HousingPanic nominations: What US city is the face of the housing bubble today?

The leading list for months has been

Phoenix
San Diego
Miami
Boston
Washington DC
Denver
Sacramento
Las Vegas
Tampa

I still think Phoenix with the absolute panic, the fleeing of the investors, the listing explosion (up to 43,000 by the way today), the over-reliance on real estate, the get-rich-quick mentality of the people (there are no real jobs in Phoenix) and the 55% increase in 2005, will make Phoenix the face of the bubble when they go back and do research papers on the madness.

Get your nominations in - and tell us why you think it's that town.

DC: Watching the bubble pop in real time (the ponzi scheme ends)

This from DC - but it's happened all over the US - Miami, Phoenix, San Diego, ...

The speculators came in, bid prices up 50% or more, made some dough, got everyone locally excited about how great their local area was, more condos were built, and then...

BAM!!!

The ponzi scheme always ends. And when it does, the bag holder looks around and wonders - "where did everyone go?"

Thanks powerlines for the link.

Investors who sought quick profits buying and selling real estate in the Washington region are in full retreat, dampening demand for homes, most notably for condos.

What is becoming apparent, market watchers say, is how big a part speculators played in the region's real estate boom of the past few years. Not just condominiums, but also townhouses and single-family houses, were snapped up by investors using no-money-down financing and non-traditional loans. They helped send prices soaring at unprecedented rates. And now many are trying to sell, or rent at a loss. Some may eventually dump properties at low prices to get rid of them. That could weigh down values for everyone.

Sales of new condos fell 43 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared with the first quarter of 2005, according to one report, and there are almost four times as many existing condos for sale than last year.

Ah, renting... The sweet life...

It just makes soooooo much sense, right now, to rent. Pay pennies on the dollar vs. owning. Don't suffer the depreciation and financial devastation of the imploding housing bubble.

And live stress free, until real estate makes sense again to buy.

In the home-buying frenzy, renters could reap bargains

Almost since the turn of the millennium, the "housing bubble" has been front page news and editorial page speculation. But that's only half the housing story. What has been happening in the rental housing market is unprecedented; also, it is important for understanding what has really been happening to home prices and home sales.

The rental market is the other side of the boom - the dark side, for rental property owners, the bright side for families looking for a bargain. For the first time in US history, the absolute number of renters has been falling. There are fewer now than there were 10 years ago. The number of renters peaked at 35.7 million families in early 1995. By mid-2004, it was down to 32.6 million. There has been a modest increase since then, to 33.7 million; at that rate, the 1995 peak will not be reached again until the end of the decade. At the same time, the number of owners has increased by more than 11 million, from 64 million in early 1995 to 75 million today. It will be close to 80 million by 2010.

Rental property owners face extraordinarily high vacancies. Currently the national vacancy rate is just under 10 percent. To put this in context, the traditional dividing line between "tight" and "loose" rental markets is a 6 percent rate. In several large metropolitan areas, the rental vacancy rate is above 15 percent - not just older slow-growth industrial areas like Cleveland and St. Louis, but also rapidly growing areas such as Atlanta and Houston.

Days on market - another reason the corrupt realtor profession and MLS needs to go away

Just hit the reset button, and your corrupt realtor has a fresh new listing on the realtor-owned MLS.

Then the corrupt National Association of Realtors can publish that still-not-panic-stage days on market number for your state and the US.

Folks, you're being lied to, they're cooking the books, and it's time for a new system. This one ain't workin'.

Thanks bubbletracking

Wonk alert: The dollar's decline, interest rate hikes, the trade imbalance and the housing bubble

I think only about 5% of people understand this, hopefully much higher on this blog, but here's the bottom line:

1) Foreign central banks will quickly start moving their reserves out of depreciating dollars and into stable currencies or gold
2) The US central bank likely will try to protect the dollar to a point by raising interest rates
3) Rising interest rates (when hey, everyone thinks our housing-loving Fed will be stopping soon) will further decimate the US housing market
4) Deflating the housing bubble, and ending the queue at the housing ATM, combined with a depreciating dollar, will solve our trade imbalance, which cannot continue, as demand for foreign goods dries up as consumer wealth effect and spending dries up and foreign imports become more expensive

I think that about sums it up. That wasn't so hard, was it?

Anyone correct or support my thinking, and also I'm looking for recommendations for safe harbor as the dollar depreciates besides gold - Euros? Pounds? Canadian Dollars?

The euro spent most of the Asian session and the early part of European trade mired below the 1.2300 figure until news that the Swedish Central bank made a major change in its foreign exchange reserves catapulted the currency higher. The pair rose 50 points in a matter of 5 minutes. In an announcement on its website the Riksbank noted that it reduced its dollar denominated assets from 37% to 20% while increasing its holding of euros from 37% to 50% of total reserves

A note from the blogger

I felt it was time to strike out at the Bush Administration, and hard.

One man is taking us on a misguided personal crusade (yes, I use that word intentionally, and so did he). It is costing us, the taxpayer, over a Trillion dollars, perhaps much more. And the lives of thousands, perhaps much more.

One man (and his puppetmasters) has taken the financial balance sheet of this great country and decimated it.

He has allowed the outsourcing of jobs IN AMERICA to an invading illegal force. He has allowed the outsourcing of our manufacturing base OUTSIDE AMERICA to a corrupt communist regime.

He has even thumbed his nose at this silly little thing called THE LAW.

And thus, he should be censored, he should be impeached, and failing that there should be tremendous pressure for him and his henchman to resign. Now.

The good news with this 30% approval rating (who the heck are the 30% by the way? Do they hate gays that much?) is that Congress will no longer do his bidding. The good news about the 30% is that Congress itself will be thrown out in November, replaced by new blood.

I'll hit at this topic from time to time as the downfall of the Bush administration continues. As is the norm these days, the bloggers are ahead of the mainstream media on issues, and sometimes even ahead of the readers.

I know this topic makes many uncomfortable, especially fellow republicans. Well, I'd say former fellow republicans at this point, as you'd see me having a tough time voting for that shell of a party these days.

But the truth must be told.

Now back to the topic at hand - the bursting housing bubble and the meltdown of the world financial system.

A note from Carl Sagan

"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges near, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive.

Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.

The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."

Thanks ABQ for reminding me