Far North going south

CHICAGO -- As the U.S. housing market limped along in late 2007, Canadians were buying like crazy. Aided by healthy employment levels and a currency that rose to unprecedented strength against the U.S. dollar, home sales in that nation’s major markets finished the year 2.7% ahead of 2006, while the U.S. hibernated.

But as the Canadian dollar has lost steam, so has its housing; sales in February dipped 6.4% in major metro areas. Prices, however, were still up by 5.3%. In Toronto, which accounts for about one-quarter of the major-market transactions, sales were off 11.3%.

A farmer near Surrey, England, gives new meaning to the adage, “A man’s home is his castle.”

No castle here

The farmer secretly worked for two years to build a Tudor-style castle on his land, keeping it out of view with a strategically placed 40-foot stack of hay bales. He finished the castle and his family moved in, living there for four years before he took away the bales, revealing the home’s castle-like features.

Local officials are not amused, saying that the castle will have to be demolished because it violates zoning laws and lacks permits. But the farmer says the statute of limitations is in his favor -- the building was there for four years without objections, so it’s too late for the government to act.

Florida night shift

Real-estate-ravaged Florida has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

This month, the civil court system in St. Lucie County announced it would set up a night shift to handle the avalanche of filings, according to media reports there.

The court clerks in Ft. Pierce now will be on hand until 9 p.m. four nights a week.