real estate values

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Forget the Rebound; 'This Thing's Going Down'
 Forget the Rebound; 'This Thing's Going Down'
OPINION
Jun 27, 2008 8:43 AM CDT

Forget the Rebound; 'This Thing's Going Down'

We can't expect a quick recovery from the economic downturn

(Newser) - A cycle has emerged in the economic mood of recent months: a round of bad news sends markets into a tailspin, then things appear to improve, complete with predictions that the worst is behind us, only to fall apart again, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. It’s time...

Banks Play Hide-and-Seek With Bum Loans

Changing definition, moving mortgages to subsidiaries among tactics

(Newser) - Banks are increasingly finding creative ways to lessen the impact of shaky loans on their bottom lines, shifting them to subsidiaries or changing their definition of non-performing, the Wall Street Journal reports—a legal, if not exactly confidence-inducing, strategy. "Spending all the time gaming the system rather than addressing...

TV Home Shows Boom During Bust

'People loved comedies during the Depression, too,' producer says

(Newser) - Home shows are becoming the heavyweights of reality television, even as the housing market continues to plummet, the New York Times reports. HGTV and TLC have million-plus nightly audiences as shows that provide step-by-step guidance to potential homesellers and buyers appeal to viewers weary of past hits that traded on...

Foreclosure Sales Rebound as Buyers Snap Up Deals

But prices drop drastically as lenders bite the bullet

(Newser) - April generally was not a great month for home sales, the Wall Street Journal reports—except in the areas hardest hit by the subprime crisis as lenders slash prices on foreclosed homes and buyers snap them up. Subprime-riddled Detroit, for example, has seen home sales rise 48% in the past...

House Could Be Dead Giveaway
 House Could Be Dead Giveaway 
Apr 6, 2008 11:20 AM CDT

House Could Be Dead Giveaway

69-year-old seller will make home's buyer beneficiary of $500K insurance policy

(Newser) - If Bob Fanning dies in the next decade, the buyer of his Wisconsin home—listed at $498,900—will get a half-million dollar payday. That’s because the 69-year-old plans to make the new owner the beneficiary of a 10-year life-insurance policy, a carrot he hopes will sweeten the deal...

Real Estate Slump Strikes Manhattan

Average apartment price soars to record; big picture grim

(Newser) - Manhattan real estate prices hit record highs in the first quarter of 2008, but sales declined, showing that the housing crunch is starting to affect the island, Bloomberg reports. The average price of a Manhattan apartment was $1.7 million, up 33.5% from last year, the New York Times ...

Commercial Real Estate Will Slow, Not Tank

Malls, offices won't be hit nearly as hard as housing, experts say

(Newser) - The commercial real estate market has slowed dramatically, but won’t rival the housing implosion, reports the Wall Street Journal. Prices will likely fall just 20%, compared with 40%-plus for homes in some markets, and commercial property owners—unlike record numbers of homeowners facing foreclosure—have largely been able to...

Goldman Analysts Warn of Next Crisis

Commercial real estate outlook even worse than subprime situation

(Newser) - Commercial real estate could be the next victim of the current economic downturn, and if it is, expect it to cause another full-fledged crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. Commercial real estate values could fall as much as 26% over the next 2 years, Goldman Sachs analysts predict, leading to...

Rosy Realtor Ads Omit Pesky Housing Crash

NAR campaign claims slumping market is a can't-lose investment

(Newser) - Apparently, real estate is a can’t-fail investment right now. Or at least, that’s the questionable gospel the National Association of Realtors is preaching, in a blitz of new commercials claiming that home values, on average, double every 10 years, and that a home is “the key to...

No Real Estate Meltdown Here
No Real Estate Meltdown Here
Jan 9, 2008 7:52 PM CST

No Real Estate Meltdown Here

Amazon's move will bring another big name to Seattle's booming South Lake Union

(Newser) - For the first time since the company's founding, Amazon's administrative employees will reside in one ZIP code, the New York Times reports. But the planned 2010 move from scattered offices to a single Seattle location will hardly make it the first big name in Paul Allen-directed South Lake Union: The...

Commercial Properties Squeezed
Commercial Properties Squeezed
Dec 26, 2007 8:05 AM CST

Commercial Properties Squeezed

Owners of malls and office buildings are starting to feel the subprime pinch

(Newser) - Add the once-solid commercial real estate market to the list of sectors felled by the subprime mortgage contagion, as owners of malls, apartment complexes and office buildings have seen financing disappear, prices plunge and the pace of sales dwindle 50%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Lenders, burned by the residential...

Squeezed Owners Seek Tax Break as Home Values Drop

Local governments feel the pinch as property taxes decline

(Newser) - With property values falling across much of the nation, more homeowners are asking for reassessments, looking for a break from property taxes that inflated before the subprime mortgage balloon burst, reports the New York Times. For local governments, especially in areas already suffering from high rates of foreclosure, declining property...

Greenies Fight for Right to Dry
Greenies Fight for Right to Dry
Nov 29, 2007 11:05 AM CST

Greenies Fight for Right to Dry

Clotheslines are eco-friendly, but opponents say they kill property values

(Newser) - Greenies say they’re being hung out to dry—instead of their clothes. A movement to cut back on eco-unfriendly clothes dryers, by hanging garments on lines, is being met with resistance from communities and homeowners associations that consider the clotheslines unsightly and damaging to property values. So the right-to-dryers...

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