The Housing Bubble Blog

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The Mercury News reports from California. "As foreclosures have soared in California, large auctions of bank-owned properties are becoming more frequent. Saturday's is the third in the Bay Area in recent months, and similar auctions have occurred in Sacramento and Modesto. REDC executive Michael...

The Statesman Journal reports from Oregon. "Two years ago, Staci Brigham and her husband wanted out of their adjustable-rate mortgage and sought to replace it with an interest-only loan. They hoped to keep payments down and planned to sell their Woodburn home once she finished school at Oregon...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Prime Newswire, "TOUSA, Inc. announced today that it has withdrawn all guidance related to 2007 and 2008 due to worsening market conditions impacting the new home industry." "'Conditions in all of our markets weakened more than we...

The Sun Herald reports from Florida. "When the music stopped in the residential-real-estate market, speculators who got caught with unsold houses and condos began putting them on the market as rentals. 'I see a lot of houses that people can't sell that are going onto the market as rentals, but they...

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The Bay Area Newsgroup reports from California. "Despite incomes of $150,000 and more, many homeowners in the East Bay are surprised to discover they are unable to refinance their homes. Increasingly, lenders are shunning homeowners who have burdened their houses with too much debt. At the same...

The Star Tribune reports from Minnesota. "Banks are foreclosing on three condominium projects in downtown Minneapolis, adding to the growing list of canceled or postponed condo developments. Each of the three projects being foreclosed on has its own set of issues, but the deteriorating condo market...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. The New York Times. "Deutsche Bank finally put a number on its losses from the home-lending crisis, saying today that it expected to write down $3.1 billion in loans and mortgage-backed assets. Early on, Deutsche Bank appeared to be a rare...

NBC 4 reports from Virginia. "With bank foreclosures hitting record levels nationwide, banks have begun turning to extremes to unload properties. News4's Michael Flynn reported that with hundreds of homes hitting the auction block, there could be great deals available throughout the Washington...

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The Desert Sun reports from California."Home sales across the Coachella Valley fell 25 percent in August compared with the same month last year, a new report shows. DataQuick reported the valley's median price in August for resale houses rose to $420,000, an 8.2 percent increase from year-ago...

The Gazette reports from Colorado. "The local housing market remained mired in one of its worst slumps in years during September, as home construction plunged, prices sagged and foreclosures continued at a record clip. The number of single-family homebuilding permits issued last month in El Paso...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. CNN Money, "The meltdown in the mortgage market in August dried up the supply of buyers for homeowners looking to sell their homes, as an industry group report showed the lowest level of homes under contract on record. The National...

The News Press reports from Florida. "The number of permits issued for single-family homes in Cape Coral sank to 29 in September — by far the lowest in memory, according to statistics released Monday. Unincorporated Lee County, which also handles permitting for the town of Fort Myers Beach and the...

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The News Press reports from California. "August was a tough month for home sales in Santa Barbara County as problems in the mortgage industry took their toll. From the South Coast to the North County, sales fell almost 20 percent. Lompoc Valley was hit hardest, with home sales plummeting by 22...

The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "Most anybody in the mortgage business will tell you that August was a month that will live in infamy. How bad was it? A survey of mortgage brokers suggests that one in three consumers who recently signed purchase contracts canceled in August, up from just...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "UBS AG, Europe's biggest bank, reported a third-quarter loss, ousted two top executives and announced 1,500 job cuts after writing down the value of fixed- income securities by more than 4 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion). UBS...