The Housing Bubble Blog

The Great Falls Tribune reports from Montana. "Zahara Valley Golf Club and a nearby residential development were hit by the national economic downturn and the credit crunch, but things are looking brighter, officials said. The golf course closed early this year, sparking rumors that it would close...

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The Korea Times reports on California. "Yoo Mi-rae says her three-bedroom condo in downtown Los Angeles looked better in June when it fared easily above $550,000. Her new second home an ocean away isn't looking so great four months later, with its value down nearly 5 percent already. Yoo, who spoke...

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Please visit the HBB Forum. Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports from California. "September's median price for a single-family home in the county plunged to $475,000, down 32 percent from a year ago. Last month, the median was $582,000; in September 2007, it was $702,500. The median price hasn't been this low since January 2002....

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "When presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama used 'Joe the Plumber' as a symbol of working-class Americans during Wednesday's debate...they might as well have been talking about...Joe Torres. He's worried that if banks don't open up...

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "Nearly half of the people who bought homes in the Tampa Bay area in the last five years owe more than their home is worth. The story is even worse for those who bought at the market's peak in 2006. More than 70 percent of those buyers in Tampa and St....

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The Press Telegram reports from California. "Statewide home prices will continue to slide in 2009, but sales should inch up as affordability improves, according to an economic forecast released Wednesday by the California Association of Realtors. Single-family home prices should dip about 6 percent...

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The Gazette reports from Colorado. "Unlike just a year or two ago, if area consumers want to borrow money, they'd better have a steady income, a good credit score and some kind of down payment or equity. That's the picture that emerged this week in interviews with a dozen bankers, businessmen and...

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The Modesto Bee reports from California. "Foreclosures dropped dramatically during September throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley, but don't start celebrating yet. Experts warn that the decline was caused by a change in state law that simply may have delayed -- not stopped -- foreclosures....

A report from the New York Times. "After several tumultuous weeks on Wall Street, New York City seems increasingly likely to fall into recession, many economists and analysts say. To get a sense of what that might look like, one need only cross the Hudson River. New Jersey’s economy has already...

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The Mercury News reports from California. "Dave Cantrell had become a community leader here, rallying his neighbors to stand up to the builder that was planning to auction off one-third of their new Paseo West subdivision at 40 percent discounts. Cantrell believed he made a difference, that maybe...

A report from Florida Today. "According to Zillow, 46.5 percent of all homes bought in Brevard since 2003 -- or about 30,000 homes -- are now worth less than is owed on them, raising worries that the record-high foreclosure rate here won't end any time soon. Local foreclosure numbers back that up....

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