California

Housing Bubble 2.0 Veers Elegantly

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Housing Bubble 2.0 Veers Elegantly

They’re not even trying to blame the weather this time. “Housing affordability is really taking a bite out of the market,” is how Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors explained the March home sales fiasco. “We haven’t seen this issue since 2007.” In Southern California, the median price soared to a…

Hot Air Hisses Out Of Housing Bubble 2.0: Even Two Middle-Class Incomes Aren’t Enough Anymore To Buy A Median Home

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Hot Air Hisses Out Of Housing Bubble 2.0: Even Two Middle-Class Incomes Aren’t Enough Anymore To Buy A Median Home

Giant PE firms and REITs have become the largest landlords in the country over the last two years because “there was a moment in time where it made sense,” but now home prices are too high, the business model has collapsed, and buyers evaporate.

Boss, We Got a Situation in Natural Gas

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Boss, We Got a Situation in Natural Gas

This winter, polar vortices sent the price of natural gas into dizzying spikes and plunges, head fakes, and whiplash-inducing turnarounds. But now winter is petering out, and we’re left with a peculiar situation.

Bay Area Home Sales Plunge To 2008 Levels, Prices Soar

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Bay Area Home Sales Plunge To 2008 Levels, Prices Soar

It starts here: evictions in San Francisco hit the highest level since 2001, when the dotcom bubble was disintegrating. Everything these days gets benchmarked against the last bubbles: the dotcom bubble that blew up in 2000, the housing bubble that blew up in 2007.

Coffee – The Craziest Chart Of The Year Already

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Coffee – The Craziest Chart Of The Year Already

I’m a coffee lover, and this is getting personal: our latte, espresso, or just plain good coffee is going to bite fiercely into our already mauled pocket book. In one crazy chart.

They Actually Don’t Have A Clue About Employment And Jobs, Not In California

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on They Actually Don’t Have A Clue About Employment And Jobs, Not In California

California is at it again. It released its employment and jobs reports today, in parallel with the national reports released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What a doozie. Is the California boom already over?

California Housing Bubble: Now Even Teachers Can No Longer Afford To Buy A Home

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on California Housing Bubble: Now Even Teachers Can No Longer Afford To Buy A Home

Teachers are a symbol of the middle class. In California, they earn on average $69,300 annually, fifth highest in the country. Not exactly a pittance. But it is a ludicrous pittance if they’re trying to buy a home.

“Foreclosure Rebound Pattern”: Foreclosures SUDDENLY Jump 57% in California (And Soar In Much Of The Country)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on “Foreclosure Rebound Pattern”: Foreclosures SUDDENLY Jump 57% in California (And Soar In Much Of The Country)

The cynic in me says the dizzying jump in foreclosure starts in January in much of the country, after years of sharp and consistent declines, must be some kind of data problem. Maybe RealtyTrac’s computers got hacked, or something. But that’s wishful thinking.

California MUST Have Magnificent, Endless Bubbles in Housing, Stocks, And IPOs – Or Go Broke Again

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on California MUST Have Magnificent, Endless Bubbles in Housing, Stocks, And IPOs – Or Go Broke Again

My beloved state of California, whose $2 trillion economy is the eight largest in the world ahead of Italy and Russia, has a new problem: it’s awash in cash. It’s projecting multi-billion dollar surpluses for years to come. The feeding frenzy in Sacramento is a sight to behold.

Cracks In The Tech Bubble (That Doesn’t Exist)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Cracks In The Tech Bubble (That Doesn’t Exist)

It’s “a technology everyone is going to have,” said a Bay Area real estate broker as he explained why realtors use drones to shoot aerial videos of high-end properties. And it’s illegal. But no one is going to be able to stop it, he implied.