Setting a high mark for the next housing bubble

Still catching up on developments over the last few days when we were off in the high-country, one of the more shocking reports was the rise in foreclosure activity in California through the second quarter of the year. Not that rising foreclosures are any surprise, but already exceeding last year's total by a hefty margin after just six months (with no apparent slowdown in sight) makes you wonder just how big the total will eventually be for 2008 and what this chart might look like next year.

When some of us were yelling "housing bubble" back in 2004 and 2005, many pollyannas would point to 1996 and say, "Pipe down - we're not even close to the levels of mortgage delinquency seen back then and that doesn't factor in the population growth".

Obviously, that was false comfort and, by year-end, we will probably have set the new mark for housing bulls to point to in about 2025.