Hamptons Grim, But Not Dead

(USER SUBMITTED) - And you thought she was just a pretty face. Ex-supermodel Christie Brinkley is offering for sale one of her several Hamptons homes—for the low, low price of $15.75 million. Located in North Haven, NY, near Sag Harbor, it was built in 1843 and features 5500 square feet, 4.5 acres, and 327 feet of waterfront. Brinkley had another of her Hampton homes on the market a few years back for $30 million, complaining to a Wall Street Journal reporter that, “Nobody came to see it, not one potential buyer.” More»

Number jumps to 23.1% at end of 2010, more likely on way

(NEWSER) - Just when it looked like the housing market might be treading water, more American homes slipped underwater at the end of 2010, reports the AP. Now 23.1% of all mortgages, or 11.1 million, outweigh the value of the house they secure—up from 22.5% in the previous quarter. The number of underwater mortgages had fallen in each of the previous three quarters, though the AP cheerily notes that was because many had gone into foreclosure. More»

July numbers up .6% from June, but demand weakening

(AP) - Home prices rose in July for the fourth straight month, but many cities are bracing for declines in the year ahead. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 0.6% in July from June and 3.2% from a year ago. Twelve cities showed monthly price gains. However, seven cities showed month-over-month declines and the gains in many cities were weaker from the previous month as the boost from government tax credits for homebuyers fades. More»

Tyler Perry paid $7.6M for place he's going to tear down

(NEWSER) - Celebs plunk down millions on mansions every day, but Tyler Perry's new acquisition is somewhat more storied. The scribe bought Atlanta's Dean Gardens, which cost $25 million to build, features 58 acres, a golf course, wedding chapel, and what the New York Times calls an almost universally mocked "collision of self-indulgence, bad taste and a waste of money." Which might explain why it took 17 years to sell. Perry, who paid $7.6 million, plans to rip the whole thing down anyway. More»

Stuyvesant Town project collapses under debt

(NEWSER) - The record-setting sale of a New York residential property for $5.4 billion in 2006 was a deal made at the height of the boom—and it's now a casualty of the collapsed real estate market. Tishman Speyer, the property company that bought the 56-building, 11,000-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complexes in Manhattan four years ago, is handing the debt-laden property over to creditors, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»