The Housing Bubble

Please post items of interest from outside the US here.

The Bend Bulletin reports from Oregon. “Paul Helikson stepped into the swirling snow on the steps of the Deschutes County Courthouse on a Thursday morning just before Christmas. Another day, another foreclosure auction. As is usually the case, nobody raised a hand to bid on the little north Bend house, where the owner owed the bank more than $12,000 in unpaid mortgage payments. In fact, as is often the case, no potential bidders showed up at all.”

“More than 590 properties entered the earliest stages of the formal foreclosure process last year in Deschutes County, according to records on file in the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office, the highest number this decade and, even in proportion to the county’s growth, the highest rate of potential defaults per 1,000 housing units since the post-9/11 recession of 2002.”

“Failed investments account for some of it. One investor went on a buying spree from September 2006 through February 2007, county records show, taking out mortgages on 17 different properties. He stopped paying on all of them last July, leaving about $23,305 per month in unpaid mortgage payments in his wake.”

“Other cases, like the single mother’s home that Helikson auctioned on the courthouse steps, were driven by a combination of loans that were given out too generously at the peak of the housing boom’s price spike, a borrower’s job loss, a health problem, or some other financial setback that caused their payments to fall behind.”

“Thirty-eight Bend-area houses were designated ’short sales’ on the Central Oregon MLS Thursday, agent Jane Flood said, out of a total of about 1,200 listed for sale. But that doesn’t mean they are the only homes that will ultimately sell short.”

“Often, broker Terry Denoux said, borrowers will list their homes while a foreclosure is pending, fishing for the best deal they can find to pitch to the bank.”

“Some houses that were bought with 100 percent financing 12 to 18 months ago may have lost 10 percent of their market value since then, depending on where they are and what they are, Denoux said, so picking them up at auction at the lender’s asking price might be a mistake.”

“‘To a lot of people, the word foreclosure indicates, ‘Oh! Good deal! Fire sale!’ Denoux said. ‘And sometimes that’s not the case.’”

“Flood, who contracted with RealtyTrac to send her sales leads last year, said she dropped that contract this year to concentrate more on relocation business, even though she still bills herself as a ‘foreclosure specialist.’”

“‘I felt I knew everything I wanted to know about foreclosures,’ Flood said. ‘And, you know, some of the people you couldn’t help.’”

The Register Guard from Oregon. “Foreclosures against Lane County homeowners increased in 2007 at a rate almost seven times higher than those statewide, according to RealtyTrac. 1,227 homes in the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan service district entered the foreclosure process in 2007. That’s an 83 percent increase over the 672 Lane County homes that were foreclosed upon in 2006.”

“‘I’m not surprised, given what’s been going on in the national housing market,’ said Tim Duy, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Oregon.”

“‘It was unrealistic to expect we weren’t going to be hit by similar trends,’ Duy said. ‘In Eugene, we didn’t have the hot housing market. Still, the weaker underwriting standards (for mortgages) were pushing people into houses they probably couldn’t afford. Now they’re in foreclosure as a result.’”

“‘What I think is happening here, the biggest factor is the slower appreciation of home prices,’ said economic consultant Bill Conerly of Portland. ‘If you can’t make (mortgage) payments but your house is going up in value, you can sell it and come out without a foreclosure. With slower appreciation, it makes you more vulnerable.’”

“Lane County records confirm an increase in homeowners in trouble, with 2,207 notices of default filed in 2007. There were 1,844 notices filed in 2006. But the county records also indicate the trend may be increasing. There were 238 default notices filed this month through Tuesday, compared with 121 during the same 29-day period during January 2006.”

“Todd Williams, legislative committee chairman for the Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals, said that neither his organization nor the mortgage industry as a whole dispute that many inadvisable home loans were made during the housing boom of 2002 through 2005.”

“‘A lot of folks chose to buy a house and get a loan that, really, they could never afford,’ Williams said.”

The Chronicle from Washington. “The subprime mortgage crisis may not have hit Lewis County as hard as it hit the rest of the country, but there was still a noticeable impact throughout 2007.”

“Lewis County had 231 foreclosures filed last year, up 32 percent from 2006. ‘Going back to about August of last year, we started seeing a lot of subprime companies having problems with people not being able to make payments,’ said Sharyll Fisher, branch manager of Chehalis’ Horizon Mortgage. ‘It leads them into foreclosure, so the subprime companies sitting on a lot of loans (that are not being paid back) go into bankruptcy or try to sell.’”

