A report from the Dallas Morning News. “‘There’s no doubt about it, the market is slowing down from a very high peak,’ said Texas A&M economist Jim Gaines. Homebuilders also saw a dramatic decline in sales that led them to slow construction of new homes and opt out of buying more land. In the third quarter, D-FW saw the largest year-over-year decline in home starts in almost a decade, according to Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. The region’s median sale price has dropped almost

A report from the Dallas Morning News. “‘There’s no doubt about it, the market is slowing down from a very high peak,’ said Texas A&M economist Jim Gaines. Homebuilders also saw a dramatic decline in sales that led them to slow construction of new homes and opt out of buying more land. In the third quarter, D-FW saw the largest year-over-year decline in home starts in almost a decade, according to Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. The region’s median sale price has dropped almost 9% since its peak of $435,000 in June.”

The Sun Sentinel in Florida. “Homebuilders using sale incentives such as price discounts or free upgrades has been a standard business model for many builders, but it has been on the rise since July, when 43% of homebuilders reported offering some type of incentives, noted the National Association of Home Builders. It increased to 59% in November, and then reached 62% in December. K. Hovnanian, another homebuilder in Florida, has special financing offers due to the changing market. The company didn’t have to be too aggressive with incentives on new contracts during the last quarter of the year due to a strong fiscal year as they delivered on homes that were contracted when housing demand was high.”

“‘Now that the fourth quarter is behind us and because of the progress we have made on constructing additional quick, move-in homes, we are now becoming more aggressive in our attempts to find the market price that will spur demand in each of our markets,’ stated Ara K. Hovnanian, chairman of the board. In terms of price reductions, about 35% of builders reported reducing prices, a slight downturn from the 36% who reported doing so in November. On average, they reduced prices by about 8%, a slight uptick of 5% and 6% earlier this year. The price reductions aren’t at the level seen during the housing bust of 2008, when they peaked at about 10% in February of 2008.”

From WTOP News. “In the D.C. region, sales have already slowed significantly. ‘Home sales in November were down 42% compared to November 2021. That is remarkable in and of itself, but in November we hit a decade low in terms of home sales for a November,’ said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Mid-Atlantic listing service Bright MLS. Bright MLS’s 2023 forecast says potential buyers will face less competition and gain some contract negotiating leverage, dynamics already observed by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.”

“‘Now we are seeing the return of home inspections and appraisals instead of waiving those contingencies, only one or two competing offers on a home, rather than 12 offers, and homes selling for closer to their list price, instead of tens of thousands over list,’ said Northern Virginia Association of Realtors Director Casey Menish.”

The Union Tribune in California. “San Diego faces a serious conundrum as to housing. Local governments’ efforts to induce more construction and to preserve naturally affordable housing so far have made only a marginal difference. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that this region is bound to remain an expensive place to live, that the economy must adapt to this reality, and that continued growth will have to be up rather than out. San Diego will continue to grow and thrive well into the future, but we are being forced to adjust our vision of who will be able to participate in that future.”

The Los Angeles Daily News. “The U.S. housing market continued to sag for the fourth-straight month in October – with California metro areas having three of the nation’s biggest drops. The widely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller price index for 20 key metro areas fell 0.8% from September, the fourth consecutive monthly decline. San Francisco: Off 13% vs. the pricing peak. Seattle: Off 12.2% vs. peak. San Diego: Off 8.5% vs. peak. Denver: Off 6.7% vs. peak. Los Angeles-Orange County: Off 6.6% vs. peak. Phoenix: Off 5.9% vs. peak. Dallas: Off 5.6% vs. peak. Las Vegas: Off 5.4% vs. peak. Portland: Off 5.2% vs. peak. Boston: Off 4.0% vs. peak.”

Westword in Colorado. “Auraria Student Lofts, an apartment building aimed primarily at college students on the Auraria campus — and maligned by tenants and subject to numerous Orders to Comply from the Denver Fire Department — submitted a plan to get out of bankruptcy on December 14 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 9, less than an hour before the property was set to be auctioned off in a foreclosure sale. To get out of bankruptcy, Nelson Partners proposes completing about a half-million dollars of renovations and then selling the property at auction. It estimates that, once the renovations are complete, the property could be worth $65 million, enough to pay off the loan and earn some cash for Nelson Partners.”

