The Housing Bubble Blog

Toll Brothers has some numbers out. "Toll Brothers, the Horsham, Pa.-based luxury home builder, said the value of signed contracts declined 29% in the quarter ended April 30. Toll Brothers also cut its estimate of home deliveries for the year, as speculative buyers quit the market and ordinary...

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The Boston Herald takes us back to Massachusetts. "Boston’s waterfront, the epicenter of a high-rise condo building boom, is starting to see a trend that might make even the most bullish real estate investor flinch, skydiving prices." "The average price of a harborside condo perch plunged nearly 40...

The Union Tribune in San Diego has this on predicting the housing bubble. "Although the Anderson Forecast has long been dour about the housing market, the most recent data suggest that the recent home-price boom is coming to an end. The Anderson Forecast has been predicting a slowdown in home...

This Fortune piece has people talking about the housing bubble. "The great housing bubble has finally started to deflate, and the fall will be harder in some markets than others. The stories keep piling up. In many once-sizzling markets around the country, accounts of dropping list prices have...

Reuters reports that the layoffs in the mortgage business may just be starting. "The decision by the parent of Ameriquest Mortgage Co. to fire one-third of its employees may be the most sweeping recent overhaul by a mortgage lender as rates rise and borrowers retreat. It may not be the last." "The...

A Boston TV station is reporting on the 'sea change' in that housing market. "Say goodbye to the inflated prices in the housing market. There's a sea of change in the real estate market in Masschusetts. Median prices are down and so are house sales and inventory is up, so it's a buyer's market. The...

A new survey on south Floridas' housing bubble. "Softness dating back to the end of the third quarter has continued in the first quarter, the South Florida (Metrostudy) division has reported. The division, which includes Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties,...

The Las Vegas Review Journal found some housing skeptics. "Las Vegas housing expert Dennis Smith is seeing mixed signals in the local market, which seems to be cooling like the national market. Smith, president of Home Builders Research, counted 3,632 new home sales in March, bringing the...

Some home builder news. "Brookfield Homes Corporation today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2006. Housing revenue totaled $122 million, compared to $143 million in 2005." "The decrease in housing revenue is primarily due to fewer units closed during the quarter...

The California press reacts to the foreclosure data. "First-quarter foreclosure activity in San Joaquin County hit the highest level in two years as the slow housing market made it tougher for owners to sell homes. San Joaquin County's foreclosure notices jumped nearly 30 percent year to year." "A...

Some press reaction to the Ameriquest layoffs. "The parent of Orange-based Ameriquest Mortgage said Tuesday it would lay off one-third of its nationwide workforce and close all 229 of its retail branches, in the latest sign of retrenchment in the real estate market. The move to cut 3,800 jobs from...

Some reports on falling prices in Hawaii. "Some 332 single-family homes and 584 Oahu condominiums changed hands last month, compared to 418 single-family hones and 754 condominiums a year earlier, according to statistics released yesterday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors." "The significant drop...

The Florida press notes a report calling on builders to stop building. "Home construction throughout the Treasure Coast soared in the first quarter, pushing inventory levels to a record high, according to an industry report released Tuesday. The number of starts adds more inventory to an already...

Some housing bubble reports from Arizona. "Work has virtually stopped at the 10-story luxury hotel under construction south of Chandler Fashion Center, and the city has warned the project architect that some permits issued in January have yet to be paid for. Builders have finished eight floors, but...

Lots of housing bubble news on the lending front. "The parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and Town & Country Credit said Tuesday it will close all of their 229 branch offices and lay off 3,800 employees nationwide as part of a plan to consolidate its retail mortgage lending operations." "'We...

A reader sent in this rare report on Lake Havasu City. "There are almost 1,100 single-family homes on the market in Lake Havasu City, the largest number of homes for sale in about three years." "'There's no simple answer, other than we have more homes on the market than buyers,' said (realtor) Carl...

The housing bubble blues have hit the homebuilders. "Wall Street analysts pared back profit expectations for home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. on Tuesday, reacting as the company warned that slowing housing markets, delays and materials costs would hit earnings this year." "'While we have...

A pair of reports on Florida. "After the developer of a downtown Naples condo project suspended sales and closed the sales center, a Fiddler's Creek chef approached Naples developer Aubrey Ferrao in a panic two weeks ago. The chef told him he had just recently purchased a $450,000 home down the...

The Washington Post has this update on the DC housing bubble. "Misty and Steven DiPietro have had a for-sale sign in front of their house for 83 days now. A neighbor's has been there seven months. Down the street, there are two more houses for sale, and around the corner, four more. The 20176 Zip...