The Housing Bubble Blog

The Fresno Bee reports from California. "Housing sales in the Fresno area this year are at their lowest level since 1999. The steep drop-off in activity combined with a glut of houses for sale has left would-be home sellers shaking their heads in disbelief." "'Some sellers have been stuck on March...

The News Press reports from Florida. "Foreclosures in Lee County jumped sharply last month as speculators gave up on land for which they overpaid and homeowners failed to keep up with their payments. In October, 352 foreclosures were filed in circuit court, up 48.5 percent from the 237 filed in...

The Census Bureau has the new home numbers out. "Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,535,000. This is 28.0 percent (±1.2%) below the October 2005 estimate of 2,131,000. Single-family authorizations in October were at...

The Chicago Sun Times reports from Illinois. "Home sellers in Chicago's flagging housing market who are turning to auctions to unload their properties learned from a West Rogers Park auction that buyers will show up with checkbooks ready if the prices are right. About 75 would-be bidders were at a...

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The Appeal Democrat reports from California. "After years of almost surreal rises in home prices, home sellers and builders in Northern California are being sobered by the cold bath of a slowdown, and the Yuba-Sutter area is no exception. According to Mid-Valley agents, the contraction...reflects a...

The East Valley Tribune reports from Arizona. "A house was sold Tuesday for what may be the highest price ever paid for a residential property in Scottsdale. The home was sold for $10 million, said broker Bob Hassett." "The 27,000-square-foot Scottsdale home was built in 1994 and cost more to build...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Origination News, "Subprime lender ECC Capital Corp., Irvine, Calif., posted a stunning $54 million loss in the third quarter, citing loan buybacks and early payment defaults. Through the first nine months of the year, the publicly traded...

The Miami Herald. "Luxury high-rise developers who last year flooded the market with irrational exuberance have a quieter pitch these days: 'Never mind.' And those families who were in the way of the phantom behemoths? That's really too bad. Several were pushed out last year from Bayfront Manor on...

The Record reports from New Jersey. "When the housing market gets tough, sellers offer incentives. In Demarest, builder American Properties of Iselin is offering to park a Maserati (worth about $125,000) in the garage for any buyer who forks over $2.2 million to $3.6 million for a new luxury town...

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Dataquick reports on California. "Bay Area home sales held steady at a five-year low in October as buyers and sellers circled each other in a game of wait-and-see. A total of 7,979 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region in October. That was up 0.9 percent from 7,907...

Some housing reports from the Boston Globe. "The housing downturn in Massachusetts will last longer, and prices will fall further than first projected, according to an economic forecast released yesterday. Housing prices will slide by as much as 10 percent from their 2005 peak before hitting bottom...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street, New Orleans and Washington. "The slowdown of the U.S. housing market will last through 2007 as inventories are pared enough to prompt a change in consumer psychology, the CEO of the nation's biggest mortgage lender said." "Mortgage lending has slowed as...

A Washington Post from the Washington Post. "A dramatically slowed housing market has disappointed home sellers and left real estate agents waiting for the phone to ring. The Washington area remains one of the most expensive places in the nation to buy a home. Still, over the past year, as the...

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "The newest single-family home community in the village will add 264 high-end homes to the State Road 7 corridor at prices once found only in Wellington's large-lot communities. A partnership between Centex Homes and Engle Homes, is planning to build the...

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Dataquick reports from California. "Last month was the slowest October for Southern California home sales in a decade. Prices continued to level off. A total of 22,117 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was...

The Deseret News reports from Utah. "The number of building permits issued for new houses, condominiums and apartments is falling across Utah, but in Utah County permits are skyrocketing, according to a new report." "Many Utah cities have seen the number of residential permits issued this year drop...