“In this case, it appears that the new loan won’t interrupt the lien on the property from the first loan. That’s not out of goodwill toward DB Auraria, however. Despite students saying the building was predatory toward them, Nelson Partners claims it was the one that was the prey in the December 14 filings. ‘They’re saying it was what’s sometimes referred to as a ‘loan to own,’ says Adam Stein-Sapir of Pioneer Funding Group, a bankruptcy claim buyer based in New York. ‘You make a loan, but your intention, your expectation, is not that they’re just gonna pay you principal and interest over years and you’re gonna get all your money back one day. The intention of the loan was really to end up owning the property.'”

From Bloomberg. “Multiple stress points are emerging in credit markets after years of excess, from banks stuck with piles of buyout debt, a pension blow-up in the UK and real-estate troubles in China and South Korea. With cheap money becoming a thing of the past, those may just be the start. Distressed debt in the US alone jumped more than 300% in 12 months, high-yield issuance is much more challenging in Europe and leverage ratios have reached a record by some measures. Loan-loss provisions at systematically important banks surged 75% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, a clear indication that they are bracing for payment issues and defaults.”

“The erosion of covenant protections also means the CLO holders and other investors in leveraged loans, such as mutual funds, are more vulnerable to losses than in the past. Recovery values as a result could be lower than average when defaults do occur, Oaktree said. Daniel Miller, Chief Credit Officer at Capra Ibex Advisors, is also worried about covenants, particularly those that circumvent the priority of creditors. ‘They are potential ticking time bombs sitting in the documentation,’ he said.”

The Montreal Gazette. “In a bid to bring inflation under control, the Bank of Canada raised its policy interest rate seven straight times starting in March, immediately boosting monthly payments for variable-rate mortgage holders. As inflation soared and borrowing costs shot up, Canada’s housing market began losing steam. Some, like Mouvement Desjardins chief economist Jimmy Jean, called it ‘the bursting of the Canadian real estate bubble.’ A single-family home in Greater Montreal sold for a median price of $520,000 in November, about 1 per cent less than in December 2021, industry data show.”

“For Quebecers with limited income, such as retirees, welfare recipients and the unemployed, the effect has been devastating.Quebec’s food banks now handle more than 2.2 million requests every month, a 20-per-cent increase year-over-year, according to data compiled this fall by the Banques alimentaires du Québec network. More worryingly, a growing number of food bank users have a job, says Martin Munger, Banques alimentaires du Québec’s general manager. ‘I’m shocked to see how many people with employment income don’t have enough money to feed their families,’ Munger said in an interview. ‘Something is very wrong with the system.'”

The South China Morning Post. “Hong Kong’s home prices dropped by the most in 14 years in November and look likely to fall again this month in what would be the longest series of monthly declines since the 2003 Sars epidemic. Barring a miraculous recovery in December, a 13-year annual rally in the city’s house prices is over. ‘The next home price index for December will see a decline of about 2.5 per cent,’ said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties. ‘Annually, the home price is expected to fall by 16 per cent, ending the 13 consecutive years of the rally from 2009 to 2021.'”

“In the first 11 months of this year, home prices have fallen by 13.8 per cent. From a peak of 398.1 in September last year, the home price index is down by 14.75 per cent. In November, ‘the housing market was at its worst moment,’ said Louis Chan, chief executive of the residential division at Centaline. The city’s property agencies are slashing headcount amid the slump in sales.”

“‘Real estate agents are facing unprecedented challenges,’ said Freddie Wong, chairman of Midland Holdings. The most intense ‘war of elimination’ in the history of the industry has broken out, and the unemployment rate among agents has soared, he added. ‘With the plunge in Hong Kong’s property turnover, there was an unprecedented heavy loss,’ said Wong.”

