The Housing Bubble Blog

Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.

Hopes That The Value Will Keep Going Up

A report from Loudoun Now in Virginia. "Talk to most any real estate agent about Loudoun County’s housing market, and you’ll get a resounding, possibly out of breath, response. There’s a lot to be excited about, particularly if you’re a seller. The median sales price rose to $415,000, $6,000 higher...
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The Crisis Of 2008-2009 Is Still With Us

This Reuters article by Andy Home is the Sunday topic, and provides a very good summary of interrelated bubbles. "'Why did nobody see it coming?' With this simple question, posed to Professor Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics in November 2008, Britain's Queen Elizabeth famously summed...
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The Promotion Of Policy To Seek Riskier Products

A Saturday post on this recommended editorial in the New York Post, written by Paul Sperry, who is 'a former Hoover Institution media fellow and author of “The Great American Bank Robbery: The Unauthorized Report About What Really Caused The Great Recession.” "A recent report by the Office of the...
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A Little Bit More Desperation In The Air

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "In an event touted as the first of its kind in the Bay Area, six luxury homes said to be worth more than $85 million total, four of which are in Marin, are up for auction. The Belvedere property has been on the market for a total of 223 days. The...
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Stubborn Myths That Are Draining Life Out Of The Market

A report from Bloomberg. "Steady job growth, low mortgage rates and record apartment rents are turning millennials into homebuyers -- if they can find a house. Jennifer Lan and her husband, Jared Tompkins, who are both physicians finishing residencies in Memphis, Tennessee, started hunting for...
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During A Downturn, The Glut Will Be A Double Whammy

The National Post reports from Canada. "Vancouver’s real estate market has been very good to Amanda. She’s not a licensed realtor, but buying and selling property is her full-time job. She started about eight years ago as an unlicensed 'wholesaler' in Vancouver. She would approach homeowners and...
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As The Fear Builds You Get A Herd Mentality

WNYC reports on New York. "Elegant new condominium towers of glass and steel are rising in neighborhoods all over the city. With some units costing tens of millions of dollars, many New Yorkers have come to regard these buildings as little more than piggy banks for the global super-rich. Now, the...
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It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again

The Mercury News reports from California. "This week's new joint analysis by the Point2homes.com and PropertyShark websites points to San Francisco as the costliest housing market in the U.S. and Canada, with a median home price of $1,085,000. Manhattan captured the No. 2 position ($1,059,000),...
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When Wall Street Is Backing Main Street

A weekend topic around three articles. Bloomberg, "One of the reasons the American economy is performing better than any of the largest in Asia and Europe is that its regulators have repaired the damage of the financial crisis and the worst recession since the Great Depression. Led by the Federal...
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