The Housing Bubble Blog

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "After a decade of annual, double-digit growth in house prices, the Bay Area now ranks as the nation's most expensive housing market, sporting a median home price of $749,000 for single-family homes and $600,000 for condos, according to the...

Readers responded to questions to pose to a former Fed chair. "If you could ask Paul Volcker one question about the housing market situation, what would it be?" "Former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker is often lauded on this blog for having the gumption to crank overnight rates up high enough to...

The Bellingham Herald reports from Washington. "Three years of escalating home prices, low housing supply and multiple offers finally came to an end last year in Whatcom County, prompting home buyers and sellers to ponder what it all means for 2007. (Realtor) Mike Kent said the number of days a...

The Record reports from New Jersey. "Two years ago, builder Meron Sason paid $1.5 million for a small Cape Cod on a wooded lot in Saddle River, tore down the home, and started to build a luxury stone-and-cedar house. Now, with the new six-bedroom house on the market for $3.87 million, Sason has run...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Builder incentives? Auctions? Statistics? "According to statistics compiled by the Intermountain MLS, in the Treasure Valley, the 834 transactions posted in January were 27 percent fewer than the 1,149 sales in January 2006. Ada County saw a 40...

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The East Valley Tribune reports from Arizona. "With the housing market lagging and homes taking months to sell, a Scottsdale-based company is betting homeowners will be eager to try a more unconventional route to successful sales, the auction. National Real Estate Auction Corp. will host a massive...

Several readers suggested a spread of the subprime markets over to the prime as a topic. "OK, so subprime is toast. But I don’t think investment losses on stupid loans, and foreclosures of deals that should have never been done to begin with, will sink the economy, do you? No one else seems to...

The Pensacola News Journal reports from Florida. "Kay Ford and her husband are rolling the dice for high stakes Saturday. The Birmingham couple will be on Perdido Key, fingers crossed, hoping they made the right decision to put their two condominiums on the 'absolute' auction block." "'They've been...

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It's Friday desk clearing time. "Last year, 37,337 single-family homes were sold in Connecticut, the fewest since 1996, according to The Warren Group. 'Overall, 2006 was the worst year for Connecticut real estate in a decade," said CEO Tim Warren Jr." "The deepest decline so far came in December....

The LA Times reports from California. "Monica Wilson loves her vacation home, an ocean-view condo within walking distance of the beach in Carlsbad, Calif. She paid $620,000 for the place 13 months ago. But since then, the California vacation-home market has gone soft. 'If I sold my second home...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "H&R Block Inc. said Thursday it swung to a loss in the third quarter as the company's troubled mortgage lending arm offset a strong beginning of the tax season. H&R Block last year announced it was considering selling Option One, which has...

The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "Housing analyst David Seiders told Chicago-area builders Thursday that the federal estimate of 3.5 million homes for sale at the end of 2006 is 'grossly understated.' 'There is a big inventory overhang out there, and it's bigger than anybody understands,'...

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Also, send in your housing bubble pics to: hbbphotos@gmail.com

The Voice of San Diego reports from California. "The number of San Diego County homes in some level of foreclosure activity reached 1,150 last month, according to RealtyTrac. That's up 20 percent from January 2006 and up more than 240 percent from the first month of 2005. But even as the market has...

The Examiner reports from Maryland. "In 2006, the real estate market in the Baltimore region took a tumble. Local real estate experts believe that the market’s success in 2004 and 2005 spoiled many property sellers, who had a hard time adjusting to more pedestrian sales in 2006. Deborah Ford, a...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Toll Brothers Inc. on Thursday said the weak U.S. housing market drove down its quarterly profit 67 percent after write-downs for lower land values, and the luxury home builder lowered its forecast. The results included write-downs of $96.9...