The housing collapse heard round the world

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Real estate agent Andrea Gaus knew the market was out of whack when the price of a typical four-bedroom house near good schools in the leafy Maryland suburbs of Washington shot past the $1-million (U.S.) mark. “It got to the point where appreciation was so high that it priced people out of the market,” Ms. Gaus said. But the peak has passed, and the consequences of the deflating bubble are buffeting the housing market, in Washington and across the United States. What sold in a weekend here last year is taking months to unload. And increasingly nervous home sellers are slashing prices to get rid of properties before their value sinks even further. One buyer recently threatened to walk away from a signed contract on a $1.6-million house unless the seller took $100,000 off the price to reflect the drop in value since the deal was struck. The seller quickly buckled, fearing the house might be worth even less if put back on the market today. Click here to read the rest of the article.