerable’ write-downs in the coming 6-12 months, Pimco managing director Bill Gross told Boersen-Zeitung.”

“‘Oxygen is the enemy of bacteria, and sub-prime loans as well as other debt need fresh air and must be exposed to pricing by the market,’ Gross said. ‘Keeping loans in the books only delays this painful process.’”

“U.S. home foreclosures doubled in the third quarter from a year earlier as subprime borrowers failed to make higher payments on adjustable-rate mortgages, RealtyTrac Inc. said”

“California, Florida and Ohio accounted for 44 percent of the total, and Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate at one for every 61 households. Forty-five of 50 states had increases.”

“Foreclosure filings in the third quarter increased 30 percent from the previous three months.”

“California, with some of the most expensive U.S. homes, had 148,147 filings on 94,772 properties, a 36 percent increase from the second quarter and a nearly four-fold jump from a year ago, RealtyTrac said. Florida, where speculators bet on rising home prices, had 86,465 filings on 60,992 properties, up 50 percent from the second quarter and more than double a year ago.”

From CNBC. “I know a lot of you don’t like the foreclosure reports offered by RealtyTrac because of the methodology involved. RealtyTrac counts ‘foreclosure filings,’ which include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, so one property could ostensibly get several hits.”

“But you all should know that in the 2007 mid-year report, RealtyTrac started a new data string, a count of ‘unique addresses in some stage of foreclosure. This new metric only counts a property once, even if there were multiple foreclosure actions filed against the property during the time period covered by the report.’”

The Associated Press. “New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday a major real estate appraisal company colluded with the nation’s largest savings and loan companies to inflate the values of homes, contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis.”

“‘This is a case we believe is indicative of an industry-wide problem,’ Cuomo said in a news conference.”

“Cuomo announced a lawsuit against eAppraiseIT that accuses the First American Corp. subsidiary of caving in to pressure from Washington Mutual to use a list of ‘proven appraisers’ who he claims inflated home appraisals.”

“He also released e-mails that he said show executives were aware they were violating federal regulations. ‘These blatant actions of First American and eAppraiseIT have contributed to the growing foreclosure crisis and turmoil in the housing market,’ Cuomo said in a statement. ‘By allowing Washington Mutual to hand-pick appraisers who inflated values, First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion.’”

From KATV 7. “For the second time in two months the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates. However, if you’re looking to buy a house, experts say the federal interest rate cut doesn’t mean you’ll get a lower mortgage rate.”

“One local mortgage broker says rates actually rose just a bit Wednesday, but a local realtor says housing prices are dropping. So, even though you’re getting a higher-rate mortgage, you could also potentially pay below market-value on your next home.”

“Meantime, you’ve probably seen a few more ‘For Sale’ signs in your neighborhood lately. Realtor Joanne Homeyer explains her theory on why. ‘A lot of it, I feel like, is the bad publicity,’ Homeyer said.”

“Lender Jim Carroll says a cut from the Federal Reserve doesn’t mean you’ll save on your 30-year fixed-rate loan. ‘In the grand scheme of things we do not have a direct relationship with a Fed cut lowering our rates,’ he said.”

“Central banks, lauded as near infallible pilots of the monetary economy in recent years, are facing uncomfortable doubts about their collective grip on credit markets, interest rate structures and inflation”

“The net result is that market inflation expectations, crucial in assessing investor confidence in central banks keeping a lid on inflation over time, are now rising.”

“‘The Fed’s forecasting record is in tatters, the dollar is in tatters and inflation expectations are ticking up,’ said Nick Parsons, chief market strategist at nabCapital in London. ‘They are now in danger of losing control of every part of the yield curve from overnight out to 10-years.’”

“‘Losing control of Libor may be unfortunate, but losing control of official rates is potentially disastrous,’ he said.”

“Whether he carries part of the blame or not, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan said this month he believes central banks, including the Fed, have struggled for years to influence long-term rates central to the pivotal housing boom and bust.”

“‘Central banks have essentially lost control of markets beyond 3, 4, 5 years out,’ Greenspan said.”

“Even if you believe the leading central banks are still in charge Thomas Mayer, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank, says the dilemma they face is that ‘there is no nice, middle way.’”

