The Housing Bubble Blog

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

Back To Earth

Marketplace reports on Florida. "Downtown Miami's condo explosion turns out to run on its own financial logic. Peter Zalewski runs Crane Spotters, an information service on the building boom, explains that the bulk of these condos are not residences. They are apartment-shaped financial instruments....
Read more (33 comments)

Something Else Is Going On

A report from NPR. "The big drop in oil prices and a stronger dollar both help the economy and hurt it. Add to that the recent slowdown in global growth. There's good reason to be concerned, says Jeffrey Snider, head of global investment research at Alhambra Partners. Falling oil prices are a clear...
Read more (101 comments)

This Normalising Is Not Good For The Fangnu

From Business Vancouver in Canada. "A new report from McKinsey Global Institute is warning that household debt levels are dangerously high in many developed countries, including Canada. The report calls for more action to reign in both household and government debt and to cool overheated housing...
Read more (56 comments)

A Bit Of A Herd Mentality

A report from the New York Times. "For the past several years, wealthy buyers from China have been purchasing investment properties and pieds-à-terre in luxurious Manhattan high-rises. Lately, though, some have moved their portfolios east to the exclusive enclaves of Long Island. Last year,...
Read more (52 comments)

There's Nobody In Between

A housing bubble related issue from the Charleston City Paper. "'Everything hinges on land,' Celeste Albers says. She should know. Albers is one of the pioneers of sustainable farming in the Lowcountry, and she has been an instrumental figure in bringing good, local food back to Charleston's...
Read more (81 comments)

The Ripples Are Spreading

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "On Florida's tony Fisher Island, two new luxury condominium towers are going in. The first just topped off, and its penthouse is under contract for $35 million to a Russian buyer. But just across the bay in Miami, where luxury condos sell for half...
Read more (42 comments)

A Desperate Bid To Appeal To Nervous Buyers

MetroNews reports from Canada. "January’s bitter cold doesn’t appear to have a taken a bite out of the GTA housing market, with the Toronto Real Estate Board reporting 'a strong start to 2015' in sales figures for the first month of the year. Sales, prices and even new listings were all up...
Read more (53 comments)

The Last Moments Of Trendsetting Hurrahs

A housing bubble report from Bloomberg. "A slew of investment firms are targeting riskier mortgages in a bid to earn higher returns in a world in which home lenders are more cautious and central banks are suppressing yields on more traditional debt. Citadel Servicing Corp. tripled its originations...
Read more (61 comments)

When There Is Oversupply, This Is What Happens

The Calgary Herald reports from Canada. "Calgary’s once-booming resale housing market has taken a turn in the opposite direction. In January, MLS year-over-year sales were down for a second consecutive month — down 38.9 per cent, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board. It was the lowest level...
Read more (57 comments)