The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from CoStar. "The steady addition of new apartments over the past several years appears finally to be catching up with demand. Apartment markets softened in several major markets during the third quarter, especially for those properties at the top of the market, and the impact is starting...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Real estate experts watch the Naples market because it holds clues to the resilience of wealthy buyers. Realtors estimate that 25% of the home-sale market in the Naples area is new construction. Homebuilders have been building and selling...

A report from The Australian. "One of Australia’s largest developers, Mirvac, revealed the number of apartments failing to settle had increased in recent months, raising fresh fears about the sustainability of the nation’s apartment market. More than 20 per cent of Mirvac’s pre-sales are to...

A report from the Buffalo News in New York. "Amid record prices and crowded open houses, Western New York’s booming housing market has hit an unexpected stumbling block for many buyers: they simply can't find homes to buy. Sales in July fell 9.1 percent from the prior year, according to the Buffalo...

A report from the Dallas Morning News in Texas. "Prospects for the 2017 U.S. commercial property still market look good, to hear the majority of real estate folks tell it. Certainly Dallas is in the biggest building boom it's seen in almost three decades. But a lot of the industry's executives are...

A report from Global News in Canada. "Some sellers are cashing out of Canada’s hot housing markets as property values soar to new heights — while others may have already missed their chance. There are a few factors at play. First, there was the introduction of B.C.’s new 15 per cent tax on foreign...

A report from the Journal News in New York. "Developers who are currently building thousands of new luxury apartments in Westchester say they remain confident that their units will be quickly leased once completed, even if the rental market to the south in New York City is showing signs of cooling...

A report from the Guardian in the UK. "A surge in the supply of rental properties on the books of letting agents is forcing landlords to peg back rent rises, according to an industry body. The proportion of landlords implementing increases fell to 24%, its lowest level this year, said the...

A report from the Register Guard in Oregon. "The city of Eugene is reporting a 1,600-unit deficit in multifamily housing and is identifying policy changes that would create more capacity. Based on an analysis of actual development in Eugene, however, it appears that there is no deficit — instead, a...

A two part series from Farm Futures. "About every year, Ron Pierson tries to trade one of his larger Case IH tractors for a new one. He did not this year because the dealer was reluctant to add another expensive piece of used equipment to the big supply already on the lot. Shorty Kulhanek, a custom...

A report from the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. "Wayne Byres, chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, was on Thursday asked by Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson about a report from UBS that last month ranked Sydney fourth in a global 'bubble index' that sought to measure the...

A report from The Independent in California. "Livermore is on track to meet the goals and objectives of its housing element. Staff noted that at the current rate of development, Livermore would exceed the projected housing need under the current Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA), for years...

A report from the News Tribune in Washington. "Tacoma apartment rents have increased for the 11th straight month, according to Axiometrics, a research firm that tracks apartment rentals. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett’s average rent prices in September dropped to $1,777 from August’s $1,799, possibly...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Earlier this year, Mr. and Mrs. Cai, a couple from Shanghai, decided to end their marriage. The rationale wasn’t irreconcilable differences or even mild disagreements; rather, it was a property market bubble in China’s financial hub. The pair, who...

A report from the Desert Sun in California. "Madelaine LaVoie greets visitors with hugs and brownies at her Yucca Valley real estate office. LaVoie points to a little black cabin, with a mid-century slanted roofline and a wooden pergola, on the horizon. 'That one just closed escrow for $400,000,'...

A report from Biznow on Washington, DC. "Multifamily developers across the country have being trying to outdo each other with greater amenities in what has become a full-out arms race to attract tenants. But Kettler CEO Bob Kettler (founder of DC's largest multifamily firm, in terms of units under...

A report from MarketWatch. "Ever since the shock of the financial crisis ebbed and buyers began to return to the housing market, one truth has dominated: mortgage lending is tight. But is it? So much lending to people with higher credit scores and so little to those on the lower end of the spectrum...

A report from Domain News in Australia. "Sydney’s hot property prices and tight rental market have been described as a tenant’s nightmare. But in some suburbs, landlords are reducing their rents to secure a tenant. Sixty kilometres south-west of Sydney CBD, one landlord recently dropped the...

A report from Newjersey.com. "Gabe Pasquale's pitch was four words long. 'Look at that view!' he said. Pasquale is a senior vice president for East Coast sales with the California-based real estate developer Landsea. He was giving a tour of the sales office and busy construction site for the...

A report from Bloomberg on the UK. "London house prices fell for a fifth month in August, the worst streak for the U.K. capital since the depths of the recession seven years ago. The decline is being led by higher-priced boroughs in central London, according to LSL Property Services. That analysis...