From Business Insider. “As Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire collapsed, a 48-year-old software developer lost access to roughly $120,000 of funds on FTX US in early November. Nauman, who asked to be identified by first name only, is a California-based father of three, and planned to use that money for his childrens’ college education. He had roughly five bitcoin on his account, as well as a smaller position in Avalanche, adding up to about $120,000 based on November prices. Insider reviewed receipts of his FTX investments, which represented about 25% of his family’s nest egg. ‘If funds just evaporate one day, it’s crookery,’ Nauman said in an interview. ‘Then you realize you’re part of a Ponzi scheme. That’s what makes me really upset. A good chunk of my savings are gone because someone tried to defraud me.'”

From Mises.org. “The 21st century, only 23 years old, has already had two giant, international housing bubbles. It makes one doubt that we are getting any smarter with experience. Among the countries involved in the second bubble, both the U.S. and Canada fully participated in the newest rampant inflation of house prices. Prices this time reached levels far above those of the last boom peak. For a number of years, one could ask: When would that ever happen? Now we know: in 2022. Now, in late 2022, with mortgage interest rates higher, housing bubbles are deflating, and house prices are dropping on a nationwide basis in both the U.S. and Canada. Here we go again into another house price fizzle following another house price boom.”

“We can take as a key ironic lesson that when large numbers of people believe house prices cannot fall, especially when they are emboldened by central bank behavior, it makes it more probable, and finally makes it certain, that the prices will ultimately fall. Ten years, it seems, is long enough to dim the memories that prices can move dramatically in both directions, even on a nationwide basis. A bubble market when extended for years makes a great many people happy, since they are making money and seem to be growing richer, and the higher their leverage, the faster they seem to be growing richer. As the great financial observer Walter Bagehot wrote 150 years ago, ‘the times of too high price’ mean ‘almost everything will be believed for a little while.'”

“Recall that a price has no substantive reality: it is an intersection of human expectations, actions, hopes and fears. I like to ask audiences, ‘How much can the price of an asset change?’ My proposed answer: ‘More than you think.’ Of course, nobody, including the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada, knows just where house prices will go, but we can all guess. Noted economist Gary Shilling wrote in November, ‘Price declines are just starting,’ and ‘recent weakness probably has far to go.’ This seems to me likely. In any case, the second great housing bubble of this still young century is over and a new phase has begun.”

A report from the Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “For the two decades Erika Patino’s parents owned their modest two-family in Hyde Park, the house was a rock for them, their ticket to economic stability. As federal and state rental assistance programs dried up last year, the Patinos stopped receiving payments from their tenants, who were themselves struggling to make ends meet. Soon, they fell behind on their mortgage. Left with no other options, they sold the house in September. ‘My parents didn’t

A report from the Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “For the two decades Erika Patino’s parents owned their modest two-family in Hyde Park, the house was a rock for them, their ticket to economic stability. As federal and state rental assistance programs dried up last year, the Patinos stopped receiving payments from their tenants, who were themselves struggling to make ends meet. Soon, they fell behind on their mortgage. Left with no other options, they sold the house in September. ‘My parents didn’t really have a choice,’ said Erika, who is 37. ‘They couldn’t pay the mortgage without the rent money after they retired, and they had no one to turn to for financial help.'”

“‘There are landlords in this state — particularly our mom-and-pop folks — that are finding themselves in a situation where their property is no longer paying for itself, or they are actually losing money,’ said Doug Quattrochi, executive director of the trade association MassLandlords. Beatriz Yañez Placencia, with her husband owns a three-decker in East Boston. Her tenants — both families she is close with — lost their jobs during the pandemic, and the rising cost of everyday goods means they are paying less and less of the agreed-upon rent. That in turn is hammering Placencia; she and her husband, who are both temporarily out of work due to medical issues, had to take a loan from a friend to keep up with the mortgage payments. ‘We are really struggling,’ she said in Spanish through a translator. ‘I don’t know what we will do.'”

From Candy’s Dirt. “We started the year with a market so hot we could barely write up listings — they’d sell by the second graf. Then the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and the market slowed in a fell swoop to get a grip on inflation. Texas did have more houses on the market in July than any time since late 2020 as home sales declined in the state’s major metros — especially Austin, ouch! Since the fall, sellers have had to make repairs and trim prices to entice buyers. The median sales price of a single-family North Texas home fell almost 9 percent from a record $435,000 in May and June to $396,500 in November.”