“‘Banks are trying to recoup some of what they’re sitting on,’ she added. ‘It’s definitely a tough market right now.’”

“Gary Rask bought out his parents’ former home in Winlock from his sister about two years ago. Rask, retired and on a fixed income, took out an adjustable rate mortgage with a 6.75 percent interest rate and a monthly payment of just under $700.”

“‘Then, all of the sudden, I get this notice from the mortgage company,’ said Ras. ‘It said my payment would be going up, and said it’d be sizable.’”

“His payment jumped to about $900 a month, and the interest rate rose to 10.75 percent.”

“He was able to refinance the loan and, with a little help from his children. ‘At the time, with the estate and the income, they had to put me in the adjustable rate, and said that it could go either way,’ he said. ‘As it turned out, it went up.’”

“The adjustable rate mortgage was, essentially, a gamble. ‘You can’t foresee what’s coming down the road,’ he said. ‘If I’d gotten locked in, I’d have been fine. I got caught up in the system.’”

“Ted Holmes, a title examiner for Lewis County Title Company, said he was surprised the subprime drop didn’t come sooner.”

“‘We’ve been saying for a number of years, we knew it was coming,’ Holmes said. ‘You could see it. We were getting applications and so on from lenders who send those things through the mail like candy.’”

“Lewis County Title Company was averaging over 200 orders a month for more than two years when the mortgage boom was on, he said. ‘People were selling off bad paper,’ he said. ‘They’d get in any way they could.’”

“The rising real estate prices could only hold out so long. ‘That kind of came to a screeching halt last year,’ he explained.”

“The two kinds of loans that became problems were option-arm loans and 228 loans. The thought was that, in two years, the home would have appreciated in value. When the housing market slowed that theory proved false.”

“A huge number of those loans were done about two years ago, said Diane Inman, working with Serenity Mortgage and a broker since 1974.”

“‘I’m not so sure everybody, officers included, understood the impact,’ she said, regarding the volume of subprime loans issued. ‘A lot of loan officers were newer, and just didn’t have the experience of being in a market where someone would really have to hand in their keys.’”

The Columbian from Washington. “Foreclosures increased significantly in Clark County in the last three months of 2007, reflecting the increasing problems of overstretched homeowners. The 494 foreclosures filed here in the three months ending in December more than doubled the 208 foreclosures filed in the same period in 2006, according to RealtyTrac.”

“The end-of-year surge coincides with an increase in the number of new and pre-owned homes for sale in the county and doesn’t surprise those who’ve been tracking the local market.”

“‘The wave is finally hitting the beach,’ said Dick Riley, co-owner of appraisal firm in Vancouver and an economic forecaster for The Columbian.”

“He blamed subprime mortgage loans sold during the 2005 housing boom - now 12 months past due - for the rise in fourth-quarter foreclosures. In many cases, lenders gave buyers a false sense of what they were worth, Riley said.”

“‘People bought homes that they couldn’t afford and had no business buying,’ Riley said.”

The Bellingham Heraldfrom Washington. “When it comes to foreclosure filings, Whatcom County took some lumps in 2007. There were 379 Whatcom County foreclosures filings in 2007, an 83 percent increase from the previous year, according to RealtyTrac.”

“What could be a troubling sign for Whatcom County is what’s been happening lately. There were 133 filings in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest quarterly total in the past three years. The next highest was in the second quarter of 2007, when 90 were filed.”

“Glenn Crellin, director at the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University, said the biggest problems in the state will probably be in the greater Seattle area, but overall the state won’t be hit hard.”

“‘Washington wasn’t as involved in the high-risk loans as other parts of the country,’ Crellin said.”

“‘I really don’t think we’re in a hurtful area,’ said Mark Cross, president and owner of Security First Mortgage and Escrow in Bellingham. ‘We haven’t seen a big price drop. We’ve seen some corrections.’”

“But he also acknowledged that the mortgage market is national, and mortgage loan requirements have tightened here, just as they have everywhere else. Some people have borrowed against all of their home equity, and lenders let them do it, Cross said. Now, with steep price increases cooling and refinancing harder to get, those people are getting squeezed.”

“‘I have people calling me and saying, ‘I can make my payment but I don’t have any equity in it. Why should I be making payments on it? I might as well mail the keys back to the bank,’ he said.”

