California Home Prices: SoCal Down 27 Percent Year over Year.
The California housing market continues to face severe pressure from distressed properties. Currently the amount of inventory on the market is near 1 year and prices for the region have fallen a stunning 27 percent on a year over year basis. Each of the major counties are now down $100,000+ from their bubble peaks. About one-third of all sales are distressed properties which only adds pressure to the future trend of the market.
Lehman Posts First Loss Ever: Almost $3 Billion in 2nd Quarter
If you needed any more evidence that the loss party on Wall Street isn’t anywhere near an end, just look at the whopping $2.8 billion loss posted by Lehman. This is the first loss ever posted by the Wall Street investment giant:
Credit Crisis: $390 Billion in Writedowns so Far. The Epic Housing Bubble Explained.
The Washington Post has an excellent three part series that will be highlighting the epic in progress housing bubble. For those of you who are still uncertain how this entire jigsaw puzzle comes together, this resource will prove to be invaluable. You have to wonder how the entire economy has become so dependent on structured finance and archaic instruments that make no sense, even to some of those in the investment firms. Many estimates are predicting that we’ll be seeing about $1 trillion in writedowns so anyone predicting a bottom is completely calling the game way too early: