The Housing Bubble Blog

The Billings Gazette reports from Montana. "Since Hassan Kangarloo swept into Billings last May to buy the bankrupt Northern Hotel, he has managed to tangle the relatively simple sale into a complex web of debts. The Livingston Guest House Motel would be gutted and remodeled into classy residential...

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Data released Thursday showed that sale prices of existing single-family homes in the Bay area dropped every month during 2007 when compared with the same month in 2006, and ended the year down 7 percent at $209,100. The Florida Association of Realtors,...

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The Contra Costa Times reports from California. "As home prices slipped and selling a home to get out of financial trouble became harder to do, more homeowners in the Bay Area and statewide found themselves facing foreclosure in the final months of 2007, pushing the already record-breaking number...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Sales of existing homes fell in December, closing out a horrible year for housing in which sales of single-family homes plunged by the largest amount in 25 years. The median home price dropped for the entire year, the...

The Plain Dealer reports from Ohio. "The devastation extends far beyond Slavic Village, where 1,500 houses are abandoned. Nearly every one of the 59 communities in Cuyahoga County, along with many cities in neighboring counties, have taken a hit. More than 120 houses in Cleveland are being offered...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "DataQuick Information Systems Inc. said foreclosures in California jumped to 31,676 in the quarter, the most since DataQuick began tracking those numbers in 1988. For the whole year, foreclosures rose sevenfold, to a total of 84,375. 'We're still...

Som housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Shares of MGIC Investment Corp. plummeted more than 30 percent Wednesday, striking a 15-year low, after the nation's largest mortgage insurance company said paid losses could reach $2 billion this year. By the end of 2007,...

The Baltimore Sun reports from Maryland. "Richard Lunsford feels as if he's watching the economy fall apart, and along with it, his plans for retirement. Housing sales are weak - a pointedly painful fact for Lunsford, who runs a construction business from his Pasadena home. 'Right now, there's...

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The Associated Press reports from California. "Foreclosures reached a 20-year high in California during the fourth quarter of 2007 as a growing number of homeowners fell behind on their mortgage payments, according to Dataquick. A total of 31,676 homes ended up in foreclosure during the quarter...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Ambac Financial Group Inc., the first bond insurer to be stripped of its AAA credit rating, reported its biggest-ever loss after writing down the value of guarantees on subprime debt by $5.21 billion, according to a statement by...

The Sun Herald reports from Florida. "Arthur Broslat of Re/Max Palm Realty in Port Charlotte said there is a sizable local inventory of 'relatively new' homes, especially in North Port, selling for 40 percent of what they went for three years ago.' 'I'm showing a three/two (bedroom/bathroom),...

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The Daily Sentinel reports from Colorado. "A remarkable run-up in property values in the last few years appears to have reduced the appetite of some would-be buyers and left others on the outside looking in at what could have been. Real estate sales in Mesa County sank more than 11 percent to 6,424...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street, Washington and beyond. Bloomberg, "ACA Capital Holdings Inc., the bond insurer being run by regulators after subprime-mortgage losses, won a month's grace to unwind $60 billion of credit-default swap contracts that it can't pay. ACA was founded in 1997 by...

The Des Moines Register reports from Iowa. "Jamie Sammons was 25, married and wanted to 'stop throwing away money on rent.' He and his wife bought a townhouse in Ankeny. They paid $139,000 for it in 2002 with the idea that five years later they could sell it, get out the money they paid in and buy...

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