The Housing Bubble Blog

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street and Washington. "The pace of activity in building new homes fell in July to the lowest level in nearly two years, adding another piece of evidence indicating a slowing U.S. economy. Housing starts, tracking the nation's rate of construction on new homes,...

The Wall Street Journal reports on a way to get home sales moving. "As a glutted real-estate market makes homes harder to sell, some sellers are trying a different approach: putting their house or condo on the auction block. In some areas along the East and West coasts and in Florida, the number of...

The Belmont Citizen Herald reports from Massachusetts. "Despite the proliferation of 'For Sale' signs, Belmont realtors say there’s nothing wrong with the local housing market. 'It’s not a crash, it’s a slowdown,' said Peter Boyajian. He said there are a lot of reasons for this occurrence, not the...

The Sacramento bee has this update from California. "State Assembly candidate Kevin Jeffries of Riverside County could have bought a Sacramento-area condominium last month in anticipation of winning his election in November. The would-be legislator was smart to wait." "'Some of the places we were...

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

The Oregonian has this update on Portland. "The Portland-area housing market has decisively cooled, resulting in a July median home price decline that bucks the three-year trend of relentlessly rising values. Adding to the changing housing picture, the inventory of houses for sale rose in July to...

Dataquick has some numbers out today in California. "Home sales in the Bay Area slowed to their lowest level in ten years as prices increased at their slowest pace since spring 2003. A total of 7,941 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 19.1...

The Washington Times has this report from DC. "Home sales are plummeting at double-digit rates in the Washington area, the National Association of Realtors reported. Markets in Virginia that enjoyed the most rapid appreciation during the boom, are now experiencing a faster decline and tougher...

Some housing bubble reports from Florida. The Palm Beach Post, "Sales of existing single-family homes in Palm Beach County posted the biggest second-quarter decline in the state as one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation continued to cool down, a Florida Association of Realtors report...

An update from the Boston Globe. "Home sales across the state fell nearly 11 percent in the second quarter as the real estate market slowed, with Cape Cod, central Massachusetts, and the Northeast and Southeast corners of the state experiencing the sharpest declines. The price of single-family...

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

Dataquick has the Southland numbers out from California. "Southland home sales downshifted last month to the slowest pace in nine years as the rate of appreciation fell to the lowest level since fall 1999. A total of 22,712 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura,...

The homebuilders association has this out today. "Reacting to what they perceive as increasing consumer uncertainty regarding the market for new single-family homes, builders tempered their views on current and expected sales activity in the Home Builders Housing Market Index for August, released...

Some housing reports from the central US. "Downtown Chicago condominium sales fell about 24 percent in the first six months of 2006 from a year earlier. Buyers signed contracts or reservations for 3,739 Chicago condominiums through June, a decline from 4,898 in the same period of 2005, a record...

The realtors trade group has a report out. "Appreciation in existing single-family home prices cooled to single digit rates in most metropolitan areas during the second quarter, according to the latest survey by National Association of Realtors." "'David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said a market...

The Mail Tribune has this update from southern Oregon. "Just about everything turned out as builder Jim Green had anticipated in his first two attempts at selling high-end speculation houses in Ashland, the second selling even before the roof was on. But that was October 2004." "Today, Green's...

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

The Contra Costa Times looks at some reports on borrowing in California. "Instead of building a nest egg for retirement, a growing number of homeowners are putting themselves in a debt trap. Economists and investment advisers say that more Americans are relying on their homes as their primary asset...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street. "We know how D.R. Horton deals with success. Now we'll see how the Fort Worth company handles adversity. It won't be pretty, it won't be subtle, and it won't be alone." "CEO Don Tomnitz laid out Horton's strategy for retrenchment after the company...

The Honolulu Advertiser has this update from Hawaii. "The housing market trend of higher prices but fewer sales continued on Maui, the Big Island and Kaua'i last month. There were 30 percent fewer single-family home sales on the Valley Isle: 88 in July compared with 125 a year earlier." "Maui...