The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from Bloomberg. "Financial regulators led by the Treasury's Steven Mnuchin and the Federal Reserve's Jerome Powell have been put on notice about the risk of an economically damaging cash crunch in the $11 trillion home mortgage market. Behind the concern aired recently at the Financial...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Thirty floors above the showroom of a Chinese developer, a 29-year-old woman stood on a small rooftop ledge, threatening to jump and declaring that her recent home purchase had ruined her life. Ms. Hou, who asked to be identified by only her surname, was one...

A report from Bloomberg. "The subprime mortgage-backed bond may be dead in America a decade after it helped trigger the global financial crisis, but a security with some of the same high-risk characteristics is starting to take off. It’s called the non-qualified mortgage -- basically a loan granted...

A report from CNBC. "This oceanfront mansion in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, was on the market for $159 million in 2015. But for three years the 60,000-square-foot compound had no takers. The owner eventually decided to put the estate on the auction block, and in November of 2018, it sold for a...

A report from the Santa Cruz Sentinel in California. "September’s median price in the county dropped to $815,000, according to Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty, who tracks the numbers. A year ago, the median home price was $920,000, according to Gangnes’ figures. One single-family home in the...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Jewell Handy has a steady income as a teacher, money for a down payment and even a history of successful homeownership. But when she decided to buy a house for herself and her mother in Houston this summer, she discovered that she couldn’t get a...

A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "A drop in sales of new Manhattan condominiums has been even steeper and broader than conventional sales measures indicate, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of contract signings. Looking at contracts signed over the first seven months of...

A report from Market Watch. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may stop offering certain mortgages as they prepare to privatize, but borrowers won’t be left behind, the companies’ chief regulator said. 'Fannie and Freddie must not repeat the mistakes of the crisis by stretching to serve borrowers who are...

A report from the Douglas Digital Daily in California. "Forget what’s fashionable in floor plans, decor or color palettes. This year’s hot housing flavor is something every house hunter can agree upon: a price discount. It’s no blip. The frequency of price-cutting in Southern California statewide...

A report from 27 East in New York. "The off-market sale of an oceanfront Southampton Village property just closed for near its $35 million asking price, making it one of the top sales of the year across the Hamptons. James Giugliano of Nest Seekers represented the seller and had a hand in bringing...

A report from the Wall Street Journal on Nashville Tennessee. "This city has been a poster child for economic development, the good and the bad. Tax breaks and cash incentives have flowed. Tourists, sports teams and conventioneers have come. Hotels and restaurants have bloomed. Home prices rose;...

A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "Two New York landlords with large portfolios of rent-regulated apartments are behind on payments on more than $200 million in real-estate loans, a sign that new state rent laws are starting to hurt investors. After New York’s state legislature...

Two reports from the Globe and Mail in Canada. "A major cause of the last two downturns in housing prices was an oversupply of properties for sale. Could it happen again? Veritas Investment Research set out to answer this question recently using an informal, quick and dirty survey of more than 200...

A report from Forbes. "Knock forecasts savings for home buyers which in several desirable areas. Sean Black, Knock.com’s CEO talks about the research findings. 'Deals are slowing more than we thought. That's good news for buyers. It’s taken some time for sellers to come back to earth from the days...

A report from Builder Online on New York. "The number of homes for sale reached new highs in Brooklyn and Queens and jumped to near-highs in Manhattan, according to the Q3 2019 StreetEasy Market Reports. In Manhattan, the index fell 4.4% to $1,093,562 — its lowest level since 2015. 'Most sellers...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "The housing market sputtered in September as a lack of homes for sale and high prices disrupted what was shaping up as a rebound in the second half of the year. 'You can sit there and go, ‘Oh my god, look how low mortgage rates are.’ said Tom Lawler, founder...

A report from Domain News in Australia. "Melbourne’s housing market has rebounded from its downturn in the months since the clear federal election result, boosted by cuts to official interest rates and a move by the bank regulator to let buyers borrow more money. The stiff competition at auction...

A report from Axios. "The real estate market should be experiencing a boom — but it's not. In fact, the U.S. housing market has been stagnant for the last 3 years and is beginning to turn lower, data shows. Anyone who bought residential property in the last 40 years, even at the height of a bubble,...

A report from the Palm Beach Post in Florida. "The consensus seems to be there’s no firm consensus about what the future holds this season for Palm Beach homebuyers and sellers, according to conversations with several brokers and agents who do business on the island. One problem, brokers caution,...

A report from Real Estate Weekly on New York. "The challenging market in Brooklyn has continued along a trend of gradual declines in prices and sales. Prices have fallen since this time last year across all unit types excluding co-ops, according to a report by Douglas Elliman. 'Brooklyn has for 5-6...