The Housing Bubble Blog

The Voice of San Diego has a tip for speculators. "California's wealthy investors are choosing to invest less and less in real estate, a trend that local experts say should serve as a beacon to all real estate investors in the county. In San Diego, financial advisors who work with some of the...

The Associated Press reports on pricing in the housing bubble. "Spring is typically the busiest time of the year for home sales. But with mortgage rates rising and sales slowing, sellers find they have to work harder to get a sale. In February, there were 3.03 million previously owned homes for...

Some housing bubble news from California. "Placer County's home were 23 percent slower than March 2005, according to the county's realtors. The association also reported more than 2,210 homes were on the market, more than double the figure in March 2005. The county has the most homes on the market...

Inman News has this on Washington. "Home sales in western Washington fell 9.1 percent in March from a year ago. NWMLS members added 12,639 new listings to inventory last month, edging out the year-ago total of 11,808 new listings. The additions include 10,786 single-family homes and 1,853...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street. "D.R. Horton Inc, the largest U.S. home builder, said on Tuesday its fiscal second quarter earnings rose 20 percent on higher home sales, but its shares fell on a tepid outlook that was reinforced by government data. 'The overall tone wasn't great. They...

Newsday sees an end to the housing bubble. "Say one last farewell to the housing boom. In the clearest evidence to date of a housing market shift, the latest Long Island data showed Nassau County's median home price rose only 4.4 percent from March 2005 to March 2006, the smallest annual price gain...

The Naples News has this report on another failed condo project. "In a sign of the times, the for-sale sign has come down at Intermezzo, a luxury waterfront community in Naples. The developer, Phil McCabe, has closed the sales center and temporarily suspended sales at the mid-rise condominium,...

Bloomberg has the housing starts data. "Builders started work last month on the smallest number of new houses in a year, as rising mortgage rates and record inventories of unsold homes discouraged new projects. Housing starts declined 7.8 percent in March to an annual rate of 1.96 million, from...

A pair of reports on smaller housing markets in Massachusetts. "Homes are sitting on the North Central Massachusetts market for longer than they have the past three years, local real-estate agents said. 'We've had a very, very brisk market for several years and it just sort of plateaued a little,...

Some housing bubble news on the lending front. "Acoustic Home Loans, a nonprime wholesale lender based in Orange, Calif., has gone out of business. Acoustic, founded in 2002, said in a statement posted on its website that it was 'no longer in business' as of April 14. The company's website says...

The homebuilder numbers are out. "Rising mortgage rates, continued affordability issues and subsiding demand from investors/speculators are prompting single-family home builders to adjust their perspectives on the new-home market, according to the National Association of Home Builders." "All three...

The Charleston Post and Courier looks at nearby bubble markets. "In Fort Myers, the raging real estate market came to a screeching halt late last year. The growing pains in Fort Myers bear striking similarities to those in the Lowcountry." "'The brakes went on, boom!, it stopped,' said local...

Bloomberg looks at the exposure banks have to risky financing. "Every time the subject of banks making risky home loans to bad credit risks, no money down, no questions asked, the usual retort is that banks sell the mortgages. That's not exactly true. Mortgages accounted for 32 percent of...

The Orlando Sentinel reports on when an investment isn't an investment. "After years bemoaning a lack of decent business-class hotels, Central Florida's travel industry may finally get what it wants. But what makes this wave so unique are the hotels' owners. These new projects would have hundreds...

The Orange County Register found some people still engaged in condo flipping. "Marcel Bruetsch is asking $1.295 million for his two-bedroom condo in Irvine, that's 40 percent more than he paid for it three months ago. Bruetsch is one of about 70 owners of condos in two Irvine towers who are selling...

Some readers are looking at what the public homebuilders are paid. "How about the outrageous pay the CEO of some of these homebuilder took home in 2005." Beazer Homes USA - Ian J. McCarthy - $10,239,300 Horton (D.R.) - Donald J. Tomnitz - $18,182,600 KB Home - Bruce Karatz - $155,903,200 Hovnanian...

The Fresno Bee reports on the bursting housing bubble. "The number of existing homes sold in the Fresno/Clovis area fell in March to 692 from 824 the same month last year, a drop of 16%. More than 3,000 houses are for sale in the Fresno area, which gives buyers more choice. Real estate agents say...

What's your housing market observation this weekend? Lot's of open houses, even on this holiday weekend. Know of a builder incentive? From one reader, "What are the tell-tale sign of a visible tipping market in your neighborhood? For example, I’m renting in Sacramento in one of the many, many new...

One reader wants to know how you are getting ready for a cooler housing market. "How about a thread on how each of us, or someone we know, is specifically preparing for the housing crash, or in many of our opinions, a recession? As for preparations, my wife and I have been downshifting into a lower...

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has this report on the housing bubble in the Florida panhandle. "Panama City Beach looks like a beach boom town with high-class intentions. Construction cranes sprout from the sand like enormous sea oats. More than 20 new high-rise condo towers already are open....