The Housing Bubble Blog

Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.

Our Broken Housing Market

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "A scarcity of homes for sale and record-low mortgage rates are setting up for a bullish real estate market, Zelman & Associates CEO Ivy Zelman said on CNBC. 'I think we're in nirvana for housing,' she said. 'I'm probably the most bullish I've ever...
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Prices On Another Planet

The Geelong Advertiser reports from Australia. "Stockland is abandoning its controversial housing estate at Point Lonsdale, hoping to sell its holding after posting a half-yearly loss. Australia's biggest housing developer revealed it had identified 13 residential projects to sell off, after...
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The Opportunity And The Sacrifice In California

The Orange County Register reports from California. "Yes, we now hear pundits claiming the recent advances in home prices should be viewed with steep skepticism, as in the minds of these purported experts these price increases may already be overdone. I'm all for a healthy debate. But some of these...
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Austerity And Infinite Amounts Of Money

Readers suggested a topic on the political economy. "Now that Wall Street has shrugged off the sequester as a non-event, and Obama has dialed back the fearmongering rhetoric related to the impact of the sequester, will Obama accept the Republican offer that would allow him to reapportion the cuts...
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The Same Excitement In The Air

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Martin O’Connor, Toll Brothers’ chief financial officer, said the company expects to build between 3,750 and 4,300 homes this year, ranging in price from $595,000 to $630,000. The development builder said New Jersey and New York remain among their...
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The Biggest Risk To The Stability Of The Economy

A report from AFP on China. "It was billed as China's Dubai: a cluster of sail-shaped skyscrapers on a man-made island surrounded by tropical sea, the epitome of an unprecedented property boom that transformed skylines across the country. But prices on Phoenix Island, off the palm-tree lined...
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