The Housing Bubble Blog

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Speculation? "Peter - not his real name - had his dream. Five years ago, he and his wife sold their bungalow in south-west England for £270,000. They used half of the proceeds to buy a house in Britain for their two sons, and reserved half for...

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The Press Telegram reports from California. "Home sales across California jumped nearly 18 percent during June compared with a year earlier as discounted foreclosures lured buyers back into the real-estate market, a trade association said Friday. However, the median resale price plunged in every...

I suggest a topic on what the collapse of the housing bubble means for the future global financial order. The US mortgage securitization model has failed, and faith in the titans of Wall Street and government has been shaken. What does this mean for macro trends like globalism? What can we learn...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Looking to buy a house in Culpeper? There are plenty to choose from, and they're going cheap. Looking to sell a house in Culpeper? Lots of other homeowners are as well, values have plummeted and foreclosures are at an all-time high. A two-level...

CBS 4 reports from Florida. "These numbers are sobering: If you are a homeowner reading this right now, when you wake up in the morning, the value of your house will have dropped about 45 dollars. And that's if you sleep just 8 hours. When a homeowner is losing $5.70 an hour right now, renters...

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The Jackson Hole Daily reports from Wyoming. "The market for real estate less than $1 million is favoring buyers for the first time in months, one broker said this week. David Viehman reports that the overall market 'has been sluggish at best,' with sales down 43 percent, dollar volume down 46...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Existing-home sales fell 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.86 million units in June, 15.5 percent lower than the 5.75 million-unit rate in June 2007. Total housing inventory at the end of June rose to 4.49 million...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "In the Bay Area, mortgage companies recorded 18,516 notices of default, up more than 140 percent from a year ago. Foreclosures rose nearly 315 percent to 9,206. As the slowing economy made it more difficult for Carlos Amaya to find regular work...

The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "Real-estate agents note that resort communities have certain advantages over the Front Range and much of the nation: Foreclosures have not been a big problem, they remain attractive to retiring baby boomers, and the rich just keep on buying, which helps prop...

The Journal News reports from New York. "Second-quarter housing trends continued to track a dismal path in Westchester and Putnam counties, a function of tougher credit requirements, unemployment and other factors, a regional real estate group said yesterday. Sales of housing of all kinds fell by...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Foreclosures across the state surged to a 20-year high during the last three months, as tens of thousands of additional Californians lost their homes and more than 100,000 neared the brink. Notices of default rose nearly 125 percent from a year...

The Columbus Dispatch reports from Ohio. "It's an age-old question, one that probably dates back to the mud-brick homes of ancient Mesopotamia: buy or rent? Ken Gold, director of the Ohio State Fisher College of Business Center for Real Estate Education and Research, said there are still good...

The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "Sorrento Springs, an upscale development amid the lush, rolling pastureland of rural Lake County...has an 18-hole golf course, a resortlike clubhouse, tennis courts, walking trails and neat rows of two-story, earth-toned homes with architectural...

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The Fresno Bee reports from California. "Thousands of Fresno County homeowners are getting some good news in the mail: They owe less in property taxes this year. That may lessen the sting of the bad news that comes with it: The homes they purchased during the height of the housing boom are now...