The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from Housing Wire. "BJ Witkopf is a mortgage specialist with Assurance Financial: Planet Earth has has gone from a ball of molten rock to ice, and then, to the climate we have today. Just like Earth, mortgage rates and housing markets are cyclic and we’re heading into another Ice Age....

A report from Reuters. "In mid-April Harsh Grewal and his wife settled on a place in a San Francisco suburb and were prepping a bid, above the listed price so they'd have a chance of besting other offers. Then he checked his phone and saw several alerts, all touting reduced prices for other homes...

A report from the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Matt Wilson, President of the Mississippi Mortgage Bankers Association, believes the housing market's current state is not something about which to be alarmed. 'Mortgage rates are up, and they went up a little quicker than we all thought they would,' he...

A report from News Source 8 in Maine. "It’s no secret that real estate is a hot topic nationwide. 'The average median price for Aroostook county is 129,950 dollars that is for a single family residential in Aroostook county. So you back up to two years ago, 73,500 dollars, two years later, today...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Some listings are still getting multiple offers, but it’s not the frenzy that was happening six months ago, according to Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors President Dennis Gonatas. Gonatas said he had a client that had to withdraw an...

A report from 19 News Cleveland. "Layoffs happened at a popular home mortgage company headquartered in Northeast Ohio. Union Home Mortgage in a statement told 19 News they are temporarily adjusting staffing levels to accommodate rapidly changing conditions in the housing market. But, a newly...

A report from Marketplace. "'Marketplace' host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Vivian Gueler, chief financial officer of Pacific Trust Group in Los Angeles, about the mortgage brokerage industry and the housing market. Kai Ryssdal: Every single time we’ve gotten you on the phone, I’ve said, 'How’s...

A report from Banking Dive. "Wells Fargo has begun laying off an undisclosed number of its home lending employees, little more than a week after reporting mortgage origination volume had dropped 33% year over year, the bank confirmed Friday. Anonymous posts on the discussion board The Layoff...

A report from the Real Deal. "A digital lending platform is laying off 200 employees as a historic surge in mortgage rates tamps down applications. Blend Labs is letting go of roughly 10 percent of its staff to shed $34.5 million in annual payroll. Layoffs have swept the industry in recent months,...

A report from the Los Angeles Times. "Christopher Thornberg, founding partner with Beacon Economics said Orange County and the rest of Southern California are relatively inexpensive compared with other major metropolises around the world. Given the area is home to major industries, entertainment...

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "A one-bedroom apartment in downtown Boise costs about $350,000 to build, and one elsewhere in the Treasure Valley costs about $270,000, said Clay Carley, a developer. Outside of downtown, Jim Tomlinson, a developer with Tomlinson & Associates, estimates that...

It' Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Homebuyer demand softened further over the last several weeks, according to Redfin. 'Buyers are becoming more discerning. They’re less willing to overpay because now they’re only facing three or four competitive offers instead of dozens. Sellers may...

A report from The Hill. "'Higher prices and higher mortgage rates have boosted the required monthly payment to buy a home; it’s up by more than 40 percent from a year ago. This affordability challenge will shrink the buyer pool.' National Association of Realtors chief economist Dr. Lawrence Yun...

A report from Aaron Layman in Texas. "It’s pretty amazing to see the Powell Fed stand by while the housing market bubbles over. The median price of a Denton home soared 34.8% from the same time a year ago to $398,000. Spiraling housing costs have taken the median monthly housing payment for a...

A report from Reuters. "With the Fed poised to hike further, the MBA forecasts that total mortgage originations will fall 35.5% this year, with a 64% decline in refinancings. 'We have a classic case of a mortgage boom to bust cycle,' said Gerard Cassidy, Head of U.S. Bank Equity Strategy at RBC...

A report from Richmond Biz in Virginia. "Joe Dunn, a veteran local mortgage executive, said as of last week around 135 of George Mason Mortgage’s more than 300 employees have since CMG Financial’s poaching began last month. Dunn said the downsizing brought on by CMG may prove timely for GMM. 'I...

A report from the New York Times. "Luis Solis, a real estate agent in Portland, Ore., marked a milestone weekend late last month. It was the first time in two years that one of his listings made it to Monday without any offers. This particular house was listed at $500,000, and after a Saturday open...

A weekend topic starting with Bloomberg. "For years, Fridays at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, a sprawling restaurant chain in the Southeast, meant one thing: the steak-and-shrimp special. But in January, CEO Chris Elliott saw signs that consumers were feeling the squeeze of soaring inflation. So he took the...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Denver-area realtors are seeing something that hasn’t happened in nearly a decade: the market is starting to cool off. Sunny Banka with the Colorado Association of Realtors already seen this materialize with a ranch she listed for a client in...

A report from the Real Deal. "More than one in four houses purchased by rental investors in the fourth quarter was a newly built home, according to data. Cash-rich investors see potential in single-family rentals, especially as mortgage rates rise, while builders benefit from selling in bulk,...