The Housing Bubble Blog

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "A year ago, Hillsborough County's housing market was hyperventilating. Now it's sighing. 'The people who are selling are very fortunate,' said Vince Arcuri, a real estate agent based in Odessa." "Why? Because everywhere Arcuri looks, he sees overpriced...

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The Wall Street Journal reports on pricing a home. "As the housing market cools, one of the hardest decisions facing home sellers is how to price their properties. Bigger inventories of unsold homes also are making it harder for sellers to figure out how to make their house stand out amid the...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Federal and state authorities are investigating allegations of an elaborate mortgage fraud involving about 100 people living in or near Martinsville, VA. who say they unwittingly took out loans to buy houses at inflated prices in Indiana. Now, many of the...

Inman News reports on the latest UCLA forecast. "The housing market will not crash unless the job market weakens significantly, though home prices are expected to stagnate for at least five years during this down cycle, according to the latest Anderson Forecast." "The forecast calls for the market...

The Honolulu Advertiser reports from Hawaii. "There's been a dramatic turn in O'ahu's residential real estate market in the last year. It's as though value is evaporating into the salty air, $50,000 here, $150,000 there, $720,000 in Michael Choi's case." "Choi thought he had a $1.8 million Hawai'i...

The Wall Street Journal reports on Florida. "In Florida, school principals, real-estate developers and economic-development officials are scrambling to solve a troubling mystery: Where did the kids go? The reason: School officials say that even though it has cooled in recent weeks, Florida's...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here! Also, when you send in pictures for the photo gallery, put 'HBB' in the message bar to help with sorting: photos@thehousingbubbleblog.com

The Orange County register looks at reporting and the housing bubble. "Gary Watts cites news coverage as a major, depressing market force in his latest outlook. 'I think the media, in general, needs fear-driven articles to keep readers interested or viewership up,' Watts told me. A bold headline...

The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "Erin Toll's top priority as the new director of the Division of Real Estate for Colorado is to shut down appraisers who are artificially inflating home values, contributing to the state's escalating foreclosure crisis." "She agrees with many in the...

The new home sales numbers are out. "Sales of new homes are down 17.4% in the past year and are down 23% from the peak last July, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Sales in May, June and July were revised sharply lower. The median sales price of a new home fell 1.3% year-on-year to...

A housing report from the Washington Post. "The on-again, off-again effort to bring a luxury Canyon Ranch condominium community to North Bethesda is now officially off, making the high-profile development the region's latest victim of a slumbering condo market that has claimed dozens of projects."...

A housing report from the New York Sun. "Veteran real estate broker Deanne Esses said eight people in her Upper East Side office on Madison Avenue are leaving their jobs for alternative careers. Those eight represent 20% of the office's sales staff." "That's only the beginning. Ms. Esses said she...

Please post off topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here. Also, send in your housing bubble photos to: photos@thehousingbubbleblog.com Please put 'HBB' in the message bar to help with sorting.

The Daily News reports from California. "The inventory of homes for sale in the San Fernando Valley has more than doubled since August 2005, according to figures released Monday. 'This isn't a bursting bubble or sky falling,' said John Karevoll of DataQuick. 'It's just the end of a real-estate...

The Arizona Republic reports on land sales. "A year ago, builders couldn't buy land fast enough, no matter how much it cost. Now, Valley land has lost some of its luster with home builders in the rapidly slowing housing industry, even when the property is in one of the northeast Valley's most...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington. "Lennar Corp. warned Tuesday for the second time in a month that it would miss Wall Street forecasts and its CEO said the housing market hasn't hit bottom. 'The housing market has continued to deteriorate, trailing down further and faster...

The Florida press reacts to the new sales numbers. "'Reality-based pricing' has hit the Charlotte County real estate market. Market forces are slowly overwhelming the desire of many sellers to hold out for the highest possible price." "Kristine Wishard, president of the Punta Gorda-Port...

The Boston Herald reports on the latest numbers. "New figures confirm the Bay State is in the throes of a fierce housing downturn. Data released yesterday show Massachusetts is facing its steepest house-price drop since 1993 amid growing foreclosures and the slowest August market in more than a...