The Housing Bubble Blog

The LA Times reports from California. "Despite the housing downturn, the California and U.S. economies are headed for a 'soft landing' because trouble in one sector alone is not enough to trigger a recession, UCLA economists said in a quarterly forecast to be released today." "A national recession...

The Review Journal reports from Nevada. "The inventory of homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Las Vegas declined to 19,729 in November, down 16 percent from the previous month, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. It's still up nearly 34 percent from a...

A housing report from the Arkansas Times. "Northwest Arkansas has grown faster than anyone could have anticipated. Sleepy pastureland overnight became subdivisions, office parks and strip malls. The lure of easy money proved irresistible to would-be developers." "'There were a lot of people who...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington, the LA Times. "Is the Ameriquest empire assembled by Roland E. Arnall about to be dismantled? The Los Angeles billionaire's financial lending business has declined sharply since his appointment as ambassador to the Netherlands in...

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "J.P. King, the real estate auction house known for selling off luxury properties across the country, is gearing up to sell 100 condominiums this weekend in Tampa, and is predicting many more condo auctions in Florida next year." "'Frankly, they overbuilt the...

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The Calgary Herald News reports from Canada. "For only the second time this year, the average resale price of a Calgary home has dropped from the previous month. And the average price of a single-family home has fallen below the $400,000 mark after being above that level for five straight months."...

The Tonganoxie Mirror reports from Kansas. "Whether the signs say 'For Sale' or 'For Rent,' owners report it's taking longer to move houses these days. For instance, Realtor Dan Lynch said in 2005, he sold 21 single-family homes in the Tonganoxie subdivision Jackson Heights. 'This year I think we...

A housing report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "When Jeremy Ross began condominium shopping last summer, he knew he had an edge. A sluggish market and cautious buyers had begun nudging developers into doling out incentives. Ross said that, going in, he knew that the developer 'needed me more than...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington. The Star Telegram, "Business stinks at the country's biggest home builder, and the CEO says it may get worse next year. The Fort Worth company is being as aggressive about reining in its business as it once was about growing it." "The...

A pair of housing reports from the New York Times. "Subprime loans, which tend to run roughly three percentage points or more above the rates available to the most creditworthy borrowers, have become the fastest-growing segment of the mortgage industry." "As recently as 2000, there were just...

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The Star Bulletin reports from Hawaii. "This time last year, real estate watchers were scratching their heads wondering just how high the market could go. Now the most popular question is, 'How low can it go?'" "The median price paid for a single-family home on Oahu slid 4.8 percent in November,...

The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "It's official. A record number of real estate foreclosures have been filed in the Denver area this year. In the first 11 months of 2006, public trustees in the seven-county metro area opened 17,782 foreclosures. That's 3.85 percent higher than the...

The Chippewa Herald reports from Wisconsin. "The housing market in Chippewa County has flipped. 'Home sales are definitely a little slow,' said real estate agent Jason Huebner. Fewer people are buying houses as investments, doing a quick remodel and sale commonly called a 'flip.' The people buying...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street. Bloomberg, "Toll Brothers Inc. said fiscal fourth-quarter profit slid 44 percent as orders tumbled and the company wrote down expenses for land. Net income in the three months ended Oct. 31 dropped to $173.8 million from $310.3 million a year earlier....

The News Observer reports from North Carolina. "Weakness in the Triangle housing market probably will continue through the middle of next year, the region's builders were told Monday. 'We will see some real, negative numbers in both new and resale home transactions, as they compare to a year ago,...

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The Fresno Bee reports from California. "Anthony Gamber assumes presidency of the Fresno Association of Realtors during a housing slowdown, but the veteran agent says he isn't worried. He called the 5.3% drop in median price in Fresno County over the last year a stable reduction, and noted it was...

The Kingman Daily Miner reports from Arizona. "Headlines around the country are portraying the housing market as 'gloomy,' 'hopeless' and, for those non-sensationalists, 'slow.' If the market continues to stagger, which is the assumption given the abnormally stellar market of the past two years,...