real estate

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Condo-Hotel Bubble Pops, Splatters Many

As more rooms go empty, buyers target developers

(Newser) - Condo-hotel rooms were a hot buy at the height of the housing boom, but marketing them as investments that would pay out every time they were occupied could come back to haunt developers, the Wall Street Journal reports. As business sours, buyers who find themselves making mortgage payments on empty...

And to Your Right, You'll See Another Foreclosure...

Bus tours take prospectors, and the merely curious, through ruins of mortgage crisi

(Newser) - Looking for cheap real estate? Hop on a foreclosure bus tour, a trend sweeping the nation in the wake of the mortgage crisis, the AP reports. The excursions typically include experts who educate buyers while showing empty homes: some bargain beauties, some fixer-uppers. "We're kind of a seminar on...

What Hollywood Will Pay to Be in Malibu: Anything

Top rental fetches $150K per month

(Newser) - US real estate is hurting, but the top price for a beachfront summer rental in Malibu hit $150,000 this year. The area is flush with homes valued at or above $10 million—a bracket unaffected by the housing slump. And Tinseltown's elite is happy to pay. "Recession? What...

Obama: Rezko Raised $250K, Asked No Favors

Candidate gives the lowdown on his dealings with Chicago tycoon

(Newser) - Barack Obama, hoping to head off future controversy, has given newspapers an extensive account of his dealings with indicted Chicago tycoon Tony Rezko. Obama told the Chicago Tribune that Rezko, his first big political donor, raised as much as $250,000 for his campaigns over the years—$90,000 more...

Deposed Thai PM Pleads Not Guilty to Graft

Crowds welcome Thaksin back from exile

(Newser) - Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra pleaded not guilty to graft charges today in a Supreme Court packed with hundreds of his supporters, AFP reports. Thaksin will not have to attend every hearing in his trial; he has already obtained permission to return to Britain, where he owns a soccer team....

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...

Home Prices Decline Across Country
Home Prices Decline Across Country
Feb 26, 2008 10:38 AM CST

Home Prices Decline Across Country

8.9% declines posted for fourth quarter in 10 biggest markets

(Newser) - Home prices in the top 10 metro areas slumped 8.9% over the previous year, the largest decline in 20 years, according to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller price index, released today. "Wherever you look things look bleak," one economist tells the Wall Street Journal, noting that declines...

Families Swap Houses to Beat Slow Market

Buyers and sellers are turning to an unusual alternative

(Newser) - Struggling with a troubled housing market, some would-be sellers are opting for a novel solution: trading houses. The strategy is nothing drastic, ABC News reports—in separate transactions, two families sell their homes to each other. Buyers say the downside is reduced selection—but it can be convenient, and it...

During Bust, Green Groups Make Land Grab

Conservationists snatch idle land from developers' hands

(Newser) - As the subprime debacle rips through real estate, leveling home values and clogging the market with unsold property, an unlikely group of vultures is descending, reports Newsweek. Conservation groups and local governments alike, which sat on the bench during the last boom, are snapping up land from would-be developers to...

For-Sale Sign, Hollywood Style
For-Sale Sign, Hollywood Style
Feb 13, 2008 1:10 PM CST

For-Sale Sign, Hollywood Style

After LA can't find funds, developer puts oft-photographed ridge on market at $22M

(Newser) - Tourists could soon be snapping luxury homes when they photograph the iconic Hollywood sign towering over the City of Angels, the Los Angeles Times reports, after investors put Cahuenga Peak, the land around the landmark, on the market for $22 million. “Everybody thought the city already owned it,”...

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...

Cuba's Underground Housing Boom
Cuba's Underground Housing Boom
Jan 28, 2008 2:58 PM CST

Cuba's Underground Housing Boom

Socialist system camouflages complicated black market

(Newser) - A  booming black market in real estate is operating in Cuba, even though the government owns most property. Prices are soaring as property changes hands in a complex, illegal system called permuta, reports the New York Times. Housing swaps are permitted in Cuba, with government approval; permuta involves trading up...

Dec. Home Sales Kept Dropping
Dec. Home Sales Kept Dropping
Jan 24, 2008 10:14 AM CST

Dec. Home Sales Kept Dropping

Existing US sales resume tumble; median prices also fall

(Newser) - Existing home sales began to fall again in December after briefly bumping upwards in October and November. Home resales were at a 4.89 million annual rate; that's down 2.2% from November and down 13% from last year. "Home sales remain weak despite improved affordability conditions in many...

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...

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...

Why Sam Zell Is Still High on Tribune

Ducati-riding magnate tells the New Yorker his deal's golden

(Newser) - Billionaire real estate magnate Sam Zell, legendary for turning around distressed properties, is likely to have his riskiest play—the struggling media giant Tribune—in his hands by year’s end. The financials have only gotten worse since he made the deal, but the "extravagantly confident" Zell isn't showing...

Real Estate Is What Divides America Into Red and Blue

it's land-use laws, not religion, stupid

(Newser) - Real estate—as much as religion or politics—is what really divides America into red and blue regions, argues Atlantic Monthly’s Virginia Postrel. Comparing the housing markets in Dallas and Los Angeles, she notes that it's no coincidence that there's cheap, plentiful housing in the former, and expensive, scarce...

Where to Find Housing Bargains
Where to Find Housing Bargains
Sep 26, 2007 1:48 PM CDT

Where to Find Housing Bargains

Where to look to make sure your next home is a solid asset—and where not to

(Newser) - Taking into account current affordability, projected growth, and employment opportunities, BusinessWeek pick the best and worst prospects for bargains in the US housing market. The best, in alphabetical order:
  1. Austin-Round Rock, Texas
  2. Baton Rouge, La.
  3. Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.

These Streets Are Paved in Gold
These Streets Are Paved in Gold
Sep 15, 2007 11:04 AM CDT

These Streets Are Paved in Gold

Forbes publishes list of most expensive US city blocks

(Newser) - Forbes has compiled a list of the most expensive real estate blocks in 10 major cities.  It teamed up with date provider Reply! to compile an index of the 'billionaire rows' of the US. In New York, the block between Fifth Avenue, Madison, 69th and 70th Sts. takes the...

All the Space That's Fit to Sell
All the Space That's Fit to Sell
Aug 29, 2007 3:42 PM CDT

All the Space That's Fit to Sell

Newspapers, fighting to stay alive, turn to their landmark buildings in efforts to raise cash

(Newser) - Newspapers, in an effort to bring in cash and stave off extinction, are selling iconic properties in downtown districts, the Journal reports. The latest example is the Philadelphia Inquirer, whose new owner hopes to net $70 million for its Beaux-Arts tower; the Boston Herald and Minneapolis Star Tribune are also...

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