The Housing Bubble Blog

The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Sales of new homes in the Bay Area plunged 35 percent in June, the latest sign the once-strong real estate market continues to stagger. A trifecta of cooling prices, rising foreclosures and tightened credit have forced many builders to slash...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. The Boston Globe, "Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage firm, said yesterday it has 'tightened' up on its lending, and another large provider said it would stop making new loans altogether, deepening the crisis in the...

The Gainesville Times reports from Georgia. "A Gainesville real estate executive said mortgage originators who work 'out of the back seat of their car' will be a thing of the past as mortgage companies struggle with fallout from the collapse of the subprime mortgage business. Frank Norton Jr....who...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "It was two years ago this month that some housing experts began seeing the first signs that the Sacramento region's housing boom had begun to peak. 'The bell has tolled,' said Lyon Real Estate owner Mike Lyon in August 2005, declaring that the era of...

A report from the Arizona Republic. "Banks are becoming stricter with lending and foreclosures are on the rise, placing many Valley homeowners in dire straights, struggling to stay afloat. Monique Walker of Intero Real Estate estimates 25 percent of housing inventory are short sales. 'We, as...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Construction of new homes fell to the lowest level in more than a decade in July as builders continued to struggle with the steepest housing slump since 1991. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of...

The report from the Washington Post. "A growing number of condominium developers are backing out of projects as the worsening real estate market causes lenders to tighten their standards. In the past 12 months, nearly 20,000 condo units have been removed from the glutted local development pipeline,...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Mortgage woes have moved upstream, landing even in tony neighborhoods. For instance, a multimillion-dollar deal in Larkspur went belly-up last week when the lender yanked the financing at the last minute. 'The loan was approved and locked in....

The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "The residential real estate industry is bracing for more complications and the potential for collapsed sales agreements because of global credit crunch fears. Last week, North Side broker Beth Ryan said a seller she represents accepted $25,000 less for...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Sales of existing homes fell in 41 states during the April-June quarter while home prices were down in one-third of the metropolitan areas surveyed, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday. The new figures from the...

The Charlotte Observer reports from North Carolina. "The slowing flow of money for mortgage loans is starting to affect people with good jobs and good credit. Charlotte-area brokers say a much broader swath of people are facing barriers to borrowing. 'Lenders are looking for reasons why a loan...

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The Associated Press reports on California. "Home sales in a six-county region of Southern California dipped to a 12-year low for July as a growing percentage of homes went on the market as a result of foreclosures, a research firm said Tuesday. Foreclosure resales accounted for 8.3 percent of...

12 News reports from Arizona. "Real estate people can usually find the sunny side in any piece of bad news. These days, they've stopped looking. The consensus today is this is the worst Valley housing market in 10, 15, even 20 years, and the mess is spreading. 'We all knew it was coming,' said...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Reuters, "Foreclosures and delinquencies among home loans that Countrywide Financial Corp. services rose in July to their highest in at least several years, the largest U.S. mortgage lender said on Tuesday. The company also said it made 14...

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "The proposed marriage between home builder Levitt and BFC Financial may be on the rocks. The reason: the ongoing housing slump. Levitt lost $58.1 million in its second quarter, the company said. Levitt's second quarter revenue declined 4 percent to $127.8...

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