“Tony Brooks blames a mortgage broker for the loss of his home, and wanted state lawmakers to know his story. Brooks drove twice to Olympia from Seattle in the span of a week to testify for a crackdown on brokers.”

“‘There are predatory lenders out there ripping off people with subprime loans,’ Brooks said. ‘By me going down there, they will see somebody that it happened to.’”

“Proposals targeting mortgage brokers that would require full disclosure on all points in a loan, such as possible fees and interest rates, in plain language, require brokers to act in good faith toward borrowers, and increase state oversight.”

“‘Mortgage brokers are an unregulated group of people that sometimes prey on people’s lack of knowledge,’ said Sen. Brian Weinstein, who sponsored the good-faith bill.”

“The mortgage brokers oppose Weinstein’s bill, fearing it will open floodgates for lawsuits. ‘We’re already serving our customers in a fashion that already represents a commitment to the customer,’ said Dave Erickson, the Washington Association of Mortgage Broker’s president.”

“Erickson also doesn’t buy the dire predictions, saying that the percentage of subprime loans in trouble in Washington is small compared to other states, and that property values are holding steady. Mortgage brokers, he said, are taking an unfair amount of the blame.”

“‘There’s plenty of borrowers who say ‘I didn’t know, nobody told me,’ and yet you see their fingerprints all over the disclosures mandated by federal and state laws,’ Erickson said.”

“Brooks ran into trouble when he refinanced his home in Seattle’s Rainier Valley area in 1998. After being fired from Boeing, a divorce, and the opening of his barbershop, he was left in a financial bind and refinanced with a subprime loan to tap the equity in his home.”

“By 2002, he had filed for bankruptcy twice, and was falling into more debt after his monthly payments went from $1,400 to $2,900, something Brooks said this broker didn’t tell him would happen.”

“He acknowledges that he didn’t know much about loans when he refinanced, but he expected his mortgage broker to look out for him. ‘I’m a really hard worker,’ Brooks said. ‘When you go out to refinance your life’s work, you’d think the broker would be there to help you.’”

Readers suggested a topic around the deteriorating economic situation. “I’ve just heard that a So Cal fire dept was/is in contract negotiations. No raise. They’re being asked to take a 9% reduction in pay. Expect this trend to grow.”

Another said, “My sweetheart works in education for a Sacramento area school district. She just told me last week that the State of CA budget cuts means no raises at all this year. Batten down the hatches. The reality is that just having a recession resistant job is going to be comfort enough.”

A reply, “It give some comfort; however, while these jobs are more recession-resistant than others, they are not recession-proof. This is one aspect I and others were trying to get across to the ‘anti-union’ types. NOBODY will come out unscathed, IMO.”

“I think, once people realize the magnitude of what we’re dealing with, we are going to see a consumer pull-back the likes of which we haven’t seen in a great, great while.”

Another added, “My husband is a principal for the alternative school in an inner city school district and both times in the last two recessions, they cut the weeks he worked and we took not only a cut in wages, but a wage freeze for 3 years. We were just grateful he had a job and tightened our belts to accommodate the reduced wages.”

One on costs, “Whatever happened to wages keeping up with inflation and loan resets? This will be the perfect storm for J6P.”

One looks for safety, “A topic that interests me is what are the industries/jobs/fields that are OK in a recession/depression. Entertainment (books, internet, movies, etc). If one were to start a business that would survive and even possibly flourish, what do previous recessions tell us they would most likely be?”

One added, “How about a discussion on recession proof businesses, if in fact such a beast exists….. What products pricing will unwind? Aside from houses that is.”

A reply, “I would assume a general statement such as the more difficult the profession is to learn, the more recession proof it is. IE. Doctor, Farmer, Unix admin may generally hold up better than Realtor (1 week class?), Retail clerk, Widget production line.”

“Granted many skilled people will lose jobs, but I would rather be in the technical or medical profession at the grunt level rather than a manager of a retail chain store.”

The New York Times. “The nation’s employers eliminated 17,000 jobs in January, the government reported Friday, the first decline in the work force in more than four years.”

“The broad weakness in the job market, which affected many sectors, shows how the collapse of the housing bubble is rippling through the rest of the economy and suggests the likelihood of more pain for millions of American families in the months ahead from job losses, lower real wages and fewer working hours.”

