Suburbs Are in Demand, Mortgages are Healthier And Tiny Houses Have Competition

Last week we got a glimpse at how Hollywood lives while world financial VIPs made chit chat about the economy and China got worse. Coming up: The GOP’s slow-motion implosion going into Super Tuesday, a fresh look at the jobs market on Friday, rivers of trash and the next big thing in tiny houses.
The ‘burbs are back. Or, more accurately, maybe they never went away. Only 8 percent of homebuyers want a house in the city. Two-thirds want to live in the suburbs, according to the latest survey from the National Association of Homebuilders.

Failed loans. Bank losses from bad loans rose last year for the first time since 2009 but oil, not mortgages, were to blame. More homeowners paid on time and fewer defaulted, according to banking regulators. Lending is up more than 6 percent, which bodes well for the U.S. economy. Not all debt is bad.
Wow. ISIS is bulldozing Syria. Look at this interactive map.
Economic roundup. Parts of the U.S. are doing pretty well. Others aren’t. Take a look at the new Distressed Communities Index from the Economic Innovation Group and the latest State of the States report from the Center for American Progress. As for the housing market, it’s chugging along.
If you click just one thing. Look at this picture of a toxic river flowing through a big city.
Fun with zoning. In Cities: Skylines, the latest urban planning game, there’s one big thing missing: Politics.
House calls. Doctors in Texas and Florida spend more on their homes than those in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Huh? Research led by Eric Helland of Claremont McKenna College found that physicians pay 13 percent more for their homes when they live in a state that lets them keep the house even if they go bankrupt. The paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, concludes that physicians and dentists in those homestead states might be using their houses to protect assets from malpractice claims.
Cash sales. Still falling, but more slowly, says CoreLogic.
House hunters. Last year, it took the typical buyer about 10 weeks to find the right home. That’s longer than it used to take, but buyers are looking at about the same number of houses, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Tiny houses are so over. Wee huts are the new thing.  
What you missed last week on Redfin Research:
Miami suddenly has a glut of luxury condos.
Mortgage rates are falling.
There aren’t enough homes for sale.