The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from the Columbus Dispatch. "It’s repeated so often, it’s a cliche: This is the hottest housing market in years. But what, exactly, does that mean? The most expensive market? The one with the most sales? The one with the fastest sales? The truth is, real-estate statistics can often paint a...

A report from the Tennessean. "Nashville's public pension system invested city workers' retirement funds in the nation’s largest share of risky, high-priced investments among its peers. The city has placed 57 percent of its $2.8 billion fund into alternative investments, including real estate....

Some weekend reading from The Whig by Geoffrey Johnston. "Knowledge of past financial crises does not necessarily give policy-makers the ability or wisdom to avoid every pitfall or systemic problem that could lead to a future financial meltdown. However, there is no denying that possessing a firm...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Aaron and Micaela LaJoie are frustrated. The newlyweds have been searching since February for a home to buy in Amherst, but with no success amid the red-hot housing market in Western New York. They've made offers on five houses, always in excess of...

A report from the Globe and Mail in Canada. "The man on the phone is cheery and confident, with the practised ease of someone accustomed to calming anxiety. There is no need to worry, he says. Buying a home in Vancouver is simple. His company will dispatch people to the airport, then guide an...

A report from the Seattle Times in Washington. "Just how hot is the Seattle real-estate market? People are now reserving condos under construction and then flipping them for a six-figure profit before they even open. Matt Goyer, a local real-estate broker, combed through some recent sales at the...

A report from CNBC. "For the last four years the skies of major U.S. metropolitan housing markets have been littered with cranes. As the homeownership rate fell following the recession, the towers rose — the vast majority boasting luxury rentals, complimented by high-end amenities like rooftop dog...

A report from the New Zealand Herald. "Chinese property investors pulling out of Sydney off-the-plan apartment purchases spooked the Australian banks, and that fallout is now being felt here in Auckland. Jon Sandler, the Kiwi developing Avondale's now-axed 91-unit Flo, blamed tighter bank lending...

A report from the Richmond Times Dispatch in Virginia. "A barrage of apartments have opened in the past couple of years in renovated old buildings and a smattering of newly constructed buildings in downtown Richmond. What the urban core hasn’t seen is many residential units for sale. That is...

A report from Real Estate Weekly. "Lifestyle changes from Millennials, Baby Boomers and a favorable financing environment contributed to resilient multifamily capitalization rates in the U.S. over the first half of 2016, according to the latest research from CBRE Group, Inc. 'Given investor caution...

A report from Bloomberg on China. "China watchers are starting to put a price tag on what any collapse in the nation’s red-hot property market could cost banks. A drop of 30 percent in housing prices could cause 4 percent of total loans worth 4.1 trillion yuan ($615 billion) to sour, according to...

A report from Multi-Housing News on Nevada. "Shopoff Realty Investments, a national manager of opportunistic and value-add real estate investments, has announced the purchase of Sky Pointe Landing, a 624-unit apartment community located in northwestern Las Vegas. 'Our strategy is to bring the asset...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Another housing market report is raising red flags about Dallas' runaway home market. Record prices in the Dallas area have made this one of the most 'mismatched' markets in the country - where buyers can't find homes at prices they want, according...

A report from The Real Deal on Florida. "When Argentinian developer Alan Faena announced an ambitious high-end condo project in Miami Beach three years ago, Faena House became a symbol of the heights to which developers could take the luxury market, shattering Miami-Dade’s residential price record...

A report from the Financial Post in Canada. "Cross-border tax and legal advisors are in for a busy week as a retroactive closing of a tax loophole that allowed foreign home buyers to avoid paying capital gains taxes went into effect this week. Derek Holt, vice-president at Scotiabank Economics,...

A report from Reuters. "U.S. apartment vacancy rate was unchanged at 4.4 percent in the third quarter from the second, while rent growth decelerated in a period that generally sees the strongest increase, real estate research firm Reis Inc said. 'Developers had enjoyed healthy rent growth and...

A report from Bloomberg on Canada. "A 33 percent drop in Vancouver home sales in September from a year ago, the biggest decline since 2010, signals North America’s once-hottest real estate market -- where the average home was appreciating by more than C$1,000 a day -- has reached a tipping point....

A report from the Seattle Globalist in Washington. "When Gabriel was exploring whether to buy a new townhouse in Lake City, the deciding factor wasn’t location, size, or even price. It was the rapid depreciation of the Chinese yuan and a safe bet on the strength of the U.S. dollar. Gabriel, who...

A report from Reuters on China. "Property speculators in China are looking for the next big thing beyond the country's major cities. And they may have found it in the inland city of Changsha. 'Prices have risen 2,000 yuan ($299.84) per square meter on average in the past two months. That's almost a...

A report from the Post and Courier in South Carolina. "Marc Ross, chairman of the National Apartment Association, visited the Lowcountry last week on a five-day tour of four markets as distant as Seattle and Birmingham, Alabama. Right now, the apartment home business in the U.S. appears to be...