The Housing Bubble Blog

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "'Existing home sales have fallen off a cliff,' Lu Liu, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News." "'I tell every one of my sellers to have an open mind and put on their buyer's hat. Nine times out of 10,...

A report from New Jersey.com. "Low inventory and the highest interest rates in two decades caused home sales to decline 22% in New Jersey in 2023, according to data from New Jersey Realtors. That follows a 20% decline in home sales in 2022, according to data from the Otteau Group. 'There are a lot...

A report from Fox Business. "The share of mortgages with a rate below 6% has fallen to 88.5% from a record high of 92.8% in mid-2022, indicating that some homeowners have given up their lower rate to move, according to Redfin. 'Sellers have started coming out of the woodwork because that's typical...

A report from ABC 30 Fresno. "Chris Jurilla of US Bank says when interest rates do start to drop, more buyers, and more competition, will enter the housing market. He adds even though we're seeing interest rates above 6%, you can always refinance in the future when the rates drop. 'Properties...

A report from the Naples Daily News Florida. "A year-end report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors that tracks resales in Collier County, excluding Marco Island, tells a big part of the story. 'Rapid market advancement stopped in early 2022. On average, it takes 12 to 24 months for the market to...

A report from KTNV in Nevada. "Homes were selling left and right in the valley as recently as 2021, when the Las Vegas Realtors trade group reported a record 50,000 sales. However, it was very different in 2023. Last year, less than 30,000 homes were sold here. Chris Perron, a loan officer for...

A weekend topic starting with Yahoo Finance. "The short-term rental market has come into focus following Airbnb's latest earnings results highlighting growth opportunities beyond homeowners just listing properties. According to data from AirDNA, the top markets for short-term rentals in 2024 are:...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The tight housing market is loosening, revealing a light at the end of the tunnel of fast-rising prices. More inventory means more potential for buyers to get concessions such as price discounts, covered closing costs, repairs and upgrades. 'I have...

A report from KVUE in Texas. "Unlock MLS released its January market analysis on Wednesday. It shows the median home sales price in the Austin-Round Rock area dropped about 4% to $430,000. 'January marks the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year median sales price declines in the Austin-Round...

A report from WNCT. "The Greenville ENC Alliance, a local economic development agency, recently released its first research report. This one is focused on housing trends in Greenville, Pitt County, and Eastern North Carolina. It breaks that information down to be easy to understand. According to...

A report from the American Statesman. "Just as it is a buyer's market in Central Texas' single-family housing market, so too is it a renter's market in the Austin-area apartment market. Likely to the dismay of landlords and delight of tenants, Austin saw the second-steepest yearly decline among...

A report from the Washington Post. "It has been nearly three years since dozens of first-time home buyers were forced to flee their crumbling Anacostia condominium because the District deemed the newly-constructed building unsafe. Ever since, homeowners said, they have existed in a state of limbo —...

A report from KSNV in Nevada. "Clark County reports issuing 13 citations in the last week to homeowners operating illegal short-term rental properties in unincorporated Clark County before the Super Bowl. 'Some homeowners are still trying to comply with the law and not rent their houses but some...

A weekend topic starting with Bloomberg. "The surge in immigration will help bolster the US economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade by swelling the labor force and increasing demand, the Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday. The increased migration stems mainly from people...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Housing sales in Hampton Roads increased slightly during November and December 2023, leading to about 3,500 residential listings being active in December. 'Most people qualify for more than they want to take on for a mortgage payment,' Southern...

A report from the Daily Mail. "New York City real estate developer Nir Meir and other industry executives were indicted for stealing $86 million from investors through a failed luxury apartment development. Meir, 49, and several other executives from HFZ Capital Group were charged with varying...

A report from Patch. "An Upper East Side man who was previously accused of sexual assault at the East Village bar he owned now refuses to leave his apartment after it was foreclosed in 2022, according to a new report in Crain's New York Business. The homeowner, Frank Steo, has not allowed his Upper...

A report from WTBW in South Carolina. "Ted Daniels recently moved to Myrtle Beach in July 2023 from eastern Pennsylvania. He said he found his home online and put an offer in right away. 'I knew that the market was hot, so I offered asking price,' Daniels said. 'It’s not even a market right now to...

A report from the Star Advertiser. "A bill that seeks to give the counties the power to control short-term rentals — even phase them out— is moving in the state Legislature. Kristin Fagerback, who submitted testimony against SB 2919, said she lists a few rooms in her Big Island home for short-term...

A report from The Day. "The leader of the Ledyard-based Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors sees signs that single-family home prices in the region may not be jumping by double digits this year, as they had for much of the past several years. 'I see the trend going down on how much...