“Helping debtors repay is one thing, but if inflation erodes the value of those repayments, creditors will demand a price that will lead to higher borrowing costs.”

“‘If financial markets wake up to rising inflation — then we have a problem,’ said Mayer.”

From Timberline Magazine. “The housing correction continues: Both total starts and single family starts are off 31% from year ago levels (September 2006). Inventories of new homes for sale remain at 8.2 months supply (August) while existing homes have a 10 month supply. The total inventory is 529,000 new homes and 4.56 million existing homes – that’s 5.1 million homes for sale – about double the typical inventory over the past decade.”

“To date, new home prices are coming down faster than existing homes, probably because there is more incentive (inventory carrying cost) for the builders to unload bloated inventories. ”

“A common problem, however, is that many of the potential buyers of new homes are owners of existing homes and in most cases; they need to find a buyer for their home before they buy a new home. That means existing home prices have to come down quite a bit.”

“The message to me is that the builders are really trying their best to lower inventories; by lowering prices and offering other incentives; however, until existing homes prices show more of a downward correction (thus improving affordability), the overall housing market won’t pick up much momentum in my opinion. ”

“Existing homes represent about 85% of the housing market, and because the inventory overhang is greatest there (10 months versus 8 months for new homes – and many of these ‘existing homes’ are newly bought (speculation), but now vacant, thus competing directly with ‘new homes’), the overall housing market won’t reverse course until the problems ( prices are too high) in the ‘resale market’ are fixed.”

“Prices are still too high in many regions of the country, particularly when factoring in higher interest rates and tighter lending standards which reduces the potential pool of buyers.”

“The ‘obvious solution’ is a significant fall (10% or more) in prices for existing homes - will it happen - and will it adversely affect the rest of the economy, is the 64,000 dollar question. Personally, I believe the economy is strong enough to absorb the recession in the housing market and further fall in existing home prices.”

Seacoast Online reports from New Hampshire. “Housing prices continue to spiral downward nationwide, making the real estate market tough for buyers and sellers alike. ‘The Seacoast clearly isn’t getting hit as hard, which isn’t to say we aren’t still getting hit,’ York real estate broker Jim Hager said.”

“Carolyn Kindley-Single, a broker in Exeter, said the average price of houses sold by her firm has dipped from $435,000 to $350,000. ‘Educating buyers and sellers about the fact that the market is correcting itself is one of the most important things we’re doing right now. If a house is at fair market value, and the market value has gone down, then it’s where it needs to be and it sells,’ she said.”

“The owner/broker of RE/MAX Coast to Coast in Portsmouth said data from his company shows a housing price drop of some 15 percent from 2004, when prices peaked. ‘Too many people think of a home as an investment instead of a home,’ Paul Hamblett said. ‘There’s a sale going on because we have lots of inventory and lower prices.’”

“University of New Hampshire economics professor Ross Gittell warned that the poor quality of lending during the end of the housing boom could soon affect the region and the rest of the country.”

“‘To a point, (the drop in home prices is) a natural correction, but it’s exacerbated by (loans),’ Gittell said. ‘The real concern coming up is the credit crisis, and the fact that the quality of lending really went down at the end of the housing boom.’”

From Newsday in New York. “A crisis related to mortgage lending has caused a wave of layoffs in the securities industry and threatened annual bonuses, which are much bigger than salaries for many Wall Street workers.”

“Companies that have announced layoffs so far include Lehman Brothers, which cut 2,500 mortgage jobs nationally; Citicorp, which eliminated 1,600 New York City positions last spring; and Bear Stearns, which has shed about 900 jobs in its mortgage unit as well as in other areas.”

“State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that, depending on how long the credit crunch lasts, job losses might ‘accelerate’ next year.”

“DiNapoli said Wall Street bonuses probably will be smaller this year because third-quarter profits of the seven biggest financial firms based in New York City dropped nearly 65 percent from the year-earlier period.”

“Because of demand by Wall Street workers for everything from jewelry to furs to nannies, home builders and gardeners, every new Wall Street job results not only in two more jobs in New York City, but 1.3 jobs in suburban areas, according to DiNapoli’s office. Using that math, four lost jobs on Wall Street eventually would result in more than five lost positions on the Island.”

