The Housing Bubble Blog

Holden Lewis writes for Bankrate.com. "House prices are falling in much of the country, and more than 4 million dwellings are on the market. That's bad news for sellers, because buyers feel free to make lowball offers and then just wait. It's a buyer's market, but don't despair." "You can increase...

The Calgary Herald reports from Canada. "It was a crazy phenomenon a few months back that garnered attention across the country. But today's residential resale housing market has changed quite dramatically. It's like night and day compared to the spring." "'Buyers have a little bit more leverage to...

Several readers suggested personal finances and homes as a topic. "Yesterday, there was a thread about boomers and their spending everything they earn. I would like to know if there are many other boomers like me (tail end - born in 1962). I finally got a house in a less bubbly area and I have no...

The Times Herald Record reports from New York. "Sure, the Orange County housing market is cooling down, but few would ever have thought it would come to this: a free vacation as an incentive for buying a home. But the addition on the sign in front of the two-story home on Route 211 West is...

What do you see in your housing market this weekend? More open houses? Reduced prices? Here is one from Washington, DC. "What a difference a year makes. When my husband and I bought our home in April 2005, the Washington, D.C.-area housing market was in a frenzy. We'd paraded through homes, all...

From the Pioneer Press. "For years, construction companies worked on the assumption that if they built homes, buyers would come. But that no longer holds true, and nearly 3,000 new single-family homes sit empty in a cooling Twin Cities market. So, how did we go from builders feeling like they...

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From In Business Las Vegas. "'The market sucks.' With those three little words, Las Vegas real estate guru Richard Lee elicited laughs from real estate agents and those in the development and building industry waiting for some insight on which direction the housing market is heading. Lee urges them...

Readers suggested a look at rents and home prices as a topic. "Does anyone have linkable data that shows that historically that median income can afford median home price, and also, that median home payment equals median rent?" "I know both of these mantras are just 'common sense,' but I was...

The Seattle Times reports from Washington. "At the beginning of the year, local housing experts predicted the Puget Sound area's super-heated real-estate market would slow. What they couldn't predict was exactly when or how much. It's now, and the drop-off has been marked." "After rising for seven...

The Asbury Park Press from New Jersey. "Kara Homes' bankruptcy filing has left scores of customers and creditors wondering if the troubled builder is going to complete the developments it has under construction and make good on its debts." "East Brunswick-based Kara Homes, one of the biggest home...

Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

It's desk clearing time! North Carolina. "The longer Kim Tucker shopped for a home, the sweeter the offers got. Builders were willing to knock anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 off asking prices. 'I'm seeing more incentives than any time in the past two or three years,' said Glenn Astolfi, of DNJ...

The Record Searchlight reports from California. "Redding ranked 16th on a list of the top 30 U.S. metropolitan markets expected to suffer the sharpest declines in home prices. The gloomy forecast presents one of the starkest views yet of the housing slowdown that has been gathering force in recent...

The Las Vegas Business Press. "The Las Vegas Valley's housing market continued its yearlong decline with 1,739 sales in September, or 41.7 percent fewer than in 2005, reports the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. Home listings climbed to a record 20,815 units in September, which is 57.4...

A mortgage fraud report from the New York Times. "On May 18, 2005, a small Indiana company bought 184 duplex homes in a down-and-out neighborhood in northeast Indianapolis for an average price of $50,000 each. The company, Land Economics, began selling the properties for $120,000 apiece to church...

The Long Island Business News. "As the nation’s residential market softens, local real estate experts say the mad rush to rezone any available sliver of land to accommodate housing is over. 'The residential market is kind of in the toilet,' said Corporate Realty Services partner John O’Hara." "Long...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

Post topic suggestions for the weekend here. Also, don't forget to send in your housing bubble photos to: photos@thehousingbubbleblog.com All submissions must have 'HBB' in the message bar to help with sorting.

The Daily Bulletin reports from California. "If you aren't panicking about the downturn in the housing market, you aren't paying attention. There is a massive inventory of unsold homes on the market, causing homes to take longer to sell and forcing some sellers to become more motivated by cutting...