The Housing Bubble Blog

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The Sacramento Bee reports from Califonia. "It might seem the worst time to start building houses in the Sacramento region with prices dropping and so many homes for sale. But a pair of deep-pocketed newcomers, divisions of a U.S. timber products giant and a major Japanese conglomerate, are...

The Durango Herald reports from Colorado. "Durango home prices are up 11 percent compared with a year ago, but home sales have fallen 39 percent. The median price of a Durango home was $436,050 in the third quarter. Durango's newest median price is $12,000 lower than last quarter's record high of...

The Washington Post. "A housing developer who had offered to give a Virginia town an unprecedented amount of money to build a luxury subdivision has abandoned plans for the community, blaming a cooling housing market as a factor in the project's failure." "'I am personally saddened by the prospect...

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "As Florida's real estate boom winds down to its apparent end, Dade City has realized only a tiny fraction of the development seen in areas like Wesley Chapel and Land O'Lakes. At one time, city officials talked of plans to control the growth they saw...

The Journal News reports from New York. "The chill in the national housing market is sending a shiver through the Lower Hudson Valley. Inventories for housing of all types rose by double-digit percentages in both counties, while the number of sales fell sharply. Sales of houses in Westchester fell...

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CNN Money reports on California. "Five of the cities on the Bottom 10 list are from this region, making the long rural stretch of Highway 99 between Sacramento and Bakersfield look like a treacherous real estate ditch. 'A market where housing has increased by so much so fast when unemployment is...

The New Mexico Business Weekly. "Albuquerque's housing market peaked in July, according to sales data. After merely slowing in July and August, sales took a dive in September, when home sales were down 17 percent compared to the same month in 2005. Perhaps more ominous than slowing sales, or...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Paul Muolo, "Speaking before the National Association of Home Builders last week, Countrywide Home Loans chief Angelo Mozilo voiced his concern that some states may dictate 'suitability standards' that could force mortgage bankers to make...

Chicago Business reports from Illinois. "Like the opportunists who quit their jobs to become day traders during the '90s tech-stock bubble, a herd of amateur builders in this decade has stampeded into the residential construction business, lured by years of booming sales and rising prices. These...

The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "Naples saw existing-home values fall 8 percent in September on 37 percent fewer sales, according to last week's Florida Association of Realtors report. The really confidence-shaking price drops in Naples occurred this month at JJManning Auctioneers' sale...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Just as when the market was rising spectacularly and sellers simply priced their houses thousands of dollars higher than their neighbors' sales prices, homeowners, real estate agents, builders and even appraisers confess to some sense of winging it on...

The US News and World report looks at Arizona. "Roger Maehler has good reason to feel smug about the panoramic mountain views from his new backyard. 'I think I got a good deal,' the Scottsdale, Ariz., resident says of the acre-plus adobe ranchette he snagged last week for $655,000-a 23 percent...

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "The sale of an aging Dania Beach hotel appears to have fallen through, stalling plans for one of the first major redevelopment projects in the heart of downtown. Now the date for closing on the Pirate's Inn has come and gone, and the seller, Hollywood...

The Denver Post from Colorado. "Two years ago, Colorado issued a warrant to arrest Taiwan Lee, a state prisoner who had vanished on parole. He hadn't gone far. While police looked for him, he bought three houses at inflated prices in Arapahoe County with the help of lenders who put up the entire...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Builder incentives? How about a related television program? "Real estate brokers and others looking for a deal gathered outside the Fresno County Courthouse for this home foreclosure auction. The number of foreclosed homes in the Valley has risen...

The Daily News reports from Massachusetts. "Home builders in MetroWest are re-evaluating the real estate market now that housing prices are decreasing, adjusting marketing tactics and even delaying construction to wait out the cycle. The inventory is increasing because prices are too high, said...

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