The Housing Bubble Blog

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The Union Tribune reports from California. "Despite months of discouraging reports about tightening credit, defaulting mortgages and falling home prices, the California Building Industry Association Thursday issued an upbeat housing forecast for the coming year. 'I believe 2008 will be a year we...

The Gazette reports from Colorado. "Colorado Springs’ housing market suffered through one of its worst downturns in recent memory during 2007. Foreclosures broke a 19-year-old record, home construction slowed to a pace not seen since the early 1990s. And as foreclosed homes come on the market,...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Reuters, "State Street Corp said on Thursday it will take a $279 million fourth-quarter charge after making bad bets on subprime mortgages and other debt, and said it replaced its investment management chief. The company is the world's...

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "Palm Beach County's foreclosure rate skyrocketed in 2007, figures from the county clerk's office show. In Palm Beach County, the clerk's office recorded 13,962 foreclosure filings in 2007, compared with 4,831 in 2006. That's nearly three times the...

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The North County Times reports from California. "Record numbers of Southwest County homes fell into foreclosure in 2007, and the growing stock of bank-owned houses hammered at prices that had already begun to fall from eye-popping highs. Homeowners in Riverside County defaulted on more than 26,000...

The Sun Herald reports from Mississippi. "According to data from the MLS, which keeps track of homes for sale, home prices have risen more than 16 percent, from an August 2005 average $148,885 to $178,000 in August 2007. Some of that increase, said local Realtor Cheryl High, was because of labor...

The Canton Repository reports from Ohio. "Several Stark County residents featured in two Repository articles about home sales were in discouraging predicaments last spring. All were able to extricate themselves from their situations. But for the home sellers, it came at a price. Tim Manning put his...

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What are your housing bubble predictions for 2008? A selection from one year ago. "There has never been a YOY price decline. Don’t expect a national decline any time soon. History says prices don’t drop nationally. Part of this is because each component geographic area declines and increases at...

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "South Florida's housing market continued to deflate in November, with prices down, sales plunging, and buyers scarce and frugal, according to numbers released by the Florida Association of Realtors. Sales of existing single-family homes dropped 59 percent in...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Beaming with pride, Johnnie Pitts stacked up piles of legal documents on his living room floor the Wednesday before Christmas. The San Francisco Muni driver had just returned from having his signature notarized on agreements that permanently...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that...over the last 12 months, however, existing home sales have plunged 20 percent, underscoring the troubles in the housing sector. Home prices continued to sink. The...

A report from the Washington Post. "Even for people who have money, coming up with a down payment to buy a house has become a lot more challenging in recent months. Take Peter McGarvey, who in September found a house big enough to accommodate his family of four. A bidding war ensued over the...

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The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports from California. "Watsonville farmworker Justino Mendoza Cortez was happy to be a homeowner, proud to be living at 64 College Road with his wife and six children. But he couldn't afford it. When one of his loan payments jumped in May from $2,722 to $4,054 per month,...

The Gazette Times reports from Oregon. "For years in Corvallis, the housing market was booming, with new construction in subdivisions such as Timberhill and Willamette Landing keeping developers and real estate agents busy. New housing permits were down 60 percent this year compared to 2006 and —...