Katie Couric's Notebook: Housing
Katie's on assignment today.
It's a dramatic example of a housing market that went from boom to bust - literally.
Bulldozers tore through a small housing development this week in San Bernardino County, Calif., demolishing 16 homes. These were not dilapidated houses that had become an eyesore. They were brand new. Four were ready for buyers , and had all the extras, like granite counter tops and a Jacuzzi. Others were in various stages of construction.
But home prices in the area have sunk 43 percent. The builder abandoned the project and the bank foreclosed, deciding it would be cheaper to tear them down than to complete and sell them.
This, ironically, comes as homelessness is on the rise - up 50 percent in many cities. A hundred miles away in Los Angeles, twice the number of families used winter shelters this year as last.
To the bank, this was about dollars, but some feel, it doesn't make much sense.
