The Housing Bubble Blog

The Bradenton Herald reports from Florida. "In August, the median sales price for existing homes in the Bradenton-Sarasota market was $273,500, almost $35,000 below the median home price a year earlier. But falling home prices did nothing to stop the number of existing home sales from dropping 13...

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The Daily News reports from California. "Home prices in Los Angeles County fell from their year-ago levels in 65 of 92 markets in August as sales continued their steep decline, a trade association said Tuesday. Castaic recorded the county's biggest decline, by 23 percent, to $465,500, and West...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. USA Today, "The end of the real estate recession seems nowhere in sight, in light of a slew of bleak news Tuesday of falling sales and prices, a severe decline in construction and deep losses and layoffs at one of the nation's largest...

The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "The explosion in home foreclosures and a tightening in mortgage lending dragged down real estate prices in Massachusetts in August, a real estate research and publishing firm reported. Warren Group in Boston said median single-family home prices last...

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "South Florida's housing market continues its slump. Home sales fell sharply in August, the Florida Association of Realtors reported. In Miami-Dade County, existing single-family home sales in August dropped 45 percent from the same month a year ago and 24...

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The California realtors report on August sales. "Home sales decreased 27.8 percent in August in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home increased 2 percent, CAR reported today. 'Despite the overall increase in the statewide median price,...

Chicago Business reports from Illinois. "Home sales in the Chicago area plunged 20.1%, according to the Illinois Assn. of Realtors, the 17th straight monthly decline. Statewide, sales dropped 17.9% to 14,349 homes. Separately, a gauge of home prices in the Chicago-area declined from a year ago....

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Existing-home sales fell in August when mortgage availability problems were peaking, according to the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales...are 12.8 percent below the 6.31 million-unit pace in August 2006. Lawrence...

A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "The word that best describes the real estate market at the Jersey Shore over the last 20 months is volatile. Sales dropped by more than a third in 2006 from 2005 in Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean Counties, and that decline continues overall. But median prices...

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The Fresno Bee reports from California. "Hovnanian was the latest home builder to have a blowout special or hold promotions in the central San Joaquin Valley, but isn't likely to be the last. A sluggish real estate market is prompting companies to pull out all the stops, giving discounts, cutting...

The East Valley Tribune reports from Arizona. "Elliott Pollack, president of Scottsdale-based Elliott D. Pollack & Co., said the economy should avoid a recession, but the slow pace of growth may make it feel like a recession. 'The economy is no longer running on eight cylinders but on three or four...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. The Guardian, "Thousands of homebuyers have abandoned plans to move house after the British banking crisis surrounding Northern Rock led to fresh uncertainty in the housing market. David Salvi, director of Hurford Salvi Carr, said his office...

The Bradenton Herald reports from Florida. "Jo Lynne Navarro wants her $270,000 back. That's how much the Sarasota County woman paid to reserve two Bel Mare at Riviera Dunes condominium units two-and-a-half years ago. The units existed only in glossy sales brochures at the time, but Navarro - like...

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The Modesto Bee reports from California. "These are tough times for Northern San Joaquin Valley home builders. They've got too many homes to sell and too few buyers who want them. Lafferty Homes recently turned over sales of its finished houses in Oakdale, Livingston and Lathrop to real estate...

The Billings Gazette reports from Montana. "Ripples from the national mortgage mess are upsetting some Montana borrowers. Mike Thelen, VP of Professional Mortgage Consultants in Billings, said that in early August a client buying a house signed papers on a Thursday for a 30-year conventional loan....

The Press Herald reports from Maine. "Looking back, Maureen Green often wishes she had just gotten up from the table and walked away. In January 2006, Green and her husband, Loni, sat down to buy their first house, a modest two-bedroom home shaded by tall pines in the Lake Arrowhead subdivision. At...