“We watch the real estate industry 24/7, which made our heads spin during the second half of the year. Lots of layoffs, mostly at the ‘disruptors.’ That includes OfferPad, Opendoor, Redfin, and Compass. The tech-driven, early-to-mid-2000s were the birthplace of the internet broker — brokerages who called themselves tech companies looking to provide consumers with one-stop, hassle-free online shopping for a home and maybe even replace the agent. OfferPad recently laid off more than 7 percent of its workforce, suffered losses of $8 million in Q3, and is posting anemic stock prices.”

“Compass’ stock has fallen 85 percent since going public last year and experienced two rounds of layoffs. The aggressive NYC-based brokerage from founder Robert Reffkin reached a market capitalization of $8 billion on its first day of trading April 1, 2021. Now the company is valued at just $1 billion following disappointing earnings, including a second-quarter report outlining how its losses have risen to $101 million.”

“It’s not just the disruptors: Ryan Gorman was pushed out as CEO of Coldwell Banker, a subsidiary of Anywhere Real Estate, whose stock has fallen nearly 60 percent this year despite turning a $55 million profit in Q3. Gorman made $3.5 million annually, and shareholders are liking that he won’t be replaced. The non-traditional brokerages that focus on revenue and pleasing shareholders rather than old-fashioned profits seem to be ailing.”

8 News Now in Nevada. “Omar Jones has lived in the neighborhood off of Pecos Road and Lake Mead Boulevard for 3 years and said people who are experiencing homelessness started moving into the back lot last year. ‘One time I got a call from my wife, and she was facetiming me and showing me the fire is up above the wall and at this point, you’re talking about a 12-foot fire that they started,’ Jones said. He is not the only one experiencing problems. For now, Jones said he feels stuck and is running out of options even after contacting his HOA and the property owner.”

“‘I don’t even know what to say right now, I just think we need help either from the community or the city of Las Vegas or if our jurisdiction is the city of North Las Vegas, I would like help from them,’ Jones added.”

“Gray Stojanovich became homeless in February 2021 after his home was foreclosed. He and his wife temporarily live in the middle of the lot and plan to move out soon. Stojanovich said many people experiencing homelessness suffer from mental health and substance issues. With nowhere to go, he said most people without housing stay put until they are kicked out. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, I’d be concerned too if I was a neighbor. I was a homeowner before,’ Stojanovich added.”

From WKRN. “As we head into 2023, the Nashville real estate market is in a much different position than it was last year. If you ask Greater Nashville Realtors’ 2022 President Steve Jolly what he thinks of Middle Tennesse’s housing market, he’ll tell you it’s still in solid shape. However, he warns challenges could lie ahead. ‘My biggest concern is inflation and whether the Fed can get that under control. If they can’t, we’re definitely going to see more interest rate rises, and that would be devastating to the market. It would bring home sales down to a screeching halt,’ Jolly said.”

“Jolly said 2022 turned up some major perks for buyers. ‘They don’t have to give up as many of the terms that they were giving up last year. They can have an inspection, they can have an appraisal. They can actually get some closing costs paid or possibly even get an interest rate buydown so it’s more affordable that first and second year,’ Jolly explained.”

The Real Deal on California. “Dreams for hundreds of housing units and other development projects in the Bay Area have given way to nightmares of dilapidated spaces filled with illegal dumping, homeless encampments and drug users. Vacant development sites have proliferated across the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco. Apartments, condos, hotels and office space have all fallen by the wayside, failing to deliver an expected 16 million square feet of housing and office space in Central SoMa alone, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.”

“‘There were all these high hopes and now everything is stuck,’ SoMa resident Brian Wallace told the publication.”

KFMB in California. “San Diego’s homeless crisis is profoundly impacting both people living on the streets and the people living and working near unhoused individuals. For some people living in Downtown San Diego, the situation has gotten so bad – they want to leave the area and are willing to break their leases. Fred Altman is among the many San Diegans who call downtown home. He says he and his family are considering moving out due to issues he says comes with the homelessness crisis. ‘I’ve seen overdoses, I’ve seen stabbings… people dying on the sidewalk,’ said Altman.”

