The Housing Bubble Blog

The Union Tribune reports from California. "The first half of this year ended with a continued downward slide in San Diego County's real estate market as sales declined steeply in June compared to a year earlier, while prices remained more stable, posting only a moderate decrease, according to...

The Monitor reports from Texas. "The nationwide housing slump is finally catching up to the Rio Grande Valley. Local building permits this year hit the lowest level since 2001. An overbuilt market during the past five years, combined with an increasingly more conservative mortgage market, has sent...

The Patriot News reports from Pennsylvania. "In 2004, James Dailey and his wife were renting and not looking for a house to buy. At parties, he said, people would look at them 'like we were weird.' 'That's how I knew we had made the right decision,' said Dailey. Now, Dailey and his wife...hope to...

The Staten Island Advance reports from New York. "Selling themselves was not something home builders had to do during the real estate boom just a few years ago, when new homes sold rapidly. But with housing inventory up and prices down, builders are beefing up the incentives. They're cutting prices...

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Readers reacted to this thread on a brokers forum for a weekend topic. "Similar to you know your a redneck when? You know your subprime when? The borrower calls in and has a f i c o ( all spelled out) of Four. 'You know your subprime when? When the Borrower doesnt know there loan amount, interest...

The Tribune reports from California. "Saddled with a glut of homes, builders in San Luis Obispo County have spent the last year trying to coax buyers back into the market. Some builders have followed up with more drastic price reductions; as much as $100,000 in certain neighborhoods." "New-home...

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "The first thing you notice as you drive the hundreds of miles of crumbling roads in this once rapidly growing city is the enormous number of 'For Sale' signs. Every 9th or 10th house is either listed for sale or will be as soon as foreclosure proceedings...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Statistics? Inventory? "According to statistics compiled by the Northwest MLS, the average sale price of a home in King County in June actually fell from May. And there are more homes on the market in King County compared with last year, giving...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "No question about it. These are times that try builders' souls. Sales of new Sacramento-area houses, condominiums and townhouses fell in April, May and June to their lowest levels in 18 months, according to statistics released today. Average sales...

Readers suggest a topic around personal finance strategies. "Yesterday an angry troll chastised the arrogant HBB bloggers for wishing financial harm to the system. The point was that a recession or depression would hurt all of us and it would serve us right. First off, I disagree with this. Some...

The News Journal reports from Florida. "The wave of home foreclosures washing across the nation is making itself painfully apparent in the Volusia-Flagler area, with huge increases in the number of cases filed this year in the circuit courts of both counties. 'Half the people coming to see me are...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "New second-quarter data from Horry and Georgetown (SC) counties' MLS shows...sales are still on the decline from last year, equaling the drops seen in the first quarter, condo sales down 41 percent and home sales down 20 percent from last year. Yet,...

A report from the Arizona Republic. "Both median housing prices and the number of homes sold in June continued to fall throughout the Southeast Valley compared to a year ago and compared to May, according to Arizona State University's Realty Studies. Compared to June 2006, Chandler's prices fell...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, "General Electric Co. announced it is exiting the U.S. subprime-mortgage business. GE sold about 75% of its subprime portfolio during the second quarter, or $3.7 billion, resulting in a loss of $182 million for its WMC Mortgage...

WBOC 16 reports from Maryland. "A housing slump in Ocean City is keeping many condominiums empty. There are currently 1,683 units on the market, while construction companies are building at least 500 new units. The buying slow-down is also impacting single-family homes, with 166 on sale in West...

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And send in your housing bubble photos to: hbbphotos@gmail.coms