housing market

Now that summer’s getting into full swing, it’s time to slow down and take a few moments to daydream and compile wish lists. In that spirit, Time offers a gallery of McMansions across the country that just won’t sell, despite prices that have been drastically slashed. All this is part of a bigger problem in [...]

Are we really going to go through this again? Immediately after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development finished putting the final touches on a controversial plan to allow first-time homebuyers to use an $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment on a new home, some in the  Senate are proposing nearly doubling the credit [...]

One aspect of  the housing market that seems to be holding true is that no one is left untouched by its decline, and that includes the rich and powerful. First came word last week that even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner can’t find a buyer for his $1.6 million tudor in Westchester, New York, despite cutting [...]

As we’ve noted previously, neglected and abandoned bank-owned foreclosed homes have caused problems with neighborhood blight and falling property values, in some areas. The Washington Post today reports on another difficulty with these Real Estate Owned (REO) properties. Sometimes banks are so overwhelmed by the number of REOs in their inventories that they can’t even [...]

Well, look at this: While we were riveted, watching that AIG public lashing on Wednesday, top executives other spectacularly failed companies –  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to be precise — are taking home some big bonuses as well, The Wall Street Journal reports.
From The Journal:
Fannie Mae is due to pay retention bonuses of between [...]

Much of the reason our economy is a mess is due to the housing bubble, a period in which too many homes were built — and too many people bought homes they couldn’t afford. Home prices continue their death spiral because a glut of homes remains on the market, leftovers from the bubble as the [...]

Remember how Congress and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan refused to regulate subprime loans, and joined the mortgage industry in defending them as a way to extend the benefits of homeownership to all? Turns out it was all for nothing, really. New Census figures out today show home ownership rates returning to their levels [...]

Instead of a national foreclosure moratorium – an idea that has the support of President-elect Barack Obama – homeowners in trouble should just accept foreclosures and move on, lending industry insiders say. Their comments come from Housing Wire, which cited an industry survey quoting lenders as saying a national moratorium would have dire consequence for [...]

I feel compelled to link to The Onion’s hilarious lede today.
From its awesome bit of fake news, entitled, “Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress”:

As Jerry Garcia put it, “Every silver lining’s got a touch of grey.”
Finally, home sales have begun to rebound. But as Mary Kane points out in an insightful analysis, the rising sales of foreclosed homes are more a sign of the housing market’s troubles than a harbinger of better economic times.
Read all about it here.