“One sign of trouble would be a slowdown in sales of homes in the Hamptons, a favorite place for Wall Streeters to escape on summer weekends. Paul Brennan, regional manager for the Hamptons for Prudential Douglas Elliman, said sales have indeed slowed in recent months.”

“But the phenomenon might be due to home prices that are simply too high, rather than fears about jobs or bonuses, Brennan said.”

The Wall Street Journal on New York. “With the worst housing market in recent years, St. Joseph is enjoying a flurry of attention. Some vendors of religious supplies say St. Joseph statues are flying off the shelves as an increasing number of skeptics and non-Catholics look for some saintly intervention to help them sell their houses.”

“Cari Luna and her husband put their Brooklyn, N.Y., house on the market this year and offers kept falling through, Ms. Luna turned to an unlikely source for help: St. Joseph.”

“After Ms. Luna and her husband held five open houses, even baking cookies for one of them, she ordered a St. Joseph ‘real estate kit’ online and buried the three-inch white statue in her yard.”

“‘I wasn’t sure if it would be disrespectful for me, a Jewish Buddhist, to co-opt this saint for my real-estate purposes,’ says Ms. Luna. She figured, ‘Well, could it hurt?’”

From Business First in New York. “Consumer confidence in New York state dropped to its lowest point in five years in October, according to the monthly survey from the Siena Research Institute in Albany.”

“In Upstate New York, respondents to the survey registered an index level of 67.7, a 7.7 point drop. And looking ahead, SRI said, there is not a whole lot of optimism.”

“‘Future confidence took a beating,’ said Douglas Lonnstrom, SRI director. ‘After Upstate optimism reached a five-year high last January, a combination of high energy prices, the ripple effect of the housing slump and staggering personal debt has led us to equaling the record low.’”

“Buying plans…fell for homes and computers.”

From WNYT Albany in New York. “The housing crunch is taking its toll on the middle class in the Capital Region. Sales of single family homes have hit a five year low according to a report by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors. The housing market started off very shaky this fall in the Capital Region. September saw a huge dip in home sales.”

“Brigitt LeVigne of Clifton Park has been looking for a new home for the past year. ‘It’s been challenging,’ she says.”

“That’s partly because she and her husband have to sell the one they currently own first. Lavigne is concerned that her home is worth less now than a year ago.”

“The issue for the Capital Region is that homes just aren’t selling the way they did last year. The Association of Realtors reports sales of single family homes plummeted 26 percent in September. They’re down slightly for the year.’

“‘There are some houses that do sell rather quickly, everything comes down to prices,’ said Patrick Seeberger of Yankee Realty.”

“A luxury home listed by Willie Miranda on Coventry Drive in Clifton Park, has had many showings. The price tag is just over $400,000, but no takers yet.”

“‘People who are now in the market place need to sell their home first in order to buy a new home so now it’s taking longer to sell their existing home and that’s scaring some of the sellers and buyers in the marketplace,’ said Willie Miranda of the Miranda Real Estate Group.”

The Times Union in New York. “The pace of home sales in the Capital Region fell dramatically in September, according to statistics. Most counties saw a staggering drop in the number of homes sold, compared to the same month a year ago. Schenectady County saw the steepest drop, with sales of single-family homes falling 40 percent.”

“The numbers from the Greater Capital Association of Realtors Inc. hammer home the continuing slowdown of the area’s housing market: The Colonie-based trade association said Monday the pace of home sales is the slowest here since 2002.”

“Most Realtors agree new homes are a particularly soft part of the market. That’s because new homes tend to be more expensive, and home builders are less willing to negotiate down the price of a home.”

“Despite Monday’s rather grim statistics, Realtors say the housing market in the Capital Region is healthy. They stress that the decline is from years of red-hot sales.”

“‘If you price a house right, it will still sell,’ said Anthony Gucciardo, a Realtor in Latham. ‘It’s all about the pricing.’”

“Still, Gucciardo said the slowing market is taking a toll on some Realtors, especially young agents who entered the industry in recent years. ‘A lot of them have left the business,’ he said. ‘It’s unfortunate, but I go into restaurants and I see them waiting tables.’”

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