The Housing Bubble Blog

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "During the fourth quarter of last year, 2,404 sales closed in Manhattan, a 1.2% dip year-over-year. The median sales price, meanwhile, remained flat at close to $1 million, according to a report by Douglas Elliman. However, the median sales price in...

A report in the Washington Post by Jared Bernstein, Jim Parrott and Mark Zandi. "The nation is in the grip of an affordable housing crisis. A severe shortage of homes for working-class and low-income families is pushing up house prices and rents across the country, putting homeownership...

What's your housing bubble predictions for the new year? Six months ago. "I’ll lose 20 pounds by year’s end? Or is that wishful thinking? I see a decent chance of economic downturn in Q4, how much though is anyone’s guess. Too much jerking around of rates and credit to call it. Housing price wise,...

Three reports from the Wall Street Journal. "Last spring, a real-estate lender hired three ratings firms to rate a series of bonds backed by speculative real-estate loans. Only one of the three got to rate all the bonds. Moody’s Corp. said about half were triple-A. Another firm said about 61%...

This is the selection of posts from the second half of 2019. I've focused on lending, US markets only and there's much more at each link to read. I'll have more in the comments below later. Thanks for dropping by. July 1, 2019 "Chris Birk, a spokesman for Veterans United, the nation’s largest VA...

This past year had a lot of important developments, so I wanted to do a year end summary. It turned out to have more than I expected so this installment will be the first half of the year, and I'll try to get the second half done in the next few days. My focus was on lending, and there's plenty to...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The figures from the Greater Boston Association of Realtors point to a market that, while certainly pricey, is significantly less frenzied than it was a year or two ago, when buying a house here usually meant a bidding war, fought at lightning...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Actor Bruce Willis and his wife have sold their country estate near Bedford Corners, N.Y., for $7.66 million, or 41% off its original listing price. The 22-acre property came on the market in January for $12.95 million. The Willises paid about $12 million for...

A report from Myrtle Beach Sun News in South Carolina. "An apartment complex near Coastal Carolina University will soon have a new management company as the property remains at the heart of a $24 million legal fight. In November, U.S. Bank started the foreclosure process on The Provincia. The bank...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "U.S. home builders benefited from low interest rates this year as housing starts climbed to levels not seen in a decade. Home builders cranked up volume partly by focusing on homes more buyers can afford. In the third quarter of this year, the average price...

A report from Mother Jones on California. "By the time Dominique Walker started squatting in an Oakland home with her five-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, she’d exhausted all other options. Walker, who had fled domestic violence in Mississippi, knew it would be hard to find a place, amidst...

A report from Inc Magazine. "To find the most overpriced cities, GOBankingRates combed through data on the nation's 722 biggest housing markets, comparing median listing prices in 2019 (through November) to Zillow's estimate of median home value, which is based on actual sales. Then it identified...

A weekend topic starting with the Globe and Mail. "In 2002 David Rosenberg moved to Wall Street to become Merrill Lynch’s chief North American economist. The stint turned him into one of the world’s most recognizable economists. His fame grew because of a series of prescient calls about the U.S....

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Four Bay Area cities got ranked among the weakest real estate markets in the nation. Some experts say this cooling of the market is all part of a normal stabilization period that will keep the housing bubble from suffering a big burst down the line....

A report from Al-Monitor on Lebanon. "'Our dream was to have a nice home so we could decorate the way we wanted,' Nour, not her real name, told Al-Monitor. 'So we went searching for houses back in 2014.' The young couple entered the housing market just after a real estate boom, when the sector...

A report from Wharton. "For most Americans, their home is their most valuable asset, so it makes sense to borrow against the equity to obtain cash. In lean times, that money can be spent on consumption, which keeps the economy humming along. But if housing values and personal incomes don’t rise,...

A report from the Norman Transcript in Oklahoma. "The developer that partnered with the University of Oklahoma to construct Cross Village is suing the university for more than $750 million, alleging that OU misled Cross investors and breached its contract. Provident Oklahoma Education Resources...

A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "A penthouse at 220 Central Park South has sold for $100 million, making it the third New York City residence ever to close for $100 million or more, according to people familiar with the deal. Luxury agents said this particular sale has little...

A weekend topic starting with ABC News in Australia. "Ever had that sinking feeling you're in over your head, that you'll never be able to get on top of that mountain of debt? And what about interest rates? How on earth would we cope if they ever returned to anything like normal? The good news, at...

A report from DS News. "What might make delinquencies rise a long decline into historically low levels after the Great Recession? Mike Rawls, EVP of Servicing for Mr. Cooper points to slowdowns in home prices across the country. 'Home price appreciation has slowed across the country and we are...