The Housing Bubble Blog

The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "The slump in the Bay Area housing market continued in December. The number of homes sold in December fell almost 20 percent from a year ago. The drop extends a streak of monthly sales decreases dating back to April 2005. 'I still think we're...

The Dallas Morning News reports from Texas. "Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosure postings are still growing – fueled by higher payments on adjustable-rate loans and rising consumer debt. The latest statistics show that pending foreclosures in Dallas County are 12 percent higher than a year ago and...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, "Pulte Homes Inc. warned it may post a fourth-quarter loss but said it would make an aggressive effort to strengthen its balance sheet by taking charges to reduce its land inventory." "Pulte 'continues to navigate through a...

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "Faced with continued sluggishness in the high-end condominium market and little reason for short-term optimism, the owner of the land at U.S. 41 and Gulf Stream Avenue downtown has shelved plans for a 17-story luxury residential tower. Kolter Communities'...

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The Wall Street Journal reports on Oregon. "Randy Bither and his wife, Karla, both from Beaverton, Ore., decided to invest in real estate to help finance their plans to move to the countryside. After talking to other investors and a real-estate agent, they decided to buy a newly constructed home...

Inman News reports on the Twin Cities. "Home sales in the Twin Cities, Minn., market dropped for the ninth straight month in December while prices kept pace with their year-ago levels, according to reports from four Twin Cities-area Realtor associations. There were 2,950 sales of existing...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Home starts unexpectedly climbed 4.5 percent last month from November, the Commerce Department said in Washington. Building permits jumped 5.5 percent, the most in four years, to a 1.596 million pace, the Commerce Department...

The Providence Journal reports from Rhode Island. "Rhode Island’s sales of single-family houses are showing signs of improvement, but not so for the condominium market, according to a report. Condo prices in November fell nearly 22 percent, to $205,500, down from $262,500 in November 2005,...

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A housing report from California. "Bay Area home prices were flat last month while the sales pace was the slowest pace in a decade. A total of 7,488 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month. That was down 19.9 percent from 9,347 for December last year, according to...

The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "Colorado regained the nation's top foreclosure rate in December. 'That's a matter of concern, particularly since we haven't had the appreciation in home prices that Nevada has had or the amount of speculative buying,' said Tucker Hart Adams, a regional...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street. "Lennar Corp., one of the nation's biggest homebuilders, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday in contrast to a profit a year ago as revenue tumbled 15 percent and it absorbed big charges related to the housing market slowdown. Lennar also said it...

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "Plans to sell the historic Gulfstream Polo Club to housing developers have collapsed. Westbrooke Homes terminated its contract to buy 221 acres for $66.5 million. Land speculator Brian Tuttle also wants to back away from buying another 212 acres of...

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The Union Tribune reports from California. "San Diego County housing prices turned negative last year for the first time since 1995, DataQuick Information Systems reported yesterday. The market ended the year with a median price of $483,000 for all homes, off 6.4 percent from December 2005. But the...

A report from the Chicago Tribune. "Back in 2003, when Trump was planning his downtown residential tower, he gave about 40 insiders an attractive deal: They could sign contracts to buy condominiums in the Trump International Hotel & Tower at a discount. In some cases they agreed to pay about $500 a...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Centex Corporation has cancelled or intends not to exercise land option contracts related to approximately 37,000 controlled lots given the decline of housing activity in many of its markets. Consequently, the company currently expects...

The Sun News reports from South Carolina. "Condo sales plunged 30 percent last year, sparked by the departure of short-term investors and skyrocketing homeowners insurance rates. Condo sales fell from 9,222 to 6,453, according to the MLS for Horry and Georgetown counties - which captures about 80...

The New York Times reports on Washington. "David Franco’s illuminated model of a proposed 10-story condominium tower dominates a sales center that, in spite of the 'Now Selling' banner still fluttering outside, is conspicuously closed for business." "After six weeks of failing to lure more than a...