The Housing Bubble Blog

A report from Fox South Carolina. "Greenville continues to be a relocation destination as experts predict an 11% increase in home sales this year. 'We're going to be in a seller's market for decades, decades,' said Thomas Cheves, a Coldwell Banker Caine realtor." From WKRN in Tennessee. "It’s a...

A weekend topic starting with the New York Times. "The last time such home price growth occurred was in the years leading up to the housing crash. But even at the height of the bubble in 2006, only about 40% of metro areas experienced greater than 10% annual home price growth. In the past year, 80%...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "California’s $5.2 billion pandemic rental relief fund is running out of money. 'Many owners have received no rent for months. They cannot pay their taxes, mortgages and other expenses if the rent continues to go unpaid,' said Debra Carlton,...

A report from CNBC. "There's a 'big risk' of real estate companies filing for insolvency when interest rates rise, said Nils Kuhlwein of consulting firm Kearney. The real estate sector had the highest absolute number of 'zombie' companies and the highest share of zombies in 2020, according to a...

A report from Yahoo Finance. "Much of the blame rests with the Fed for 'way overstaying their welcome with [quantitative easing] and zero rates and badly misreading inflation that they are now being forced to play catch up with,' said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer for Bleakley Advisory...

A report from Mediafeed. "One longstanding guideline for property investors that has been the subject of countless articles is 'the 1 percent rule in real estate.' The 1 percent rule is a formula that says the monthly rental should equal at least 1 percent of the total cost of an investment...

A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. "For most families, owning property is the primary way they build wealth. As prices start to cool off over the next few years from sky-high growth, some people may find that their homes are worth a little less than what they paid, but that’s...

A report from the Northside Sun in Mississippi. "'People are paying so much more for houses than they did a year and half to two years ago,' said William Fincher, a Realtor in Madison County. 'They are paying $40,000 to $50,000 more than what they had historically and that concerns me.' Fincher...

A weekend topic starting with Mortgage News Daily. "So why did rates spike on Friday? This is actually a bit of a trick question. Rates have been rising in general since late 2020. The current rate spike really began last week. The first 4 days of the week were mostly a lull in the bigger picture....

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Mortgage rates are at the highest level since before the pandemic. 'I would say right now, don’t buy into the fear that rates are going up, and this is the end of the real estate market,' said Ryan Larussa with GMFS Mortgage." "According to Boise...

A report from Newsday. "After offering protection for homeowners for nearly two years, New York state’s moratorium on foreclosures is set to expire Saturday, and data show 14,500 Long Island borrowers are seriously behind on their mortgages. Nick Sakalis, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker...

A report from Arlington Now in Virginia. "We’ve seen an upward tick in new listings by approximately 10 percent compared to last week. We’ve also tracked a nearly 400 percent increase in the number of Just Reduced properties week-over-week. In a nutshell, for those whose properties sat on the...

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "Newly constructed homes in Ada County dropped from a median price of $601,301 in November to $579,990 in December. The relative affordability that once helped attract buyers from more expensive places has partially worn off. 'With inventory going down, it’s...

A report from DS News. "Mortgage rates increased to 3.22%, the highest percentage since May 2020. Agents have said the potential for higher mortgage rates is motivating sellers to act quickly. 'Sellers want to get their homes on the market ASAP,' Seattle Redfin Agent Shoshana Godwin said. 'They’re...

A weekend topic starting with two reports from Bloomberg. "To cryptocurrency true believers, Bitcoin is the ultimate store of value, the most solid hedge against the rampant inflation manufactured by reckless central banks and their money-printing. To skeptics, the crypto world as a whole is a...

A weekend topic starting with Mark Zandi. "House prices are sizzling. Not just in swanky neighborhoods in the nation’s big cities or in resort towns. Not just in the suburbs or exurbs. Not just in inner cities or in rural areas. Just about everywhere. The median existing house price — half of homes...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "To sweeten a recent offer on a small house with a few acres here in Texas, near Austin, I pledged to keep Jenny and Jeremy—two aging donkeys the seller no longer had use for. Caught up in the adrenaline of the deal, I didn’t take into account just...

A report from CNBC. "'The fact that almost all participants agreed that it was appropriate to initiate the balance sheet runoff after the first increase in the target range for the fed funds rate implies that there’s not a big appetite for ‘let’s wait and see.' Kathy Jones, chief fixed income...

A report from Buzzfeed. "Buying a home is not for the faint of heart. 21: 'Do your research on the neighborhood and street. Try to go to the home you plan on buying at different times during the day, and even at night if you can. You can do as many renovations as you want on the house itself, but...

A report from Herald and News in Oregon. "Jim Chadderdon, executive director of Discover Klamath and a owner of local real estate, says he knows people who have fallen behind on their mortgages and the end of the moratorium will have an effect on them. At the end of the day, there may be some kind...