Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.91m | ▼ | 5.02m |
| New Home Sales | 460,000 | ▼ | 520,000 |
| Housing Starts | 817,000 | ▼ | 872,000 |
| Building Permits | 786,000 | ▼ | 857,000 |
| HMI | 14 | ▼ | 17 |
| Existing Home Prices | $203,100 | ▼ (annually) | $224,400 |
| New Home Prices | $221,900 | ▼ (annually) | $236,500 |
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- Bailout For Builders—Are They Next In Line?
- Homeowners: Not Just About Buying—It's Also About Investing
- Bailout Anger Boiling: "Is Kashkari A Chump?"
- That $300 Billion Hope For Homeowners Isn’t Working
- Frank Vs. Paulson: Just Who Has It Right On Mortgage Defaults?
- Citi Jumps On Mortgage Modify Bandwagon: Does It Really Help?
- Fannie Mae's Future Looks Pretty Grim—Downright Scary
- Home Loans: The Case For And Against Modifying Them In Court
- Pops & Drops: Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan & Air Wagoner
- Mad Money Green Week: Owens Corning
- Fast & Furious: It's All About Soup
- Web Extra: The Trade on Walmart and RIMM
- Chartology: Grossly Oversold and Favoring the Upside
- The "Armageddon" Gameplan
- What's Next for Citigroup?
- What to Expect From a Geithner-led Treasury
- Value Trading Opportunity of a Lifetime?
- HP Earnings: How Much Will "Hurt" From Economy?
- Obama Warns On Economy: Works On Stimulus Plan
- Citigroup's Ills May Signal Market Isn't Near Bottom
- US Inflation Bonds Hit by Deflation, May Recover
- Pros Say: Market Will Drop 5-10% — Ford Will Boom
- Bonds Drop on Profit-Taking, Geithner Move
- Jack Welch on Detroit: Let Them Go Bankrupt
- Bank Shareholders Face 'the Unthinkable': El-Erian
- Heinz Profit Rises, Thanks to Hedging

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CNBC.com |
Checking the D.R. Horton Web site will do you no good, because neither name is listed under its San Diego communities. However, if you Google “DR Horton” and “La Boheme”, you get the following page so you know that the community has been surgically removed from the company’s history.
I was calling DR Horton to find out if the company had sold the properties off to some other entity, which is auctioning the properties (mostly condos), or if Horton hired this auction company to unload the properties for Horton itself. But alas, no return call.
We’ve been doing quite a bit of reporting on foreclosure auctions as well as big “fire sale” type deals from the big builders, like Hovnanian [HOV
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] , but this is the first home builder auction I’ve seen yet, and I’m curious why they’re taking this course, rather than trying to sell the properties at a discount. For some reason, just the word auction, which when it comes to properties usually implies a foreclosure, makes me think the sale is due to dire circumstances. I have nothing on which to base this assumption other than my knowledge of the marketplace.
San Diego is currently one of the worst real estate markets in the country. S&P/Case Shiller’s price index out this week shows home prices in San Diego are down 7.8% from a year ago, and sales are, in a word, horrid. So I’m not surprised that a builder with a significant set of properties in San Diego would have to turn to an auction.
Interestingly, I can’t find the words D.R. Horton anywhere on the auction Web site that details the properties, with prices and pictures and all. We’re going to send a camera this weekend to see who’s buying. I’ll get back to you all when I know more.
Questions? Comments?