The Bradenton Herald. “Renowned Florida economist Henry Fishkind brought his trademark brand of stand-up forecasting to Lakewood Ranch on Friday. Opening with a projected slide of an alligator in his backyard, Fishkind said the errant and dangerous reptile was representative of the economy of late.”

“‘Certainly, the economy has turned down,’ Fishkind said. ‘The rest of 2008 is going to be a very slow year - 1 to 2 percent growth at best.’”

“‘What we are going to see this year is the collapse of the condo market, both in Manatee and Sarasota counties,’ Fishkind said.”

“We will we see a recession? That depends on the status of job growth, Fishkind said, adding that the nation needs to see about 100,000 jobs added each month to avoid a recession.”

“The local area, as a whole, lost about 2,300 jobs during 2007, most of those the result of the housing slump, Fishkind said.”

The Medill Reports. “While economists debate definitions and indicators, W Hotel doorman Matt Geiger in Chicago’s Loop is among those who say there’s no question the country is in a recession. ‘Nobody wants to use the R word,’ Geiger said. ‘But we’re in it.’”

“Some in the service industry say they have noticed. ‘People are tipping less,’ said Nick Axiotis, manager of Marquette Inn Restaurant at 60 W. Adams. He also said business has slowed significantly since the holidays.”

The Arizona Republic. “More economists now believe Arizona is already in a recession - or will be by the end of the year - because growth in consumer spending is anemic and fewer jobs are being created.”

“A survey of Arizona’s top economic forecasters found that 35 percent believe a recession has begun in the state, and three-fourths believe a recession will be at hand by the end of the year.”

“‘This is no disaster, but I think it will be the weakest economy we have had since 1980 to 1982,’ Scottsdale economist Elliot Pollack said.”

“Pollack, who as late as last fall had said that a recession was unlikely, said he changed his mind after seeing the latest retail and job-growth numbers. He now believes a recession is likely in the state this year and maybe into next year.”

“The latest Arizona Business Conditions index, released Friday, rose a bit from a reading of 47.7 in December to 49.6 in January but is still way below the 64.3 of July. But anything less than 50 indicates a lack of growth in the near term and indicates a recession is likely in four to six months, said Dawn McLaren, research economist at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business.”

“The last time the index was below 50 was in September 2002, when the state was coming out of a recession. The index has correctly forecast recessions since it was started 45 years ago.”

“Sources of consumer money have been shrinking: first home-equity loans, then credit, the stock market and now maybe the possibility of getting a new or better-paying job.”

“Pollack said, ‘They (consumers) have to pay down debt and increase their savings, and they can’t do that out of their houses or the stock market anymore. They have to do it with real earnings.’”

“‘The employment data is my single largest concern in the economy, both in Arizona and national,’ said economist said Steve Taddie. ‘It has been a year and a half since people have been able to really use their home equity. Without that, the spending growth has to come from employment.’”

The Union Tribune. “With unemployment hovering near 5 percent and home foreclosures surging, the local economy has probably dipped into ‘the San Diego equivalent of a recession,’ according to an economic index released yesterday.”

“After two years of slowing, job growth has dropped beneath the rate of population growth and unemployment has hit a four-year high, leading USD economist Alan Gin to conclude that the economy may be in a San Diego-style recession.”

“Gin expects local companies will hire only 5,000 to 8,000 people this year, compared with 10,700 last year and 17,800 the year before. ‘That’s not enough jobs, given our natural population growth and aging,’ Gin said. ‘And then there’s also slower economic activity, including slower home sales.’”

“But the local economy still does not match the technical definition of a full-blown recession because there has been not been a year-to-year decline in employment or the gross regional product. Gin predicts that conditions will not get that bad because of the county’s diversified economy, strong tech sector, tourism industry and military bases.”

“‘In terms of an actual recession, I don’t think that can happen,’ he said.”

“‘I hope he’s right,’ said James Hamilton, economist at the University of California San Diego. ‘But in a some ways, I think we’re more vulnerable to a downturn than a lot of other regions. We had a much bigger run-up in home prices and are having a bigger fall. There’s a potential for much bigger price declines, which could have a big effect on consumer confidence and spending.’”

The Capital Times reports from Wisconsin. “Mortgage foreclosures in Dane County leapt nearly 80 percent in 2007, matching the national increase as the local housing boom went bust and risky loans went sour. Stella Morris and her family lost a west side condominium, last fall after the interest rate on their adjustable rate mortgage reset at a level they could not afford.”

