The Housing Bubble Blog

The Wall Street Journal has some real estate advice. "As many real-estate markets soften, speculators are finding they can't flip their investment properties for a quick gain. That leaves them with a tough decision: Should they hang on and rent or should they bail out, possibly at a loss? Here's a...

Inman News continues their series on faltering home markets. "Lawrence Yun, an economist for the National Association of Realtors stops short of saying that homeowners in the Sunshine State and other parts of the Southeast may have become spoiled by their years of even heftier price gains." "But,...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and a former central banker. "MDC Holdings Inc. shares fell on Wednesday, weighed on by a bearish call from Bank of America Securities that cited expected earnings declines over the next two years due. As for the rest of the homebuilding industry, analyst...

A pair of reports provide some examples of problems with risky home loans. From Ohio. "Janice Lattimore Brown faced a mountain of bills after her son's car crash. So when a broker told her she could reduce her monthly house payment with a specialty mortgage, she signed on without reading the fine...

The Arizona numbers for March are out. "Metropolitan Phoenix's resale housing market continued to slow in March. There were 7,265 existing homes sold in the Valley last month, a steep decline from the frenzied pace of March 2005 when buyers snapped up 10,035 resales. The price for a typical Valley...

The Wall Street Journal has this report on flippers. "Home sales have been slowing for several months, but real-estate agents in some of these formerly red-hot markets have been surprised at how suddenly market conditions have deteriorated in the past few months. But for cities like Fort...

Inman News has this report on the changing markets in the northeastern US. "Only a few months ago Joseph and Kianna Jackson made a resolution for the coming year: They vowed to make an offer on their first home by March 15, their daughter's second birthday. But like so many other New Year's...

A homebuilder had first quarter numbers out. "D.R. Horton Inc., the No. 1 U.S. home builder, on Tuesday said quarterly orders rose about 10 percent, but the average sale price fell on softer demand for more expensive homes. The decline in new order prices was a further reflection of a softening...

Inman News reports that one mortgage firm isn't letting up. "Countrywide Financial reported operational highlights for March, saying that mortgage loan funding totaled $40 billion, an increase of 10 percent from the prior year period. Adjustable-rate loan fundings for the month of March were $19...

The Baltimore Sun reports on that housing bubble. "Home sales in the Baltimore region dipped in March, the sixth straight month of decline over the previous year, and the buildup of inventory escalated as the market headed into the crucial spring selling season. Sales dropped in every jurisdiction...

The NAR has a press release out this morning. "Existing-home sales are projected to drop 6 percent to 6.65 million this year from a record 7.08 million in 2005, according to the latest annual forecast by the National Association of Realtors. New-home sales, meanwhile, are projected to fall 10.9...

The St. Petersburg Times found a homeless man who had bought a few houses. "After struggling much of his adult life with unemployment, homelessness and drug addiction, Johnny Moon Sr. died last year on a dirty mattress on the floor of a small home near Tampa's College Hill district. Moon left...

Slate takes a look at a television ad a brokerage firm is running. "This ad shows up at a fearful, uncertain time for real estate agents. It's not just that the housing market seems poised for a dip. It's that the real estate agent's very purpose is coming into question. Enter Century 21's new...

A Dallas-Ft. Worth television station has this on the spreading housing bubble. "When homes get a little too pricey, homebuyers start looking elsewhere. At least that's the theory behind a new housing trend called the 'rolling boom.' It's a trend that's good news for Texas—and particularly for...

Reports from Washington to Wall Street on the housing bubble. "Once a nuisance to a handful of lenders, mortgage fraud has blossomed into one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the country, putting innocent homeowners on the hook for overpriced houses and pushing up interest rates for...

The housing market is big news in Florida. "Attendees at a little-publicized workshop in Tallahassee received a harsh storm warning this week from the head of Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation. Insurance premiums are going nowhere but up for the foreseeable future, and there is nothing he or...

Some reports on high end housing markets stalling out. "The million-dollar home used to be a rarity in Maine. Now you can find hundreds of them on the market. There are now 416 houses for sale in the state with an asking price of $1 million or more. In the past year, 196 houses have sold for more...

Some housing bubble reports from New York. "For home buyers and sellers, this spring is telling a very different real estate story, one the region hasn't seen in nearly a decade. It may be the heart of the selling season, but the frenzy of years past is gone, replaced by a far more tentative...

Some readers are looking at interest rates. "How will the spike in l-t treasury yields impact the housing market? It just spiked up past 5% on the strong jobs report, then fell back to 5% even and it looks like it has flattened out there." Another wrote, "Here’s a topic: interest rates. They were...

Some readers are interested in the 'McMansion trend.' "Another thing I’ve been pondering….Will the smaller home soon become king? Where will the McMansion-ites be going? (Home style) McMansion-ettes? I.E. 1500 ft Empty nester homes are still being stocked with marble and high end cabinetry." "Will...