The Housing Bubble Blog

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Home prices fell nearly 2 percent last month in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region, the first decline in a little more than three years. Sales also were down sharply last month. Supplies of homes on the market, meanwhile, were way up."...

KPIX 5 reports from California. "In March the number of houses on the market in the Bay Area jumped by more than 12,000 percent to just over 24,000. Dr. Chuck Williams, the Dean of the University of Pacific School of Business believes 2007 will mark rock bottom for the housing market." "'We don't...

KDKA 2 reports from Pennsylvania. "A wave of house foreclosures that has swept the nation from coast to coast is also hitting the Pittsburgh area hard. But you might be surprised to learn that it's hitting hard in our affluent suburbs. After putting an addition on her home, Renee Schopper in...

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "When the flood of fresh home listings stopped rising last fall, the Tampa Bay housing market appeared poised for a recovery. Welcome to the recovery that wasn't. So many for-sale homes continue to bloat the area real estate market, nearly 41,000, that...

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The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "Since it was established five months ago, the state's foreclosure hotline has received more than 11,000 calls from people in jeopardy of foreclosure, said Zachary Urban, the administrator of the hotline. 'The majority of people don't even know what kind of...

WFAA reports from Texas. "On the southwest edge of Cedar Hill, the development's custom homes on oversized lots make a clear statement of prosperity. But unexplained house fires, foreclosure postings and empty houses send another message: This is a beautiful place teetering on the edge of decline,...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Hopes for a housing rebound this spring selling season were further diminished Thursday, as Ryland Group Inc. said lower home prices will likely drive write-downs and a quarterly loss as subprime-mortgage fears weigh heavily on the market....

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said homeowners shouldn't expect their tax assessments to fall this year. The slumping housing market has caused prices to plateau, not plummet, with exceptions such as downtown West Palm Beach's condo...

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The Voice of San Diego reports from California. "A larger number of homeowners find themselves upside-down in their homes, owing more than their home could sell for, than in previous years. And the number of them hoping to execute a short sale is also increasing." "There were 1,065 San Diego County...

The Times Mirror reports from Virginia. "They are a fairly typical Loudoun family. He is a 35-year-old engineer for a technology company in Fairfax, pulling in $80,000 a year. His wife teaches yoga. College-educated, they have two daughters. In August 2005, the housing market in Northern Virginia...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Mortgage lender SouthStar Funding has closed its doors, the latest victim in the battered subprime lending market, a company executive said Tuesday. 'We really felt like we could weather the storm and that we would outlive some of the...

The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "In recent years, a new breed of mortgage company, the subprime lender, exploded onto the scene. The subprime market, which grew from nothing to a $600 billion-a-year business in 2006, brought the American Dream to a larger slice of the population than...

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The Contra Costa Times reports from California. "East Bay cities such as Berkeley, Brentwood, Clayton and Walnut Creek experienced a nearly 25 percent drop in median home prices from February of last year. Walnut Creek's median home sales price dropped to $519,000, according to DataQuick, making it...

The Washington Post reports on Michigan. "The housing bubble of recent years has burst and home prices are under pressure in many parts of the country. States like Michigan and Ohio, struggling with their particular economic problems, illustrate just how bad things could get in the housing sector."...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in February, stood at 109.3 – down 8.5 percent from February 2006. The PHSI in the South was 8.0 percent below a year ago. The index in the Midwest was 9.7 percent lower than February...