From Nerd Wallet. “John Burns Real Estate Consulting predicts that home prices will fall 20% to 22% from their peak in spring 2022, and Zonda, a real estate consulting firm, forecasts a 15% drop from the peak. These companies don’t expect the entirety of the declines to happen in 2023; prices may fall through 2024. Rick Palacios Jr., director of research for John Burns, noted that the median existing home price rose about 40% from spring 2020 to spring 2022. The way he sees it, a drop of 20% wouldn’t be surprising after such a swift run-up in prices. ‘We squeezed a decade of home price appreciation into two years,’ Palacios said.”

The Star Phoenix in Canada. “Higher interest rates are beginning to soften Saskatoon home sales, which have been strong since the middle of 2020. Interest rates may start to affect homeowners trying to renew mortgages , which could drive up inventory, said Norm Fisher, owner of Royal LePage Vidorra. ‘My concern is there are going to be people faced with having to sell their house when it comes to renewing their mortgage. That is potentially going to bring more inventory back on the market. In fact, a lot of people who are going to renew, they won’t even have the option of being able to shop around. They won’t qualify at the posted rate.'”

“Shawna MacDonald, a Saskatoon mortgage broker, is hearing from clients asking for advice. ‘A lot of my variable (rate) clients are really feeling the pinch,’ she said. ‘I’m fielding calls: does it make sense to lock in? What do we do?’ There are measures in place to help people stay in their homes, she added. For example, some lenders are extending amortizations from 20 to 30 years for clients with equity.”

“For those who are seeking a home in a tight price range, Fisher suggests looking for a home that is not move-in ready. ‘There’s property out there that has been sitting for a little while. You can actually get some dollars off . . . replace flooring and cabinets and get a decent house at a fair price.'”

From Globes. “In November the Central Bureau of Statistics reported a 25% fall in the purchase of new apartments compared with the second quarter, and a 40% fall from the third quarter of 2021. This trend will likely continue, and this has been the aim of the Bank of Israel, which has been raising interest rates in order to fight the cost of living in Israel, including housing prices.”

“The sales departments of real estate developers have been examining how to tempt buyers in the current situation. ‘I think that 2021 was not a relevant indication for today,’ explains Irit Hopper, the owner of InHouse Real Estate Management and Marketing, which is currently marketing new homes in five projects in Ashkelon, Modi’in, Rosh Ha’ayin and elsewhere. Hopper explains that 2021 was an exception in every possible way, and the comparison to this year in her eyes is a mistake. ‘In my opinion, the logical comparison should be to 2019 – before Covid – which was a relatively normal year, but with zero interest. In relation to it, we really see a slowdown, but definitely not stagnation.'”

“Eldar Real Estate and Marketing CEO Ronny Cohen, who is currently marketing 100 projects around Israel agrees and thinks that 2021 was an abnormal year in which 151,000 new and second-hand apartments were sold, while in a regular year the figure would be closer to 110,000. ‘If you look at the numbers for 2021, we see that there was a rise of about 40% in sales, and what we see now is a return to a sane market.'”

“‘We feel the fall and we’re experiencing it in the field in the past few months. Ultimately it is a return to a sane market. Although the reasons are a rise in interest rates and the harm to the purchasing power of the public, and there are other reasons, but it is a return to sanity and normality in the market.'”

“Nir Shmol, CEO of the Urban Renewal Co., which currently markets more than 15 projects nationwide that include about 2,000 housing units, believes that the slowdown in sales is felt more in the Tel Aviv area than in the rest of Israel and the reason for this is the tech crisis.”

“‘The housing market in Tel Aviv was driven by tech people. The tech sector, which was responsible for 40% of Israeli exports, has suffered a big blow in the last six months, and the value of many of the companies has been cut by more than 50%. As a result, tech employees who had options in the company and equity of several million shekels, as soon as the stock fell, these options were worth nothing and their equity disappeared.'”

