The Housing Bubble Blog

Several readers have a question about home values. "There are many would-be homeowners on this blog, like me, licking their chops as housing prices dip. They are eager to buy when the market bottoms out. 'But here’s my 64 million dollar question; how does one make a good buying decision in a down...

The Sun Sentinel has the latest on Floridas' housing bubble. " Even the rosiest real estate analysts concede that South Florida's housing frenzy is fading after five years. Lewis Goodkin, an industry consultant in Miami estimates South Florida's home sales pace will fall by 20 percent, compared to...

As usual, the news on a Friday can get overwhelming. So let's clean-off the desk. First, you guys are burning up the bandwidth and I had to up the ante again this morning. As some have offered to help with the hosting fees and other additions to this blog, we put up a Paypal icon in the sidebar....

The Washington Times has an update on the N Virginia housing bubble. "Buyers and sellers in Northern Virginia found themselves in a time warp at the end of 2005. At the beginning of last year, the Northern Virginia communities of Fairfax County, Arlington County and the city of Alexandria were the...

Some Arizona sales numbers are out. " The pace of Valley home resales continued to fall in January, the Arizona Real Estate Center reported Friday. With 5,260 recorded sales in January 2006, the greater Phoenix resale market fell from 6,480 sales in December 2005 and from 9,360 sales in January...

A check-up on the housing bubble and Wall Street. "Bank of America Corp. told employees last week that it will close the mortgage centers of the former MBNA Corp., shifting their work to its own centers, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Bank of America plans to cut 6,000 jobs in total as it swallows...

The Washington Times has the last of their series on home loans. "Federal banking agencies, concerned about the potential for abuses in mortgage lending, are going after the worst practices in the industry. A directive last month from the Federal Reserve and four other federal agencies targets the...

The Voice of San Diego reports on a new trend in the housing bubble. "For the last few years, there were maybe a couple of homes for sale at any one time in the Morningside development in Sabre Springs, a local realtor said. Right now, there are 10. The huddle of houses for sale in the San Diego...

The Rocky Mountain News reports on Denvers 'glut' of homes. "Sellers were trying to unload 24,387 previously owned homes on the Denver-area market last month, a 16.6 percent increase from the number of unsold homes on the market in January 2005. Although still below the record 28,043 homes clogging...

Please post weekend topic suggestions here!

Rich Toscano writes at the Voice of San Diego "It is a fairly common tactic among housing-industry cheerleaders to cite low interest rates as an 'economic fundamental' underpinning current housing valuations. Lower interest rates mean lower monthly payments, and lower monthly payments justify...

Regular readers will recognize this mortgage REIT. "Annaly Mortgage Management, Inc. today reported a net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 of $136.8 million. During the fourth quarter $2.3 billion face amount of securities were sold, resulting in a realized loss of $65.3 million. In...

The California realtors have affordability numbers out. "An affordability index produced by the California Association of Realtors trade group held steady from November to December but was down 5 percentage points since December 2004. The percentage of households in California able to afford a...

The St Joe company reported results yesterday evening. "Despite a spate of hurricanes, St. Joe Co. officials said they had an increased net profit in 2005, but expect the coming year to bring flatter sales and fewer speculative buyers. 'We do not expect the fevered market of the past couple of...

"In this, the second installment of the highly-acclaimed 'Don’t Judge' campaign, we are once again reminded of the sadly hilarious consequences that can arise when innocent people, doing completely innocent things, are misjudged by someone else who doesn’t have all the information." The Washington...

Two reports on the cash-out phenomenon. "As Durango real estate becomes pricier, some locals said they have been forced outside city limits while newcomers seize land they still consider cheap. A realtor in Aztec, Gary Jinks noted Colorado workers are crossing the border into New Mexico to find...

A mortgage REIT reported a loss this morning. "Luminent Mortgage Capital, Inc. (NYSE: LUM - News) today reported a net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 of $113.4 million, or $2.79 loss per share. 'We have accelerated the repositioning of our portfolio due to the persistence of yield...

A television station in Las Vegas has this news. "Fewer homes are moving off the market here in Las Vegas and those that are selling are going for less. According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, an average single family home went for $310,000 in January, a slight decline from...

The New York Times found a city in Florida with a condo problem. "As the stepchild to its more beautiful sisters in southwest Florida, Naples and Sarasota, this city has struggled for decades to revitalize its picturesque downtown and attract snowbirds and tourists. Now, the historical buildings...

The Arizona Republic reports on the bursting housing bubble in the east valley. "The number of houses for sale in the Southeast Valley keeps rising every month as investors apparently have begun dumping the homes they hoped to make a killing on. Real estate agents say it's not that a bubble has...