The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from the Pittsburgh Business Journal in Pennsylvania. "New York-based King Penguin Opportunity Fund has defaulted on its $16.4 million mortgage for City Centre Tower, the biggest of three buys the firm made in downtown Pittsburgh. Martin Perry, a managing director in the Pittsburgh office...

A report from the Capital Times in Wisconsin. "'I do believe landlords are preparing and I expect a huge increase once the moratorium is lifted,' said Laura Nachazel, a court manager in the Dane County Clerk of Courts office. 'I am sure many people are using the stay to live rent-free and abuse the...

A report from the New York Times. "Brian Kavanagh, a Democratic state senator who represents Lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn, was the lead sponsor of the bill that bars landlords from evicting most tenants for 60 days in almost all cases. 'A policy that tells people they can’t go to work and...

A report from ABC 7 News in California. "San Francisco had the biggest drop for a one bedroom apartment in the entire country. Rents are down 23 percent. Oakland is down 19 percent and 15 percent in San Jose. Jenny Zhao owns a few condos in the South Bay. She her husband lost his job due to the...

What are your housing bubble predictions for the new year? Six moths ago: "I think (conservatively) in this area we are long overdue for a 15% – 25% price correction overall, just based on inability of household incomes to keep up with housing price inflation. Sellers who do manage to make it to...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "For frontline workers and others struggling during this pandemic, University of San Diego professor Norm Miller said a lot of foreclosures are coming with mortgage and rent relief running out. 'I think we’re going to have the bottom say 20% of the...

A report from WGRZ on New York. "David Cohen says his catering business was basically shut down due to the pandemic, so he was counting on the three apartments he rents out, including one over his North Tonawanda business, to generate some income. However, he says one tenant has only paid partial...

A report from the Real Deal. "A pair of lofts owned by New York ex-banker Henry Buhl topped the list of luxury contracts signed in Manhattan last week. The second-priciest deal was a penthouse at 95 Greene Street, last asking $11.9 million, down from $15 million when listed in February. The deal...

A report from the Commercial Observer. "The New York Legislature on Monday greenlighted legislation that will allow renters and homeowners to delay eviction and foreclosure proceedings until May if they can demonstrate financial hardship caused by the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, landlords aren’t...

A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. "The deal was simple: Property mogul Chris Rahn got to buy a bundle of 22 vacant, publicly owned lots on the cheap. In exchange, records show he was expected to build homes for the financially needy on eight of them. Five years on, most of...

A report from PBS News Hour. "Landlords in Connecticut are not alone – without federal assistance economists estimate that by mid-January renters across the country will be behind by about $70 billion. And the losses go well beyond market-rate buildings, the very groups advocating for housing are...

A report from the Oklahoman. "The Hill, an upscale housing development in Deep Deuce, was due for completition in 2008. The project has gone through more than a dozen extensions. Bill Canfield is in default of his agreement with the Urban Renewal Authority and a new developer will be sought to...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "An Upper West Side property that was originally listed at $4.25 million sold in April for $2.2 million, a 48.2% discount. In Brooklyn, a Fort Greene home sold in June for $1.45 million, 38.3% off its listing price of $2.35 million. 'The biggest...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Existing-home sales fell 2.5% in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million, the National Association of Realtors said. It was the first decline in six months. 'Without a doubt, there are too many buyers in relation to the...

A report from USA Today on Florida. "Susana Lay worked from dawn to dusk alongside her grandfather while he sold and repaired Singer sewing machines in New York City. Soon, Lay was able to use her savings to buy her first home in her 20s. One property turned into six, purchased together with her...

A report from the Oregonian. "1912 remade Craftsman in Portland Heights: 2909 S.W. Upper Dr. is listed at $450,000. The property was listed for sale on Sept. 20, 2019 for $699,900, according to public records. The price dropped $200,900 about a month later, on Oct. 15, 2019, to $499,000. An offer...

A report from Yahoo Finance. "In a client note this week titled 'Escape From New York', Jefferies chief market strategist David Zervos described how the coronavirus reversed decades-long trends of high-end gentrification for New York City. 'I'm bullish on the get out of New York trade,' Zervos told...

A weekend topic starting with the Globe and Mail. "Breather Products Inc., the Montreal startup that raised more than US$150-million to build a global flexible workspace operator, is abandoning hundreds of leases in an effort to reboot the pandemic-stricken company. 'The decision I’ve made is that...

A weekend topic starting with Bloomberg. "Property investors are about to discover just how much the global fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has spread from deserted and cast-off buildings to their bottom lines. In an estimated $10 trillion global pool of properties held for investment...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Philanthropist Marcia Riklis is planning to take a hit on the sale of her Upper East Side home. The posh ninth-floor co-op is on the market for $6.35 million. That’s more than $2 million less than the $8.4 million she paid for it back in 2012." "'We...