The Housing Bubble Blog

The Boston Globe reports the condo boom is ending. "Sales of multifamily properties in Massachusetts dropped 15 percent last year, ending a four-year run of rising sales and signaling that the market for condominiums converted from duplexes, triple-deckers, and four-families has peaked." "Sales...

Some readers what to stop a housing bubble bail-out. "A few times Housing Bubble blog readers have adamantly expressed their opinion about no government bailouts when this mess collapses. I would love to see more discussion about how we can get that message to Congress in an organized and...

The Washington Post has this on speculators. "Investors who sought quick profits buying and selling real estate in the Washington region are in full retreat, dampening demand for homes, most notably for condos. What is becoming apparent, market watchers say, is how big a part speculators played in...

It's time to wrap up the week! From New Jersey, "Middletown will be conducting a court-mandated revaluation of the township over the next two years. However, many residents are concerned with the need to revalue the town, while residences are at their peak price. Mike Boylan noted that the last...

Some rent or buy articles. "According to survey data released Thursday, the valley remained a rental bargain compared with Riverside County, Southern California and the state as a whole in the first quarter of 2006. There's always somebody else getting more for even less around the desert. 'I have...

Danielle DiMartino at the Dallas News has an update on subprime lending. " For two days running, the articles in the top right-hand corner of The Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal section have left me scratching my head. The first was on the explosive growth of 10- to 15-year fixed-rate,...

Some reports on where the speculators are. "A flurry of high-end sales caused home prices in the Park Cities to jump 44 percent in the first quarter. Other areas of North Texas weren't so lucky in the first quarter. Sales declined in more than half of the neighborhoods surveyed in The Dallas...

A pair of reports on the California housing bubble. "Bay Area home values are expected to decline next year because of rising interest rates, a glut of homes on the market and lower affordability levels, a housing economist said Thursday. 'We're not talking about massive house price declines but...

The Sun Sentinel reports on affordable housing measures. "After the county's voluntary affordable housing program failed to lure many developers, Palm Beach County commissioners in March decided to make it mandatory. That means as much as 20 percent of new neighborhoods could be reserved for...

Please post weekend topic suggestions here!

Inman News reports that the consensus is growing on the housing bubble. "Seven in 10 consumers expect a housing bubble to burst in the United States in the next year, while only a small portion expect housing prices to decline 5 percent or more, according to the latest Gallup survey. Seventy-one...

A pair of reports on the bubble markets in the southeast. "A report by the S.C. Association of Realtors confirms that coastal South Carolina is becoming a buyers' market as some areas have seen sales declines. Hilton Head saw a 26 percent drop in sales and Charleston had a 3 percent decline,...

Several reports on the Census findings. "Americans are leaving the nation’s big cities in search of cheaper homes and open spaces. Nearly every large metropolitan area had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004, according to a report being released today by the Census Bureau."...

More housing bubble news from Wall Street. "Paris G. Reece III, MDC's CFO, said, 'Almost all of our markets experienced higher home order cancellations, contributing to lower net home orders per active subdivision in every market except Utah, which has continued to show strength." "Similar to the...

The Denver Post has the latest on foreclosures in Colorado. "Colorado earned a distinction in March it would rather avoid, the highest ratio of foreclosures in the country. One out of every 339 homes in the state was in some stage of foreclosure during March. 'We look at foreclosures as a lagging...

Some housing bubble reports from Florida. "Sales of existing homes in the Orlando MSA (Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties) overall decreased for the first time since last July. Inventory rose by 1,593 homes in March. There are now 14,559 homes on the market, giving buyers the most choice...

Dataquick has some California numbers out. "Home sales in the Bay Area continued to slow as price increases dipped into the single digits for the first time in more than two years. A total of 9,745 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 13.8...

Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street. "Home-building and mortgage-banking company NVR Inc. on Wednesday said first-quarter profit rose 12%, but cautioned it could see margins squeezed as the firm faces pricing pressure in slowing housing markets. Orders in Washington, D.C. fell 12% from the...

Danielle DiMartino at the Dallas News interviewed a professor on Alan Greenspans role in the housing bubble. "Ravi Batra is not one to mince words. Take the title of the latest of the 15 books he's written in his 33-year career as an economist: Greenspan's Fraud. Though the book was greeted with...

The Chicago Tribune reports not all builders are pulling back. "The much-predicted cooling of the five-year housing boom appears to be under way, but Chicago-area builders aren't feeling much of a chill. Ground was broken for 40 percent more new homes in the first quarter of this year than in the...