The Housing Bubble Blog

The Press Enterprise reports from California. "On Saturday, hundreds of homeowners in distress crowded a hall at the National Orange Show Events Center to meet with representatives of their banks, to hear experts explain what caused the mortgage meltdown, and to learn how borrowers can dig their...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Lower prices? "Orange County's median home sale price dropped to $291,500 in July, down 11.2 percent from a year ago, according to data released Monday by the Orange County Association of Realtors. 'We've been averaging a 1 percent drop per...

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

The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Nearly 10,000 Sacramento-area jobs disappeared last month as California's troubled economy pushed the state's July unemployment rate to its highest point in 12 years. Statewide joblessness grew to 7.3 percent, up from 7 percent in June, according to...

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Median home prices in the Tampa metropolitan area which includes Clearwater and St. Petersburg, fell to $180,800. That is more than $40,000 less than the median price in the year-ago period, $222,700, the National Association of Realtors said. The Tampa Bay...

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

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "One in four homes sold in the Twin Cities in March through June was in some stage of being repossessed, a foreclosure report out Thursday shows, up from fewer than one in 10 a year ago. The flood of listings 'has had substantial effects on the Twin...

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

The LA Daily News reports from California. "With Los Angeles' foreclosure rate surging by nearly 300 percent, city housing officials said Wednesday that they hope to help stabilize the market soon with millions of dollars in federal funds that would let them buy and resell homes already or likely...

The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "One out of every four previously owned homes purchased in the Denver area during the heart of the summer sales season was a foreclosure. And in Adams County, one out of every two homes closed from mid-June to the end of July was a foreclosure sold by...

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

The North County Times reports from California. "Real estate agents across North County reported strong activity throughout the summer. But slow sales in more affluent neighborhoods suggest that the flurry of activity was affecting only a sliver of the market: low-priced foreclosures. And the...

The Star Phoenix reports from Canada. "The city has been buzzing about housing since the beginning of 2007, when prices suddenly began to jump and bidding wars became the norm instead of the exception. Home buyers, however, may be forgiven for wondering -- if not worrying -- about the recent turn...

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

The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Like an endangered rain forest, the Bay Area microclimates that still enjoy home-price appreciation are shrinking. Just six months ago, areas where median home values were still on the upswing were bigger and more widespread. 'The entire Bay...

The Sun Sentinel reports from Florida. "For South Florida's sluggish housing market, one word became shorthand for the magic elixir to get buyers and sellers on the move again: portability. Gov. Charlie Crist predicted it would spark a 'sonic boom' in home buying. But the state's home turnover rate...

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

The Christian Science Monitor reports on California. "California's Central Valley already sits at the center of the housing crisis, but high prices and contracting incomes are now compounding the foreclosure problem. Homeowners have mortgages higher than their home's value, and the payments have...

The Courier Journal reports from Kentucky. "A large chunk of western Louisville and the Shively area saw a 22 percent drop in median home prices in the first six months of this year, by far the biggest decline of any neighborhood from a year earlier, according to the Greater Louisville Association...

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