Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, “accelerated 13-month-long decline in home prices in 20 major cities in the United States in August, with prices dropping a record 0.7% in the month, according to Case-Shiller price index. Prices fell 4.4% on year ago, the fastest decline in the history of seven years from the 20-city index. In a 10-city index of the original, the price has fallen 5% in the past year, the biggest decline since 1991. ”
“‘The decline in house prices does not show clear signs of slowdown or turnaround,” said economist Robert Shiller. ”
“Prices could fall further. In a separate report, analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted that prices in California about 35% to 40% overvalued, compared with past relationships between home prices and income growth. The average selling price of a house in California was $ 589,000 in August, Goldman said, but should be around $ 375,000, they said. ”
“On the Case-Shiller index, fifteen of the 20 cities tracked in the index have seen prices fall in the past year, led by Tampa, Florida, with a 10.1% decline, followed by Detroit with a loss of 9.3%. In fact, eight of 20 cities recorded their largest ever decline in prices year-to-year in August. ”
From Bloomberg. “The size of the price of the Realtors group can be influenced by changes in the types of homes for sale. Because the S & P/Case- Shiller index tracks the same house from time to time, economists say it more accurately reflect price trends.”
The New York Times. “UBS on Tuesday reported a net loss of 830 Swiss francs ($ 713,000,000) in the third quarter, the company’s first quarterly loss in almost five years, such as problems in the United States subprime mortgage market led to huge writedowns and losses in the investment banking unit.”
“UBS Swiss bank based in Europe’s biggest by assets, is just one of many large financial institutions to suffer the impact of the recent credit crisis, which sent the value of many mortgage-related securities sharply lower. Marcel Rohner, who took over as UBS CEO earlier this year, called no doubt disappointing results