US Housing Bubble

A few of us at the office like talking about the market, and the hot topic lately here is the housing bubble in the US. Like the Internet bubble and many other bubbles before that, we have a situation of artificially high prices and expectations that's feeding on itself to get worse and worse.

• Housing demand and prices are rising
• Loans are getting larger and easier to get
• The US government runs on the theory that rising house prices are the basis of a robust economy
• And, as with all bubbles, nobody wants to get left out

"I have done appraisals for loan officers, and when the number didn't come in with what they wanted, I got fired and they found someone who would do it," he continued. "Very often, I was asked to do an appraisal and then got called back two or three weeks later. They would tell me I needed to raise the value $30,000 or $40,000. Then the loan would be bigger, but they could care less if the borrower had little chance of paying it back."

• The Big Fix Called The Housing Bubble
• Bursting the housing bubble
• Wall Street's Fate Caught Up With Housing
• Fannies Maes' Problems Weigh On Shareholders
• Pulte's Practices In Las Vegas Revisited
• Wikipedia: Real estate bubble, US property bubble