The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "The Treasure Valley residential housing market declined again in November, with prices falling and sales sharply below year-earlier levels. The MLS said 580 homes sold in the valley last month, 40 percent fewer than the same month a year ago. November's totals...

The News Journal reports from Delaware. "Joyce Gwyn hoped to get $115,000 for her two-bedroom Wilmington home when she put it up for sale -- 14 months ago. Today, it's on the market for just under $80,000. 'I keep lowering and lowering and lowering the price,' said Gwyn, who paid $62,500 for the...

What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Builder incentives? "It's the time of year for gifts, and home builders are ready to give, in order to receive. It's no secret that 2007 has not been a good year for home builders. It is predicted that 18,000 single-family and townhouses...

Please post off-toipic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

The Mercury News reports from California. "The wave of foreclosures sweeping Santa Clara County has hit its Latino residents the hardest. The epicenter of the foreclosure crisis is San Jose's East Side. 'It was great giving people their American dream,' said Dolores Marquez, a long-time East Side...

Readers sugested a topic on the spring housing market. "Speculating on what will happen after the New Year. I think we’ll see some real capitulation and 2008 will be the year that was. Of course, elections will play into all this. Can 'they' (TPTB) keep it all gamed until the elections are a done...

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "The median sales price of single family homes in Pinellas County dropped 14 percent year over year. Prices fell to $185,000 in November from the $215,000 recorded a year earlier. Pasco County came out even worse, showing an 18 percent median home price...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Along with colored lights and Christmas trees, a sure sign of the holidays are the 'New Price' signs decorating thousands of neighborhood lawns. After putting houses on the market in the summer and getting no takers, many sellers are trimming costs...

The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "More Colorado homeowners have gone into foreclosure in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2006, which was a record year. And in a sign of how tough times are, about two of every three Colorado homeowners who enter foreclosure are losing their...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Citigroup Inc. will take over seven troubled investment funds and assume $58 billion of debt to avoid forced asset sales that would further erode confidence in capital markets. The biggest U.S. bank by assets will rescue the...

The Daily Herald reports from Illinois. "Andy Starck thinks it's time to bust some real estate myths. Starck is CEO of Palatine-based Starck Realtors and has been in the industry in the suburbs almost 40 years. Here's the way he sees things. Home prices might have dropped a little, but not...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Criagslist finds here.

And send in your housing bubble pics to: hbbphotos@gmail,com

The North County Times reports from California. "Real estate agents and builders need to modify their business models in order to survive the current mortgage crisis, senior real estate executives said during a conference Wednesday. The suggestions ranged from copying car sales strategies to...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. CNN Money, "Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, told CNNMoney.com that numerous problems caused the sharp slump in the housing and mortgage markets, but he added that overbuilding during the boom years was a...

The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "Fewer than 1,000 homes were sold in the Orlando Regional Realtor Association's core market in November -- only the second time in nearly 11 years that the number has dipped below that threshold. The other instance was three months ago, in September, when...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Crigslist finds here.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports from California. "A city planning commissioner contends few homeowners will benefit from current state or federal efforts to prevent foreclosures. Emilio Martinez, a private investigator who has worked with hundreds of Latino homeowners in Santa Cruz, Monterey and...

The East Valley Tribune reports from Arizona. "The Valley’s existing home market continued to drag last month with sales showing 35 percent decline from a year ago, a report by Arizona State University’s Realty Studies department shows. Year-to-date through last month, there were 47,690 sales – a...