The Housing Bubble Blog

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

Drinking The Homebuilder Kool-Aid

A weekend topic on this Aurora Sentinel editorial from Colorado. "There’s only one thing left to do in the controversy over whether Colorado should back off requiring homebuilders to stand behind the condos they build and end so-called construction defect laws: Call it the total bull crap that it...
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A Real Sense Of The Opposite Of Optimism

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Generally speaking, home resales started falling from Sarasota to Naples in the last two to three months of 2015, said Denny Grimes, president of Denny Grimes & Co. in Fort Myers. 'It's kind of across the board,' he said. 'We saw sales down in Lee...
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Pretty Freaking Nuts To Survival Mode

The Washington Post reports on Canada. "The daughters of wealthy Chinese Canadians who star in the reality show the 'Ultra Rich Asian Girls of Vancouver' pursue modelling careers, carry Birkin bags, and sip on Veuve Cliquot. And they snap up million-dollar Vancouver homes with the same level of...
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The Price For Unsellable Properties Is Just Too Damn High

The Sun Sentinel reports from Florida. "The median price for existing, single-family homes in January hit $285,000 in both Palm Beach and Broward counties, local Realtor boards said. That represented annual increases of 4 percent in Palm Beach and 8 percent in Broward. The number of home listings...
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It Was Too High, It Was Crazy

The Herald Sun reports from Australia. "Unit prices in Richmond have plummeted more than $80,000 in 12 months according to latest data, while house prices continue to skyrocket. Jellis Craig partner Elliot Gill said the price slump was the result of oversupply, with units needing a 'point of...
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Looking For A Real Estate Steal

A report from the Boston Globe in Massachusetts. "The rental market in Greater Boston may be topping out over the next few years, according to a forecast this week from online real estate marketplace Ten-X. The report is the latest sign that Boston’s rental market may be plateauing, especially at...
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The Problem With Bubbles Is Skewed Incentives

A weekend topic on two housing bubble related reports. The Eurasian Review. "The following interview with Michael Hudson was conducted by Finnish journalist Antti J. Ronkainen. AJR: When the Great Financial Crisis escalated in 2008 the Fed’s response was to lower its main interest rate to nearly...
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Lower Demand, Oversupply And A Business Downturn

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Faced with both an uncertain global economy and signs of softening in the city’s ultra-luxury condominium market, should JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group really be soldiering on with plans to build 111 West 57th Street? That’s the...
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Some Buyers Seem To Have Unlimited Money

Bloomberg reports on Canada. "The pain in Canada’s oil patch is extending to one of the country’s biggest real-estate magnates. Lamb Development Corp. is delaying construction of two condominium projects in Alberta as the slump in the price of oil guts jobs and housing demand. 'The situation in...
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