The Housing Bubble Blog

The Florida realtors have their November numbers out. "Sales of existing homes and condos in Florida were down in November. A total of 11,912 existing single-family homes sold statewide last month, a decrease of 30 percent from the 17,088 homes sold during the previous November, according to the...

The existing home sales numbers are out. "Sales of existing homes managed to eke out a small increase in November but the price of homes sold fell for a fourth consecutive month, a real estate trade group reported Thursday. The median price for an existing home sold in November dropped to $218,000,...

The American Statesman reports from Texas. "Central Texas home builders have been offering plenty of year-end discounts and bonuses to boost sales, but that doesn't mean that the Austin area housing market is cooling or that prices are falling. Sales to West Coast buyers could slow as investors and...

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The Press Democrat reports from California. "Bring in a buyer for an Oakmont home and get a $5,000 bonus. Buy a fixed-up two-bedroom Santa Rosa house and drive away in a new Honda Civic. Close a deal in a Christopherson Homes subdivision and win a trip to Hawaii." "Incentives to drive home sales...

The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "The housing market isn't dead, it's stuck. There's a standoff between home buyers and sellers, and the health of the 2007 housing market may depend on who blinks first, according to Chicago-area consumers, real estate agents and analysts who are...

A housing report from the Washington Post. "Urban hipsters have shown a knack for dropping up to $1 million for condos in the heart of the District. But will they spend that much to live over a church that feeds the homeless?" "The development company envisions 140 condominiums at 10th and G...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. "Sales of new one-family houses in November 2006 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,047,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 3.4...

The Democrat and Chronicle reports from New York. "In a year that has seen big swings in sales, the Rochester-area real estate market is settling into a slower mode, one in which buyers have more choices and sellers have to make more concessions. Houses are sitting on the market longer because of...

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A report from the Arizona Republic. "Buyers for metropolitan Phoenix's most expensive condominiums have gotten pickier and more cautious at a time when developers are racing to build dozens of elite condo projects across the city. Now, more than 30 of these urban projects are either finished or...

The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "With more than 18,000 foreclosures expected this year, a record for the metro area, Colorado has had the highest foreclosure rate in the country. The current foreclosure epidemic traces more to overbuilding and aggressive lending than to fundamental economic...

A housing report from the Boston Globe. "The Massachusetts housing market continued its decline in November, with sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropping by double-digit percentages and sales of single-family homes reaching its lowest November tally since 1992, according to a housing...

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "From Plantation to Pinecrest, from Coral Springs to Coral Gables, the last few years have been boom times at city halls across South Florida. Thanks to the skyrocketing real estate market, city managers and commissioners have raked in hundreds of millions of...

A housing report from the Washington Post. "Plenty of real estate agents note that winter can be a great time for sellers to unload houses and for buyers to find bargains. Sellers are also serious, a plus for buyers." "'People who put their houses on the market in the second half of December or the...

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Readers suggested a topic on international housing markets. "What countries outside America should someone consider for living? I have enough money to buy a house, but am so disgusted by the current situation in America that I don’t want to buy here, in the foreseeable future." "Canada is the...

The Associated Press reports from Pennsylvania. "After years of gains, the Pennsylvania real estate market decelerated in earnest this year as buyers balked at paying ballooning home prices and speculators left the market. A growing economy, low mortgage rates and new types of loans had fueled a...

Readers suggested a topic surrounding Wall Street bonuses and New York real estate. "Slightly off topic, and thinking out loud: I just do not understand where those tremendous Wall Street earnings are coming from, which cause all those record bonuses???" A reply, "If you don’t understand where they...

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "Associate Realtor Rick Greene traded e-mail messages last week with staff writer Michael Braga about the current reality in the real estate and insurance industries in Southwest Florida." "Q: What has been happening to real estate sales and prices over the...