The Housing Bubble Blog

The Auburn Pub reports from New York. "The 'For Sale' sign that still hangs in front of a home on North Marvine Avenue in Auburn has sat through this year's spring rains, summer heat and fall foliage. Finally, five months after the three-story home went up for sale its sale price dropped between 10...

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The Record.net reports from California. "Anne Thompson, of Stockton, has a variety of properties in the Central Valley. The rental market is better now partly because the area is seeing a rising wave of foreclosures, she said, as people who bought homes with flexible loans tied to interest rates...

Several readers are looking at inexpensive areas in every direction. "Once I have my rainy day fund in the bag and I can live in the hills in the far north for a few years if need be. Or buy a villa in central America for cash. Just in case the U.S. get 'ruff'" Another said, "Eastern Sierra looks...

In Business Las Vegas reports from Nevada. "Former Nevada State Bank appraiser Patrick Egger with Stewart Title, recently gave real estate agents his take on the Las Vegas housing market and its future." "Egger said people make a mistake when they try to compare the existing market to 2004 and 2005...

The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "The inventory of available properties total 20,319, still near record levels, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association said Friday in its monthly report. September sales in the Realtors' core Orlando market (mainly Orange and Seminole counties) totaled...

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It's Friday desk clearing time. The UK, "Alliance & Leicester recently changed its rules so borrowers, except first-time buyers, do not need to provide proof of their income if they can put down a 25 per cent deposit, giving them leeway to inflate their earnings." "Simon Tyler of Chase de Vere...

The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "California's slowing housing market has dampened sales at Sacramento's largest high-rise condominium and hotel project. John Saca's 53-story project has presold a little less than 50 percent of the 799 units to date, and sales in August and September...

Some reports from the Arizona Republic. "For the first time in a decade, median prices for resale homes in the Valley dropped last month compared with the same time last year. 'We've had a major correction,' said Lyn Truitt, a real estate broker in Surprise. 'The market has slowed considerably. The...

The News Press from Florida. "Don't expect Lee County's residential real estate market to start recovering until the third quarter of 2008, real estate broker Frank D'Alessandro told a business group Thursday. 'Supply will continue to overwhelm demand,' said D'Alessandro." "He told the general...

Newsday reports from New York. "Winter is coming, and Long Island builder Steven Klar doesn't relish safeguarding unsold homes over the winter, paying for snow removal and heating the big, empty insides so the pipes don't freeze and burst. That's why he's offering a new $52,000 Mercedes to buyers...

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The North County Times reports from California. "Prices of individual homes and in individual neighborhoods have already fallen in the last 12 months. Declines among newly built homes are likely to be more dramatic, the realtor association's chief economist, Leslie Appleton-Young, said in an...

The Ledger reports from Florida. "Polk County builders must be getting that sinking feeling. The county's building permit total fell a record 82.6 percent in September as the housing market continued to falter in the wake of last year's boom. 'Pretty dismal, huh?' said Joel Adams, executive VP of...

Some housing news from Wall Street. "Home builder Ryland Group Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit fell 26% as sales incentives reduced earnings. Ryland said new orders fell 45.6% to 2,372 from 4,361 in the same period last year." "'They're willing to take a volume hit but maintain...

The Reno Gazette Journal reports from Nevada. "The housing market in the Reno metropolitan area continued to soften through the third quarter. During the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the median price of an existing single-family home in greater Reno-Sparks dropped 9 percent, to $324,500, compared...

The Asbury Park Press from New Jersey. "A boom in townhouse and condominium construction has been a vital part of oceanfront redevelopment in the city, but the market here is not immune from the slowdown affecting the rest of the real estate industry." "'That construction (along the ocean) was in...

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