The end of the housing Ponzi scheme: 63% of homes in SW Idaho up for sale are owned by investors

Investors get in - check.

Investors get out - check.

Locals left holding the bag - check.

Repeat all around the world - check.

Southwest Idaho has large jump in number of homes put up for sale

Experts say investors trying to unload houses in highly populated southwestern Idaho have likely boosted the number of homes on the market.

They say a recent drop in median home prices might have triggered the sales rush.

Nearly 8,000 homes are for sale in the area.

Financial experts say that many homes on the market will likely continue driving down home prices.

Ada County saw a 1.3 percent drop in median home prices in March, the first decline in 10 months.

The current situation is good for buyers, not so good for sellers.

Heinrich Wiebe, co-founder of Genius Realty, says he doesn't see any recovery. He says about 63 percent of the homes in the region now up for sale are owned by investors

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

What will America do with all its unwanted and unneeded houses and condos now?

Empty houses and condos at record levels

The number that got all the attention this week was 2.7 percent. That's the percentage of homes that are sitting empty across the United States. And it's certainly noteworthy, because in the four decades since the Census Bureau began tracking that number, it's never gone higher than 2 percent.

Put another way, there are 2.1 million empty homes out there, and the people who own them are taking a vicious beating.

But the really nasty number almost got lost in the shuffle. It's 11 percent. That's the number of buildings with five or more units (read: condominiums) that were unoccupied during the fourth quarter.

These and other numbers are being bandied about this week at the National Association of Home Builders' International Business Show. If you recall, this is the same show at which economists last year announced what developers were already figuring out - that the speculators feeding the condo boom had packed up and gone home.

A record 58,257 Phoenix bag-holders (aka "Desperate Homedebtors") are wondering today "where did all the buyers go"

Ah, a classic and inevitable end of a grand Ponzi Scheme is now unfolding in Phoenix. A sight to behold HP'ers. Textbook.

Phoenix, bottom line, you're screwed. Sorry to say. But it was your own doing.

50% appreciation in 2005? What a joke. Your fake economy was built on the back of a corrupt and out of control REIC, your homes are not worth 100% more than they were just a few years ago, and now your economy will collapse due to out of control mortgage fraud, massive REIC layoffs, out of control illegal immigration, and basic human greed.

Good luck out there Phoenix. You're gonna need it.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

How much did all the subprime and "liars loan" Alt-A buyers artificially inflate housing prices the past few years?

5%?
10%?
20%?

And who's gonna buy all these damn houses now?