The Housing Bubble Blog

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "In February 2006, Kim and John Cataldo bought their dream home in Tampa's swanky Corey Lake Isles neighborhood. They paid $565,000. But a year later, after their property taxes and homeowners insurance skyrocketed, the couple couldn't afford mortgage...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Lots of developers are putting up 'loft' housing in the downtown-midtown area. But Jeff Kraft says his 42-unit condo project is the real deal. 'Not to knock the other projects; they're great. But they're more 'apartmenty,' says the president of Habitat...

The Greeley Tribune reports from Colorado. "Banks and lenders foreclosed on 2,869 Weld County homes in 2007, a 38 percent increase from record-setting 2006. That's not quite to the level of Denver's 41.5 percent increase to more than 26,000, but it dwarfs Larimer County's 1,578 foreclosures for the...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Independent, "A report by real estate giants CB Richard Ellis says that a 15 per cent drop in the value of new homes has been disguised through 'incentives' offered by developers to prospective buyers to encourage them to buy properties. The...

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "More than a couple of e-mailers to the newspaper can't discuss the recent housing plunge without cackling with pleasure. They've got some support for their schadenfreude. In the past 18 months, the Tampa Bay area's median home price has dropped 21...

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The North County Times reports from California. "Martin Kolkey's family has been building homes for more than 50 years. If income doesn't improve soon, he says the family business will fold within eight months. 'Every night I worry about it,' he says. The only other worker on a recent Thursday...

The News Enterprise reports from Kentucky. "Like much of the country, this area does not appear to be exempt from a housing sales slump. Building permits issued in Radcliff and Elizabethtown in 2007 for new houses dwindled from preceding years. Broker John E. Wright Sr. warns developers, especially...

The Courier News reports from New Jersey. "Business is brisk these days at the Somerset County Sheriff's Office. Somerset Court Sheriff Frank Provenzano said the number of foreclosures increased by close to 500 in Somerset County from 2006 to 2007. The number of foreclosures recorded in the first...

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What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Failed developments? "The developer of a luxury housing complex in Asbury Park has bailed out of the project and sold the unfinished building and surrounding property to a new investment firm. The sale comes just three weeks after...

The North County Times reports from California. "Rising mortgage obligations drove up personal bankruptcy filings dramatically in 2007, according to the San Diego branch of U.S. Bankruptcy Court and North County attorneys. Growing numbers of debtors will probably collapse under mortgage obligations...

Readers suggested a topic on the economic fallout from the housing bubble. "It seems to me housing and the recession are being soft-pedalled by both Rep’s & Dem’s. Reasons? Huckabee’s 23% across the board sales tax promoted on Leno sounds outright devastating to the middle class." A reply, "If the...

TC Palm reports from Florida. "For the second year in a row, Atlas Van Lines is reporting that more residents have moved out of Florida than are deciding to settle in the Sunshine State. 'The post-Katrina exodus from Louisiana into the surrounding states leveled off and the housing market continued...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Bill Dryburgh a Realtor in Punta Gorda, believes the local market will begin to rebound in 2008 for one simple reason: 'We're close to, or at, the bottom right now,' he said. Arthur Broslat of Re/Max Palm Realty in Port Charlotte agrees, noting land...

The Press Enterprise reports from California. "After hitting bottom in 2007, home building in California and the Inland Empire will rebound modestly this year with smaller and less expensive homes affordable to first-time buyers, according to a forecast released Thursday by the housing industry....

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Dow Jones Newswires, "Coast to coast, Lennar Corp's potential buyers see different scenery, but they might encounter the same kitchen faucets. The nation's second-largest home builder is whittling down options, seeing standardization and...

A report from the Virginia Pilot. "More than five times as many homes are for sale in Hampton Roads now as were on the market during the heady days of the real estate boom in 2004, and the excess inventory is showing no sign of shrinking anytime soon. 'The calls - they've just stopped coming in,'...