The Housing Bubble Blog

A weekend topic starting with the New Yorker. "Jay Peak sits at the northern end of Vermont, twenty minutes from the Canadian border, and has one of the heaviest snowfalls in the region. It was, for many years, an obscure hill known for deep powder and glade skiing, visited primarily by locals,...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Real estate agents and mortgage lenders who spoke to The Post said that underwriters in the Sunshine State are forcing would-be buyers to look for cheaper dwellings. Meanwhile, existing HOA fees for condo owners have doubled in the past year. 'Every...

A report from National Mortgage Professional. "Fitch Ratings recently released a report detailing the looser credit underwriting standards that emerged in the second half of 2022, as mortgage demand fell throughout the year. Court Lake, a director in the US RMBS group at Fitch Ratings and one of...

A report from KCBD in Texas. "In its annual market survey the Lubbock Land Company analyzed data for single family houses from 2023 and compared it to the past 30 years. The data shows 2023 brought an all-time high of 271 completed general homes built for purchase that were not sold. The President...

A report from Sarasota Magazine in Florida. "See ya later, panic-buying, bidding wars and forgone home inspections. The post-Covid buying rush is all but gone, and important housing market markers like inventory, and days on the market have increased substantially compared to 2022, according to the...

A report from the Courier Journal in Kentucky. "In the greater Louisville area, December 2023 marked the 24th consecutive month of year-over-year declines in existing home sales. 'Brutal,' Mike Frank, a senior mortgage broker at Homestretch Mortgage in Louisville, said of 2023. 'That was my worst...

A report from KETV Omaha in Nebraska. "With two growing kids and only one bathroom, Andrea and Aaron Boschult are looking to size up. 'Two bedroom, two bath," Andrea Boschult said. 'A little bigger yard and maybe a garage.' 'It doesn't have to be a massive yard,' Aaron Boschult chimed in. They've...

A weekend topic starting with Fox 13. "In his State of the State address, Governor Spencer Cox reiterated something he said last month to some of Utah’s most powerful business and community leaders. 'I believe the single largest threat to our future prosperity is the price of housing. Period,' said...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The expanding choices of new homes appealed to Steve Hawthorne, a co-owner of a shoe store in Hudson, Ohio. After owning older homes for most of his life, he said, he was burned out by maintenance costs. Plotting a move west, he bought a two-bedroom...

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "In 2023, home sales in Ada and Canyon counties fell to their lowest point since 2009. 'The past year was a needed correction in the market,' said Mike Pennington of John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise. 'The market was overheated in 2020 and 2021.'" The Plain...

A report from the Dayton Daily News in Ohio. "The amount of homes sold in the Dayton area declined in 2023 compared to the previous year. The local housing market last year saw buyers making fast offers and then sometimes having 'a little bit of buyer's remorse' afterward because they felt so...

A report from Bangor Daily News. "Property values declined last year in many rural Maine towns and some surprising ones, including Cape Elizabeth and Carrabassett Valley, according to Zillow. Real estate agents in Cape Elizabeth, the Sugarloaf region and central Maine said that though they aren’t...

A report from the Bradenton Herald in Florida. "The Sarasota/Manatee Realtor Association released its year-end housing report for 2023, and it shows a buyer’s market trend with housing inventory returning to pre-COVID levels. In Manatee County, the year 2023 saw an inventory of more than 2,000...

A report from the Arizona Republic. "Metro Phoenix’s housing market ended 2023 better than 2022, when there was an abrupt slowdown due to rising interest rates. But last year was still a slow one for home sales after the frenzy of 2021. For all of 2023, home sales were down 14% from 2022 and 32.3%...

A report from Fortune. "In December 2023, existing home sales slipped 1% from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.78 million, according to National Association of Realtors’ data released Friday. From the prior year, the rate of sales fell 6.2%. By this measure, current market...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Seattle-area home prices dipped last year at levels unseen in more than a decade, signaling the hit the region’s housing market has suffered since high mortgage rates dampened buyer and seller enthusiasm. The price drops, reflected in year-end data...

A report from Island News in Hawaii. "Oahu's housing market has started to cool down, and there are areas such as the North Shore where prices have dropped dramatically. The Honolulu Board of Realtors tells Island News that single-family homes on the North Shore have seen the largest decline in...

A report from the Bellingham Herald in Washington. "A new Whatcom County housing development will welcome its first resident this month as the project continues construction over the next couple of years. The Church Hill Ranch neighborhood in Ferndale is expected to have 82 for-sale, single-family...

A report from the Durango Herald in Colorado. "Dave Bowman is starting to reconsider his choice to buy a home in Durango Hills. He and his wife bought the four-bedroom home at the end of September. It is nestled in a thinned stand of ponderosa pines at the toe of Missionary Ridge, not far from the...

A report from Motley Fool. "By mid-2022, when my good friend had started to look for a house to buy, mortgage rates were already much higher. Not only did she have cash in a savings account to put toward a home purchase, but she was able to liquidate some investments to free up additional cash. She...