The Housing Bubble Blog

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The Credit Union of Colorado has revived a loan product that disappeared following the housing crash a decade ago — the zero-down conventional mortgage. Reaction to its return will likely range from first-time homebuyers wondering what took so long...

A report from the Toronto Star in Canada. "In one of Canada’s most expensive neighbourhoods, in hilly West Vancouver, sits a row of seemingly abandoned mansions. Not a single person can be found on the upper north side of Highview Place on a weekday midafternoon. The homes were developed by British...

A report from the Chinook Observer in Washington. "The housing crisis hits low-income, disabled and senior folks the hardest all over the nation. On every possible data point, our county numbers are much worse than either the state or national averages. The relative numbers of 'housing-impaired'...

A report from the Dallas Morning News in Texas. "Dallas is on the list of cities where apartment builders may be overdoing it. Apartment construction in the Dallas area will far outpace demand, according to a new report by Yardi Systems Inc. The number of new apartments opening in the next two...

A report from the North Shore News in Canada. "Sales in the top end of the North Shore real estate market are continuing to fall and prices are beginning to edge downward. The most recent statistics from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board point to a continuing slump in the housing market from...

A weekend topic starting with Seattle Magazine in Washington. "Representatives of Laconia Development and Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty recently announced that a planned residential tower, now under construction at 600 Wall Street in downtown Seattle, will be delivered as condominiums...

A weekend topic on housing bubble awareness starting with the Bellingham Herald in Washington. "The steady drumbeat in local real estate recently is that inventory is tight and home prices keep rising. It appears some buyers have had enough. While inventory remains tight, sales are solid and home...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "As the market gets more competitive, mortgage lenders are looking for ways and means to cut costs. The quarterly Fannie Mae survey of lenders had found that despite lenders making significant investments to improve operational efficiencies, margins...

A report from the Sierra Sun. "As we reach the end of January 2018, it's interesting to note that the inventory of Incline Village and Crystal Bay residential real estate currently for sale on the multiple listing service is far less than what it was just 2 years ago. Part of the reason that we...

A report from The Oregonian. "Portland's housing market is showing signs of relief for would-be buyers. The inventory of homes on the market climbed in May. Fewer bidding wars broke out, and price growth has slowed. But it's a tale of two markets, brokers say. While the top of the market is cooling...

A report from the San Francisco Chronicle in California. "While much of San Francisco’s housing market continues on at its usual breakneck speed, the luxury market—generally defined as listings above the $2-million mark—usually takes a substantial summer sabbatical. That means that right now...

A report from Bisnow on Colorado. "McWhinney CEO Chad McWhinney said he can see the Front Range becoming megapolitan — another word that encompasses a widespread urban region — stretching from New Mexico to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and he believes multifamily properties are a great investment, especially...

A weekend topic on government policy and housing bubbles, starting with the Los Angeles Times in California. "For the last eight years, I have used my commute from the South Bay to downtown to explore the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The more I drive, the more I notice what I call L.A.’s 'lost...

A weekend topic starting with the Holland Sentinel in Michigan. "With inventory down and the number of buyers on the rise, the West Michigan housing market continues to remain red hot heading into the middle of the summer. Briana Beyer, local realtor for Coldwell Banker Schmidt, said that for her...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Mortgage companies have already started cutting their staff as business has dried up due to the decline in home refinancing. That's particularly bad news for North Texas, which is one of the employment capitals for the country's home loan business....

A report from Bloomberg on Australia. "Australia’s east-coast property bubble is showing signs of deflating at a faster clip as home-lending data recorded the longest losing streak in almost a decade. Housing finance fell 1.4 percent in April, the fifth straight monthly drop and the longest stretch...

A report from CNBC. "Rent prices have risen over the past year across the U.S., but there are some bright spots: Several cities experienced modest price drops thanks to new building projects. Of the 25 biggest cities in the U.S., Apartment List found seven — Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh,...

A report from the Kitsap Sun in Washington. "Although Kitsap County's housing market has been firmly balanced in the favor of sellers for most of the year, buyers are now finding they have regained some bargaining power heading into summer, as more houses are coming onto the market. 'We have a lot...

A weekend topic on manias starting with CBS SF Bay in California. "With the ever-escalating Bay Area real estate regularly hitting new levels of insanity, with residential homes selling for seven-times higher than the national average with the average price of about $1.6 million. The house, located...

A weekend topic starting with Bisnow. "Someone at the International Monetary Fund has been thinking about chaos theory. Specifically the butterfly effect, the name for the branch of chaos theory which argues that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can be the very tiny incident...