Weekly News Round-Up

The New York Times published an article on Home Prices Across the Nation, based on the recent Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index. You can see year-over-year growth in certain cities, with a 20-year-history for those markets being compared. The markets covered are Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Charlotte, Washington DC, Boston, New York City. Makes for interesting reading and comparison.

It saddened me to see the headline on Clusterstock this week: “Desperate Americans Selling Nest Eggs, Life Insurance To Raise Cash.” Poor economic times force us regular folk into doing things we never imagined. We could all use a little belt tightening, I am sure, but having to dip into a retirement nest egg early is hitting more Americans each year. And it’s not just the housing crunch that is hurting them; gas and food prices are going up, and by extension, so are most consumer goods, which require gas to move from place to place. Greedy oil companies, making record profits, don’t seem to care. In fact, I heard Senator Feinstein remark that they had lost their “moral compass” and I would have to agree.

And while it might be a bit heady for some, there is an interesting interview with a hedge fund manager over at SmartMoney.com that provides some insight into “Where the Financial Crisis Is Headed Next.” Always good to look ahead, whether the news is good or bad.

And bad is where Marketwatch thinks we are headed. Paul B. Farrell penned an article that looks ahead 3 years, and gives us “20 Reasons New Megabubble Pops in 2011.” Given that there are 360 comments on this story, which just came out less than 48 hours ago, means it is one to read thoroughly, including those comments, many of which are very insightful.

Dataquick posted California Home Sale Price Medians by County and City, based on home sales recorded in April. San Diego County shows 2,584 homes sold, with an average price of $400,000. Last year at this time, the average price was $495,000, meaning a 19.19% price drop. Cities hit the worse were Boulevard (-73.6%), National City (-45.65%), Bonsall (-40.29%), Campo (-40.22%), while several cities actually had an increase in average price: Cardiff by the Sea, Carlsbad, Coronado, and Solano Beach. For a complete breakdown of all California counties, or if you are interested in the stats for specific cities, you can go directly to the DQNews site.
And on a closing note, L.A. Land, the LA Times real estate blog, did a post on Escondido: Buy One, Get One Free, about the efforts of a San Diego builder trying a new tactic to lure sellers in. Buy one home in the new gated Royal View development and get one home in the Cityscape development for free. A bargain? Or no?