“The increase in the interest rate, and monthly payment, for the couple’s adjustable rate mortgage came right when the condominium association raised its assessment rates and the family had some medical bills.”

“‘The last raise was $800 a month more. We just couldn’t swing it,’ she said. Beyond that was the back money owed on the mortgage, $27,000 at one point, said Morris, a stay-at-home mother of one whose husband is a computer consultant.”

“Morris said she earned extra money cleaning houses and walking dogs and held a garage sale to try to raise enough to bring the loan up to date. The couple eventually approached family and friends for loans. ‘We called everybody we knew, we couldn’t come up with that kind of money,’ Morris said.”

“Looking back, Morris said she wishes it had not been so easy to get a loan that proved too much to handle. ‘I think we went over our heads and they allowed it,’ Morris said. ‘I didn’t go to financial classes — I don’t know any of this stuff.’”

“Morris says she and her husband will spend the next year or two reestablishing their credit rate, so they can eventually buy a house or condominium again. ‘We’ll get through it,’ she said. ‘I think we’ll do a fixed rate this time, unless we get extremely disciplined and have a larger down payment,’ she said.”

“There’s more houses being foreclosed on, but for most of them, so much of the mortgage loan is outstanding that it makes little sense for anyone but the lender to buy them, said Janice Haak, who calls herself ‘the queen of foreclosures.’ At four recent auctions, nearly all of the properties for sale drew a single bidder: the lender.”

“Real estate agent Victor Villacrez said over the past few years he has seen an influx of Latino homeowners desperate to sell after falling behind in mortgage payments. ‘A lot of my clients don’t understand what they signed. A lot of English-speaking individuals have a hard time with the fine print on a mortgage,’ Villacrez said.”

“Villacrez said he works with the lenders to accept a ’short sale.’ ‘Probably 90 percent of my Hispanic clients looking to sell are in that position,’ he said.”

“The bungled home purchase will likely wipe out equity a client has been able to build and with it, the start of building ‘wealth.’”

“‘A lot of Latinos took the risk of going into home ownership because they want to a secure financial future for their families,’ he said. ‘That dream is gone.’”

The Post Crescent from Wisconsin. “In the greater Fox Cities area, housing starts were down about 9 percent in 2007 when compared with 2006. The Valley Home Builders Association recorded 898 housing starts in 2007, down from 986 in 2006. Housing starts for the organization, going back to 2001, peaked in 2003 when 1,796 were logged.”

“Christine Shaefer, executive vice president for VHBA, said Wisconsin did experience a building boom between 2001 and 2005.”

“‘That kind of pace was just unsustainable,’ she said. ‘Because the buying pace was so high, it increased the number of speculative homes that were built and in that economy it was feasible to build because new development was attractive to a lot of people.’”

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. “The owner of a large Milwaukee condominium project, facing major construction cost overruns and mounting debts, has filed for receivership - effectively ending its control of the development.”

“According to the filing, First Place owes nearly $59 million to a group of lenders and investors that helped finance the development of 115 condominiums overlooking the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers.”

“First Place on the River has been hailed as a major part of the downtown condo boom. But the development has had problems, including the firing of its original construction management firm.”

The Chicago Tribune from Illinois. “Another batch of dismal housing data hit the economy Tuesday, including worsening foreclosure rates at a time when recession fears are growing.”

“‘We’re still in the middle of all this,’ said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Home Loans in Livonia, Mich. ‘I would expect the data to get worse before it gets better.’”

“A 20-city index tracked by Standard & Poor’s study found Chicago-area prices in November were 3.9 percent lower than the year before.”

“‘Six months ago, people were saying we will see prices hit rock bottom, and now I don’t think we’re seeing even the most optimistic people saying that,’ said Geoff Smith, VP of the Woodstock Institute in Chicago, which has studied foreclosure trends.”

“Larry Shaw said he isn’t seeing renewal in his South Side neighborhood: He’s seeing ‘For sale’ signs. ‘There are a lot of people in trouble,’ Shaw said. ‘I go down 87th Street and I see homes for sale. People are trying to sell their houses because they can’t afford it.’”

“Shaw said he fell four months behind in his mortgage last year after his loan rate jumped to 12.1 percent from 7.8 percent. He thought he had taken out a fixed-rate mortgage three years earlier.”

“Believing he had been deceived by his lender, he worked with a grass-roots organization that fights predatory lending, to pressure his lender to restructure the loan. Now he has a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 7 percent, he said.”

