The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from the Calgary Herald in Canada. "Calgary’s housing market showed signs of weakness in the face of high unemployment and sluggish population growth, as the pace of residential construction took a nosedive last month over year-ago levels. Construction began on 630 homes in the city in...

A report from the Post & Courier in South Carolina. "Nearly three-dozen apartment developments with 6,251 units are either planned or under construction in the city of Charleston. More than half of those units are already being built, while others are grinding their way through the city’s approvals...

A report from the Star Tribune in Minnesota. "As farmers cut back, the doldrums caused by lackluster prices for crops and livestock have started to ripple onto the main streets of rural Minnesota. When farmers have less money to spend, it affects anyone who is selling farm equipment, marketing...

A report from the Sun Sentinel in Florida. "More South Florida home sellers are cutting their asking prices — another sign that the housing fireworks of the past have faded and buyers are starting to push back. Douglas Rill, of Century 21 America's Choice in West Palm Beach, recalled a meeting he...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "A new wind is blowing in the nation’s housing market. And if one of the industry’s top economists is prescient, it’s a wind that could begin to cool the red-hot real estate market in high-growth cities around the country. Declines in home buyer...

A report from the Real Deal on New York. "Free rent. Paid attorneys’ fees. Falling prices. It sounds like a scary flashback to the dark days of 2009. But it’s actually all happening today in different segments of New York’s residential market. After a multi-year run-up marked by prices that seemed...

A report from the Bradenton Herlad. " Drive northeast along the state’s I-4 corridor and you quickly get a glimpse at why Floridians say they feel financially insecure this election cycle. In the working-class town of Sanford, northeast of Orlando, Julius Angel Lopez, 18, and his 62-year-old father...

A report from the Post and Courier in South Carolina. "Baseball season came to a thrilling end in Cleveland early Thursday morning, but the game lives on as an analogy for the smoking-hot commercial real estate business. Shellacked in the last recession, the industry has been in rally mode for the...

A report from Okotoks Online in Canada. "The current economical forecast has made its mark on the number of new residential lots purchased in Okotoks. Permit and Assessment Manager for the Town Rob Mueller says when comparing 2016's numbers to all of 2015 it's quite the substantial drop. 'We're...

A report from the Independent Record in Montana. "Everyone has noticed the surge of new construction in Missoula recently, but what’s surprising is it looks like that growth is only accelerating. 'We’ve got quite a few of those big homes being built right now,' said Walt Willey, president of...

A weekend topic on a series by Las Vegas Now in Nevada. "The Las Vegas housing market has finally emerged from a long dark period. Home sales are up, home values are way up, and the tens of thousands of jobs lost during the economic collapse have been recouped, according to state officials. But...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Nearly a decade after the housing crisis, the mortgage market has evolved in unexpected ways, with nontraditional financiers increasingly backing ever more leveraged loans. And while nonbanks like Quicken and Nationsta underwrite to the same strict...

A report from the Dallas Morning News in Texas. "It's still warm outside, but Texas housing market may be getting an autumn cool down. The number of Texas houses where the seller has cut the price is rising faster than the national average, according to Trulia. Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston were...

A report from Bloomberg. "Have you ever bought a sweater off the sale rack and then thought, 'Wait, 30 percent off what?' That's what it's like shopping for an apartments in dozens of U.S. rental markets, as landlords offer discounts on asking prices—even as rents remain at historic highs. In San...

A report from CNBC. "America's housing market is heating up again, fortifying the finances of current homeowners and frustrating potential first-time buyers. After hitting bottom in 2012, home prices took off dramatically before leveling off a bit in mid-2014. In the last two months, though, they...

A report from Bloomberg. "The Hidden Villa Apartments, a 61-unit complex in Beaverton, Ore., is the kind of property investors love and affordable-housing activists ignore. Built in 1968, it was acquired recently by an out-of-town developer who plans to tear up the old carpeting and roll in some...

A report from Post Media in Canada. "It was a question well worth asking. After watching Calgary’s rental market shift over the last year, Bridget Eastgaard and her husband asked for a break — and received a $375 monthly reduction. 'Will you lower our rent?' they said to their landlord, who agreed...

A report from Agriculture.com. "Just as rising farm incomes place upward pressure on farmland values and cash rental rates, falling farm incomes place downward pressure on farmland values and cash rental rates. In August, the USDA released its annual update on farmland market conditions. After a...

A report from NBC Bay Area in California. "Hillsborough's most recognizable piece of real estate is now up for rent on Airbnb. The Airbnb listing on Friday shows the so-called 'Flintstone House,' a 2,730-square-foot home at 45 Berryessa Way, can be rented for $750 a night. The property was listed...