The Housing Bubble Blog

The Used House Salespeople report from California. "Home sales decreased 33.4 percent in December in California compared with the same period a year ago, C.A.R. reported today. The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during December 2007 was $475,460, a 16.5...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. CNN Money, "The housing market is only getting worse, according to the latest report from S&P Case/Shiller released Tuesday. Home prices were down 8.4 percent in November compared with last year in its 10-city index, a record low. The...

The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "The Chicago metropolitan region 'isn't as bad as Florida and California, ground zero in the housing recession, but we have the same problems,' said economist Diane Swonk. The ills ailing the new-home market here include too much speculative building and...

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The Mercury News reports from California. "The seekers boarded the bus Saturday, questions on their minds and dollar signs in their eyes. Possibilities abounded in South San Jose, where numerous 'for sale' signs dot the lawns. Again and again the bus stopped at select houses where the tenants had...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Sales of new homes plunged by a record amount in 2007 while prices posted the weakest showing in 16 years. The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new homes dropped by 26.4 percent last year to 774,000. That...

The Boston Business Journal reports from Massachusetts. "A report issued Monday on the Bay State housing market finds sales dipped in 2007 to their lowest level in over a decade, but a separate group contends that the year was still strong when based on historial figures. There were 50,435...

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The North County Times reports from California. "Laura Lovell had a new home to raise her four children and every amenity she could want. But after the housing downturn left her husband unemployed and prevented the sale of their home for more than what they owed, Lovell was caught up in a...

A report from the Coloradoan. "The number of city building permits pulled for new homes, duplexes and condos in Loveland dropped 37 percent in 2007, reflecting a national trend of a slumping home building industry. The 2007 numbers mark a dramatic 68 percent decline when compared with 2004, when...

The Dallas Morning News reports on Florida. "As I drive down U.S. 41, which connects Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Naples...the roads are still busy. The cars are still shiny. Massive new shopping centers greet the snowbirds, the early retirees setting up house and the usual...

What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Marketing plans? "With Florida's real estate market reeling, brokers in Miami increasingly are targeting wealthy New Yorkers as a potential new audience to buy their unsold properties. With more than 22,000 condo units that need to be...

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The Times Delta reports from California. "What should be one of the sunniest times of their lives is instead turning out to be a very dark year for a Visalia couple. Married for 58 years, the two are packing up their belongings and, on March 13, will leave their home of 18 years. The reason? They...

Readers suggest a topic on the conforming loan proposals. "How about the bundling of the Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conforming loan amount raise? Isn’t it just going to delay the inevitable decline to reasonable prices by the year it’s supposed to be in place? I’ve been thinking 2010, maybe now...

The News Journal reports from Delaware. "The housing slump hit Delaware homeowners hard in 2007 with sales of homes in New Castle and Kent counties tumbling by double digits from the previous year, according to Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors. Norman Harrison has been trying to sell his...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Clearwater leaders hailed the $100-million Water's Edge condominium tower as the catalyst that would kick-start downtown by creating a high-class residential base. But a newly discovered mistake in the purchase contract between buyers and the seller...