“‘I think the government should step in and try to protect some of these homeowners from getting caught with predatory loans,’ Shaw said.”

“But J. Edward Katz, a business professor at Penn State University, said he doubted that government interventions could have broad effect. ‘I think we’re just going to have to let the market play out,’ Katz said. ‘The proposals may be in the right direction, in part. But they’re too little, and I think the situation has deteriorated too far.’”

“Smith said that if there’s any room for encouragement in the dreary data, it is that the decline in property values will make homes more affordable and pull buyers back into the market.”

“‘If you see property values coming back down to earth, that’s where you’re going to see a recovery, in affordability,’ he said.”

The Post Dispatch from Missouri. “The good old days for Bill Taylor, of Taylor-Morley Homes, were a mere two years ago. Sales were double what they are today, and his 150-person staff was three times larger.”

“To keep the company afloat, Taylor-Morley has sold off hundreds of undeveloped home sites. And while some of his competitors try to put a positive spin on one of the worst downturns in the home building industry, Taylor knows he’s not alone.”

“‘There’s hordes of people being laid off from other large companies,’ said Taylor, CEO of the Creve Coeur-based company.”

“Slower sales have meant growing volumes of unsold homes on the market. According to Zanola Co., as of November 2007, the St. Louis market had an inventory of 9,064 homes. And 3,143 of those were not sold, the highest rate of unsold new homes in at least 10 years.”

“‘Typically it is prudent to have two to three years of (land) inventory, but because the market was so strong, builders started pipelining four to five years of inventory,’ Taylor said.”

“‘Buyers have the advantage right now, so they are getting incentives where it counts,’ said Matt Belcher, president of Kirkwood-based Belcher Homes. ‘Besides sales incentives, they are also getting financial incentives. I know of builders that are selling inventory homes at right around break-even prices.’”

“Many are counting on lower interest rates to help boost the sluggish market. ‘Maybe it’s a little wishful thinking, but … between that and the prices, it is a great time to buy, and buyers may be ready to move,’ Belcher said.”

The Journal Gazette from Indiana. “Allen County foreclosure filings have almost tripled since 2005, according to a real estate tracking company.”

“Coldwell Banker Roth Wehrly Graber sold about 1,500 foreclosed homes in northeast Indiana last year, said John Bellio, president of sales. Many homeowners who fell behind on their payments made no down payment to buy their houses and then later refinanced to pay off other debts, Bellio said. These owners wound up owing more than their homes were worth.”

“Adjustable-rate mortgages and other unconventional loans ‘were enticing people to get in over their heads,’ said David Ruoff, president of Fort Wayne-based Ruoff Mortgage Co.”

“Many buyers were counting on their homes rising in value, Ruoff said. But property appreciation did not keep pace with their expectations.”

“When borrowers default on their loans, Bellio said, banks try to sell those homes quickly and often at a loss. That can drag down the sale prices of neighboring homes, which must compete to attract a buyer, he said.”

“That can help buyers who want to buy larger, more expensive houses, Bellio said. Even if they lose money selling their current home, buyers can make up for it when they buy their new house at a bargain price. Interest rates below 6 percent make purchases even more attractive, Bellio said.”

“‘It is absolutely a perfect, perfect storm for buying up,’ he said.”

The Enquirer from Ohio. “Kenwood developer Robert C. Rhein Interests Inc. said Friday it is dropping plans for one of the largest single-family housing developments in Liberty Township along LeSourdsville-West Chester Road.”

“And in another sign of the new housing slowdown, Atlanta-based builder Beazer Homes said Friday it will exit the Cincinnati-Dayton market and four other cities in the face of the weak new home market.”

“Rhein planned up to 269 single-family homes starting above $300,000 on the 140-acre site. The project, to be named Glenview Ridge, also called for up to 48 condominium units.”

“Alex Tarasenko, Rhein’s senior VP, said there’s too much new housing on the market in Liberty Township, one of the area’s hottest building markets. It’s not an unusual situation, he said, for strong markets to be caught with too much inventory when things slow down.”

“He said Rhein’s other developments in Mason and Deerfield Township are doing well and it is pursing new projects. ‘We see signs things are improving, but we want to be prudent,’ he said.”

“For example, he said, Rhein is developing an 85-acre site near Keehner Park in West Chester Township for up to 120 single-family homes starting around $500,000.”

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