The Housing Bubble Blog

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The world’s tallest residential building is giving out some sky-high discounts. A mystery buyer has plunked down $40.83 million for a five-bedroom, full-floor spread at Central Park Tower on 57th Street. That’s a steep 35% off the original $63...

A report from the Reno/Sparks Gazette in Nevada. "'If you’re going fishing for a buyer or waiting for someone to stop by the house and make an offer way over market price, those days are gone,' said Gary MacDonald, president of the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors." From WKRN on Tennessee. "A...

A report from CNBC. "'We actually believe the industry is already overbuilding in single-family to normalized demand by roughly 20% and about 10% for multi-family, so we couldn't be on more of an opposite side of where the market is and where the industry is, frankly,' said Ivy Zelman." From Market...

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "Broker Kristin Scanlon predicts we will see home prices decrease again as existing home prices follow the decline of new home prices heading into winter. 'There are huge subdivisions going in left and right,' Scanlon said. 'You’ve got all these production...

A report from the Wall Street Journal. "An unusually high number of homes across the country are being appraised below their agreed-upon sales prices, causing a number of deals to collapse. In recent months, during the height of the boom, many buyers waived their right to terminate a contract due...

A report from KTVB in Idaho. "'I've seen the prices drop, I've seen some homes drop $75,000, $100,000, $50,000, just to get people to come in and get into that price range that people are looking for,' said Garrett Stephenson, a buyer manager for Homie. Stephenson believes houses can no longer be...

A weekend topic starting with the Globe and Mail. "China’s housing woes have been exposed by the liquidity crisis at Evergrande. The collapse of the company is not being ruled out as Beijing cracks down on the excessive leverage that fuelled the building orgy of Chinese developers. It was China’s...

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "People seeking to buy a home in Delaware County were practically offering their first-born child to secure a property earlier this year, Realtor Jamie Kerezsi joked. Now, Kereszi is seeing more price reductions on listed homes and fewer cash offers...

A report from Bisnow New York. "The coronavirus pandemic brought New York City’s office market to a screeching halt. Adding to landlord concerns is the seemingly constant new supply of space. 'If they [refinanced] recently, this is the problem,' added Helen Hwang, senior executive managing director...

A report from Arlington Now in Virginia. "In terms of homes experiencing a price reduction in Arlington County, things are hot, hot, hot. Within the past week, we’ve seen a nearly 20% uptick in these listings. Approximately two listings per day in Arlington County are having their prices reduced....

A report from the San Diego Business Journal in California. "People in the market for a new home are starting to get a break as the San Diego County real estate market cooled down a bit in August and early September. Chris Anderson, incoming president of the Greater San Diego Association of...

A report from the Dallas Morning News. "'Many of you are hearing the housing market is losing some steam,' James Gaines, the longtime economist for the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, told members of the MetroTex Association of Realtors. 'It does appear there is...

A report from the News Press in Florida. "The Bonita Springs and Estero markets are still seeing price reductions each month, and area appraisers also report that current pricing is correlating with current appraisals for those properties accurately priced. For sellers, accurately pricing your home...

A weekend topic starting with Market Watch. "We all know that house prices are rising at a record pace right now, but few realize just how far from normal this is. For the entire 20th century, the annual average increase in home prices was only 0.2 percentage point more than the rise in the cost of...

It' Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "A price chop this big might cast some doubts on the world’s tallest residential tower. Gary Barnett’s Extell Development has sold a sponsor unit at its Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street for nearly 50 percent below its original asking price,...

A report from Floor Daily. "With Millennials being young, the price point of the home is not typically up the food chain, generally in the $250,000 to $400,000 price range, depending on the market and region. The impact, says Andy Hogan, CEO of FEI Group, the nation’s largest network of interior...

A report from KCCI on Iowa. "Ted Weaver, the president of the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors, tells KCCI the housing market is starting to stabilize. Weaver said if someone is selling right now, the price has to be realistic. Fewer homes are selling above list price. 'The reason why it's...

A report from Bloomberg. "Zillow has essentially dived into the house-flipping business, offering to quickly take properties off sellers’ hands. And in the process it’s helping pull Wall Street even deeper into the $2 trillion U.S. housing market. In August, Zillow raised $450 million from a bond...

A report from Mortgage Professional America. "With more than 20 years’ experience in the mortgage industry, Kirk Tatom, the president of Dallas-based Tatom Lending, started his company back in 2007. As for clients who were still determined to get the home of their choice - no matter the cost or...

A report from the Honolulu Star advertiser in Hawaii. "A Hong Kong-based company with plans to develop an Atlantis-themed resort along with two other big hotel and residential projects in West Oahu has been trying to sell all three properties to address financial difficulties. The effort by China...