The Housing Bubble Blog

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Mega homebuilder Corey Barton hopes to push potential homebuyers off the fence with a 'Deal of a Lifetime' this weekend when he reduces prices on 200 Treasure Valley homes by up to $70,000. 'The market's changing, and we want to sell some houses,'...

The Press Enterprise reports from California. "The California Association of Realtors is predicting that in 2008, the median price of a resale home in the state will decline 4 percent to $553,000 and sales will drop another 9 percent on top of a 23-percent plunge this year. Chapman University...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Centex Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. homebuilder, said it will have about $1 billion in expenses to write down property as the U.S. housing slump worsens. The charge, the second-largest announced by a builder in the past...

Keepmecurrent reports from Maine. "Maine’s cooler real estate market hasn’t just delayed Corey Center’s plans for selling her cozy South Portland bungalow for a larger Scarborough home. 'The nuptials are on hold,' said Center, whose two-story house has sat on the market for nearly a year. 'I don’t...

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Please send in your housing bubble photos to: hbbphotos@gmail.com Also, and input on the Lunchtime Bits Bucket is appreciated.

The Orange County Register reports from California. "Back when the state's housing future was a legitimate debate, maybe two or three years ago, imagine if I had quoted some expert predicting that pricing would hit the ugliness of the mid-1990s while selling a house would be as difficult as it had...

A report from the Arizona Republic. "Median home prices have dropped in more than half of all metropolitan Phoenix's ZIP codes, according to a Republic analysis of new- and used-home sales from the data-research firm Information Market. Hardest hit were newer Valley fringe communities from Pinal...

Hi Ben -- Often I only have a chance to check HBB late at night. Unfortunately the Bits Bucket sometimes gets really clogged up (on busy days) and the page doesn't render correctly (Firefox). So I was going to throw out the idea of lunchtime Bits Bucket. Also, it'd be nice for us west coast people...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage company, said late payments at its servicing unit rose, foreclosures doubled and new loans fell 44 percent as housing sales slowed. Overdue loans as a percentage of unpaid...

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "The housing market in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast has turned 'brutal' and is getting worse, a veteran mortgage broker said Tuesday. 'I've seen some tough times, but I've never seen anything like this,' William Davis told members of the...

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

The LA Times reports from California. "Home values are expected to drop next year for the first time in more than a decade and sales will remain slow as California's housing market continues to languish, the the California Assn. of Realtors predicted today. Leslie Appleton-Young, the state Realtors...

A report from the Oregonian. "In the hot real estate summer of 2005, the futuristic John Ross tower generated a buzz never seen before in Portland. Within a week, 222 potential buyers plunked down $5,000 or more to reserve their condos in the 31-story tower on the Willamette River. The talk around...

The Pioneer Press reports from Minnesota. "The hilltop trophy house in Stillwater, built in 2003, was once valued at $1.4 million. But $729,000 will start the bidding on it at a mass foreclosure auction this month. The house is among 325 bank-repossessed homes from across the Twin Cities headed to...

A report from the Tennessean. "Homes sales fell 25 percent in September — their sharpest drop since 1991, but prices edged up slightly, a sign that sellers are continuing to hold out for higher prices despite a dramatically slower market. Richard Courtney, the Greater Nashville Association of...

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

CBS 5 reports from California. "In the Central Valley community of Manteca, police have a new job: patrolling hundreds of foreclosed houses left empty and abandoned. They are half million dollar houses, often bought with nothing down, turned into suburban blight. Developers built more than 30,000...

A report from the Arizona Daily Sun. "Laura Fenbert and her husband Richard bought a townhouse in Lower Greenlaw two years ago for $140,000 to help their daughter, an NAU sophomore at the time, escape dorm life. The couple also bought the home as an investment, hoping to save thousands in dorm fees...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. USA Today, "At the end of July, Reeves Williams, a home builder in the South, began offering $20,000 in incentives or cash assistance. In the first week, 22 buyers had signed contracts for new homes. Then the mortgage market fell into a...