A report from NPR. “‘People are stuck,’ says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors. Yun and others describe the market as frozen, one in which home sales activity has declined for 10 months straight, according to NAR. It’s the longest streak of declines since the group started tracking sales in the late 1990s. At an open house for a charming starter home in Hollywood one recent weekend, agent Elijah Shin didn’t see many people swing through like he did a year

A report from NPR. “‘People are stuck,’ says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors. Yun and others describe the market as frozen, one in which home sales activity has declined for 10 months straight, according to NAR. It’s the longest streak of declines since the group started tracking sales in the late 1990s. At an open house for a charming starter home in Hollywood one recent weekend, agent Elijah Shin didn’t see many people swing through like he did a year ago. ‘A year ago, this probably would’ve already sold,’ he says. ‘This home will sell, too. It’s just going to take a little bit longer.’ Or a lot longer. The cottage first went on the market back in August. Four months later, it’s still waiting for an offer.”

From Money. “Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR thinks the 30-year mortgage rate will end 2023 at around 5.5%. ‘I think the peak has already occurred and we are on a downward path,’ said Yun, during the Real Estate Forecast Summit.”

From Mansion Global. “If you’ve ever wished to live in a house where no one has cooked a meal or taken a bath before you, 2023 may be your year. Newly built homes grew to represent an increasing share of homes for sale in the U.S. this year up to a record high of 29% of single-family listings during the third quarter of the year, according to Redfin. ‘In the Raleigh [North Carolina] market, we have more newly built homes available now and 37% of new single-family homes have sold for less than the asking price in the past 90 days,’ said Deb Brown, a real estate agent with Century 21 Triangle Group in Raleigh. ‘But some of this may be due to the fact that it’s the end of the year and builders are trying to get inventory off their books.'”

“Whether you’re looking in a market with a large or limited supply of newly built homes, real estate agents say you can negotiate with the builder. ‘Be brave and ask for a price reduction—all they can do is say no,’ said Tracy Kasper, owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Silverhawk Realty in Boise. ‘But typically, it’s better to negotiate on financial incentives, upgrades or a landscape package.'”

From Marketplace. “We’re in a very different housing market, said Igor Popov, chief economist at the online rental marketplace Apartment List. ‘It’s like the housing market stepped out of a sauna in 2021 into a cold, air-conditioned room in 2022,’ he said. ‘It felt good at first, but now it’s really cold.'”

From Bankrate. “‘The housing recession is here,’ says Marty Green, principal at mortgage law firm Polunsky Beitel Green. ‘The big question now is how quickly it spreads to the rest of the economy.’ Adjustable rate mortgages are growing more tempting, but Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst says borrowers should steer clear. ‘Don’t fall into the trap of using an adjustable-rate mortgage as a crutch of affordability,’ says McBride. ‘There is little in the way of up-front savings, an average of just one-half percentage point for the first five years, but the risk of higher rates in future years looms large. New adjustable mortgage products are structured to change every six months rather than every 12 months, which had previously been the norm.'”

From Lew Sichelman. “Buyer’s remorse is likely to take on a more sinister turn in the coming months, as people who purchased their houses at the top of the market take out their frustrations on their real estate agents. Historical precedent suggests that as housing values stagnate and then fall, the ‘last batch’ of buyers often become resentful – so much so that they may lash out at their agents or other professionals involved in the process, according to Victor Insurance Managers. The firm, a major vendor of errors-and-omissions policies to agents and brokers, said that realty companies should expect to see a jump in the number of lawsuits filed against their agents in the coming months. When tempers rise, matters ordinarily considered minor inconveniences could become major issues to be litigated.”

“As the firm points out, agents who are sued in these market conditions face no greater liability of being found at fault than they would any other time. But that doesn’t lessen the ordeal of defending themselves in a court of law. Some builders are even offering cash bonuses or higher commissions to agents who bring buyers to their doors. Now, price cuts are imminent – or already taking place, said Ben Caballero of HomesUSA. The Dallas-based brokerage lists new homes for sale for more than 60 builders in the four major Texas markets. ‘Builders offer the incentives and bonuses before lowering prices,’ Caballero told me. ‘They are now lowering prices.'”

From Community Impact in Texas. “As the housing market in Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto continues to normalize, the area is seeing lower prices and higher inventory levels, according to the Austin Board of Realtors’ November market report. The report shows the median price of a home sold across all three cities in November was $431,000—the lowest median price so far in 2022. That price is down 5.87% from $457,876 the previous month and up just 0.81% from $427,550 in November 2021. Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto combined had 1,169 active home listings in November, up more than threefold over 372 listings last November.”

