The Housing Bubble Blog

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Standard & Poor's said today in a report...writedowns from subprime securities will probably rise to $285 billion. The ratings company previously estimated losses of $265 billion in January. The world's largest banks and...

KMBC reports from Missouri. "Some local real estate agents are trying to turn foreclosures into someone's windfall. The agents are taking prospective buyers on buses for what they call Equity Tours. KMBC's Bev Chapman reported that there are plenty of for-sale signs in the metro area, and agents...

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The BBC News reports on California. "In a large, featureless convention centre 40 miles east of Los Angeles, more than 1,000 people have gathered early on a Sunday morning. More than 100 houses are up for sale here and every two to three minutes a property goes under the hammer. Similar auctions of...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., New Jersey's biggest homebuilder, on Monday reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss. The loss widened to $131 million in the fiscal first quarter, which ended Jan. 31, the Red Bank-based builder...

The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "The Orlando Regional Realtor Association reported that its members sold 922 houses and condominiums in February, 40.2 percent fewer than changed hands in February 2007. Combined with the revised total of 813 homes sold in January, it was the worst start...

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The Voice of San Diego reports from California. "For several months, the least expensive units for sale in La Boheme, a North Park condo project, were a handful of identically priced, one-bedroom, one-bathroom units on the third and fourth floors. But a few weeks ago, the units, priced at $183,701,...

The Mail Tribune reports from Oregon. "Three or four years ago, buyers were snapping up new homes faster than builders could pour foundations. Lately, those same builders are more apt to be sitting on their hands. The median sales price for new construction in Jackson County fell 13.8 percent to...

The Telegram reports from Massachusetts. "The state’s housing market, reflecting the national scene, is a mess. Sales and prices have been in a downward slide since early 2006, and economists say it isn’t over. There is an abundance of supply, and the record foreclosure rate is dumping more...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Owing more on properties than they're worth, some local homeowners are voluntarily walking away from their house notes. 'They don't need to be foreclosed on. They're just turning in the keys,'said Martha Lucey, president and CEO of (a) Fresno-based...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "HSH Nordbank AG, Germany's only state- owned bank that's partially held by private investors, said profit fell last year on subprime-related losses. The company booked writedowns and provisions on debt investments of about 1.1...

The News Press reports from Florida. "Foreclosure actions stayed high and single-family-home building permits stayed low in Lee County in February, statistics showed. Foreclosures were being filed at a rate of 83 per day, according to data released by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "In eastern Antioch, 4.1 percent of all homes and condos went through foreclosure in 2007, according to DataQuick. That's as bad as the hardest-hit neighborhood of Stockton - often cited as the foreclosure capital of California and even the...

The Hackensack Record reports from New Jersey. "What do you do if you're a single mother who can't afford your mortgage payments of more than $3,700 a month, but you can't sell your house for anywhere near the amount you owe on the mortgage? That's the dilemma facing Anna, a Bergenfield, N.J.,...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Overbuilding? "The Home Builders Association of Fort Wayne has decided to skip the organization’s traditional Parade of Homes this fall. The HBA couldn’t get a minimum of six builders to commit to any one location. Builders complained 'they...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Just as springtime stories start popping up about busy real estate agents and multiple offers on Sacramento-area homes, here's the Mortgage Bankers Association with a cold splash of water. No one in California will see signs of a housing market 'bottom'...