The foreclosure crisis is causing hardship, not just for homeowners but for an unknown number of renters. The Houston Chronicle today tells the story of a contractor who rebuilds Louisiana homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina, now facing eviction because the house he rents in Houston was foreclosed on.

Sapna Aiyer, a Houston legal aid attorney, told the Chronicle that new owners in Texas aren't required to continue leases that previous owners signed. Even tenants who are up-to-date on payments can be given just 30-days written notice to vacate.

The New York City real estate market -- though real estate tax revenues fell during the first nine months of the budget year.

Real property transfer taxes fell 12.7% and mortgage recording tax collections dropped 20.1%, Reuters reported. The New York City, which has already lost jobs on Wall Street in the wake of the subprime crisis, could lose another 36,000 jobs, the city's labor department reported last week.

One out of every 194 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in the first three months of 2008, according to the latest figures released Tuesday by RealtyTrac.

Eli Broad, the co-founder of KB Home, told Bloomberg TV yesterday that home prices could fall another 20%. Here's a link to the story. That is an absolutely enormous amount when you consider that prices have already fallen a bunch. Today the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for February was released. It showed that the 20-city index fell 12.7% from a year earlier and is down 14.8% from its all-time high in July 2006.

I'm guessing that the execs at KB Home aren't real happy with Eli Broad, because who's going to buy a house now if they think that Broad is right about where prices are heading? I don't know how many shares of KB Home that Broad himself still owns, but it can't be too many because he doesn't appear on the list of holders of 5% or more of KB Home shares in the latest SEC filing.

^^^^^^^

Trivia: KB Home was founded in 1957 in Detroit as Kaufman & Broad Building Company

Just as every mother believes her son is a handsome devil, we homeowners tend to see the best in our houses - or at least we become comfortably familiar with the way they look.

The damaged housing and home construction markets will continue to take a beating at least through the end of the year, according to economists who spoke Thursday at a forecast conference sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders.

It depends on where you live. In Nevada, the odds of losing a home to foreclosure could soon be about the same as getting the flu if predictions in a new Pew Charitable Trusts report come true.

One in 11 Nevadans will be in foreclosure within the next two years as a result of subprime loans made in 2005 and 2006, Pew Charitable Trusts predicts in San Diego Union Tribune.)

Nationally, the group predicts that one in 33 current homeowners will be in foreclosure within two years. Go to page 10 of the report to see what the foreclosure odds are in your state.

The red hot Canadian housing market has shown tremendous resilience even as home prices on its southern border tumble. But a new Canadian Real Estate Association report indicates that the market is losing steam.

The price of an average Canadian home climbed 5.5% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to a year earlier -- the smallest annual jump since the fourth quarter of 2001. And first-quarter sales dropped 13% from a year ago.

The U.S. median existing home price, by contrast, fell 8.2% in February from a year earlier to $195,900.

"Canada’s six-year housing market boom is officially over," Doug Porter of BMO Capital Markets told CBC.

A financing package totaling $109 million has been put in place for Linden Plaza, a 1,527-unit affordable housing complex in Brooklyn. Red Stone Partners orchestrated the deal on behalf of The DeMatteis Organization, which plans to use the funds to rehabilitate and preserve the 36-year-old property.

Gas prices hit a new high today of $3.40 a gallon. In some markets they are already over $4. It seems the pain at the pump is even spilling over into the housing market, as home prices have fallen more dramatically in the so-called ex-urbs where residents face long drives to work.

Take Murrieta, Calif., incorporated in 1991. The population of Murrieta more the doubled to 100,000 over the past eight years, as residents traded hour-long commutes to San Diego or Orange County, Calif. for newly built mini-mansions at lower prices. In the past year though home prices in Murrieta fell 31% to a median $329,000.

Some 5,000 Murrieta homes are in foreclosure, figures Mayor Richard Gibbs. The city council recently passed ordinances requiring banks that foreclose on property to register the houses with the city and hire property managers to maintain them. Failure to do so can result in fines of as much as $1,000 a day.

While cutting back on other spending, the city recently hired an economic development officer to stir up local jobs. “We’re trying to take moms and dads off the freeways,” as Mayor Gibbs says. “When they moved here gas was less expensive.”