The real estate crash continues....
http://www.tracypress.com/2005-11-21-biz-one.php
"October was the first month in nearly 10 years that the city issued no building permits for new houses, even though builders hold entitlements that would allow them to take out permits for more than 600 new homes."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/57980.htm
"From Westchester County to Fairfield, Conn., to Bergen, N.J., the tri-state area is seeing prices and numbers of sales stalling or dropping, while inventories of properties are starting to pile up. 'Sales are drying up at the top,' said one northern New Jersey broker. 'And now homes on the lower end [of the price scale] are sitting for weeks and months."
http://www.valleyvoicenewspaper.com/homeinventory2.htm
"The inventory of homes for sale on the Visalia/Tulare MLS have grown from 417 at the end of July to 579 at the end of August, 696 at the end of September and 1005 as of November 11 according to the Tulare County Association of Realtors. A doubling of existing homes for sale reflects a slowing market in this area as can be seen across the nation this fall."
"It appears inventory is expanding even as sales slow, perhaps because sellers want to get on the sales bandwagon before prices fall. In the month of October 2005 there were 209 sales while in the same month a year ago sales were 301."
"Besides existing houses, new home developers may be feeling the slowdown with reports in Visalia that several large home builders are now 'cooperating' just in the past few weeks with realtors by offering a 2.5% on every sale to realtors. One new homebuilder had reportedly lowered the price of the new home lots."
"One local developer who spoke with us on the basis of anonymity, says builders had routinely raised the price for new lots month after month because they could, and it didnât seem to slow demand. Now itâs a different picture. Visalia has an inventory of approved final and tentative lots thought to be about 7000 that builders can use to 'land bank' notes city planner Fred Brusuelas."
"Maaske says a slowdown in the markets in the coastal area is resulting in fewer inquiries here. He says investors market was very big here earlier this year. 'Weâre on a slide now,' says Basil Perch, and 'we donât know how far the slide will take us.'"
http://www.boston.com/business/arti...t_creative_in_hunt_for_home_buyers/?page=full
"For the past five years, homes in Massachusetts have sold briskly, close to asking price or above it. But with interest rates rising and higher energy costs hitting consumers' pocketbooks, houses now on the market are often unable to attract buyers, or lookers. Open houses attract little, if any, traffic. As the winter approaches and home sales slow for the holidays, brokers desperate to close sales are resorting to measures not seen in these parts in a decade."
http://business.bostonherald.com/realestateNews/view.bg?articleid=113327
"Condominium prices on Beacon Hill and in the South and North ends are falling due to a dramatic drop in overall unit sales in those and other neighborhoods. Downtown Boston saw a 21 percent fall in the total condo units sold in the third quarter, to 1,211, compared with the same period a year ago."
"On Beacon Hill, the median price fell by 10.4 percent, to $394,500, as total units sold plunged by 9.2 percent in the quarter. In the South End, the median price of condos fell by 14 percent, to $472,500, with unit sales off by 37.8 percent compared to a year ago. 'The prices are coming down,' said Virginia Saillant, a realtor in the South End."