From Alabama.com. “‘The market here is not going to collapse,’ said Tim Knox of Revolved Realty. ‘That’s not what we have going here, Everybody’s in agreement. Next year is probably going to start off a little slow.’ ‘The market has been irrational,’ said Bennie Waller, William Cary Hulsey Faculty Fellow with the Department of Economics at the University of Alabama. ‘I just think we’re going to see a reversion to the middle.'”

“‘We’re seeing prices kind of come back down a little bit,’ Knox said. ‘Prices here really peaked in October. They were down a little bit toward the end of October. They actually had gone up just a little in Madison. Huntsville’s kind of flat. This isn’t the bottom falling out. It’s really prices settling back down to reasonable levels.'”

From The Real Deal in Illinois. “Chicago housing prices are getting hit harder than they have in a decade by rising interest rates. Data from Illinois Realtors found that the median price of a home sold in Chicago last month dropped more than 6 percent from the same time last year, Crain’s reported. The decline is the steepest tumble Chicago home prices have taken since November 2011, when the housing market was recovering from the Great Recession’s housing crash and foreclosure crisis.”

“Only 1,522 homes in the city of Chicago sold in November, which is the lowest number in more than a decade. Sales were down by more than 36 percent year-over-year in the city and 35 percent in the larger area. The steep drop aligns with the nationwide number of homes sold dropping by 35.4 percent last month.”

The New York Post. “A newly built Southampton home that’s on the market for $14.98 million is facing foreclosure after allegations that the owners defaulted on their mortgage and now owe $6.9 million. An anonymous Cayman Islands company, Blue Sky Ltd., is pursuing the foreclosure in federal court in addition to the UCC sale to assure that they get paid, according to the Real Deal. Court documents allege that Mark and Nicole Gallagher of Port Jefferson Station defaulted on their mortgage on Oct. 1, 2021, citing multiple judgments and tax liens.”

“The two purchased the land for $1.02 million in 2017. The home was completed by 2021. The home initially listed for sale in Feb. 2021 for $18 million. If successful, Blue Sky Ltd. will take possession of the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom estate, located at 145 Wickapogue Rd., which spans 10,000 square feet. While the loans remain in default, interest rates skyrocket to a whopping 24%. The loan was sold several times before landing in the hands of Blue Sky, TRD said. The Gallaghers are now in a race to sell the home before the UCC sale, which is expected to take place on Jan. 12. Potential buyers have until Jan. 10 to submit a bid.”

From Better Dwelling. “Canadian real estate is in the largest bubble the county has ever experienced. RBC warns that housing affordability has eroded right across the country in November. In a research note to investors, the bank explains it’s now even harder to buy a home than during the 1980s bubble. A correction is now required to stabilize the economy, and even then it won’t be quick.”

“Canadian households have never needed to spend a larger share of their income to own a home. November home buyers would need to spend 62.7% of their household income to service a mortgage. It’s 14.5 points higher than last year, an incredibly sharp increase, and that’s right across the country. The bank emphasized the country has never seen affordability erode to this level. Not in the 1990s bubble. Not even the 1980s bubble, when mortgage rates briefly rose above 14%. This is a challenge Canada has never seen before, and it’s no longer just a Toronto and Vancouver issue.”

“Every market in Canada is seeing homeownership spiral, but not like Ontario and BC. In Toronto a household needs to spend 85.2% of its income to service a mortgage. Nearly a third of that increase occurred over the past two years, as prices surged. RBC sees the market giving back some of those gains not so far into the future. Meanwhile in BC, its major real estate market is now one of the hardest markets to buy in the world. Vancouver buyers need to dedicate 95.8% of their income to service a mortgage. No other generation in Canada’s history has ever seen home prices outrun the incomes on such a scale. ‘It will likely take years to fully reverse the tremendous deterioration that took place since 2021,’ said Robert Hogue, RBC’s assistant chief economist.”

From Globes. “So far in 2022, there have been 224 homes bought for more than NIS 10 million, according to the Israel Tax Authority including eight deals worth more than NIS 30 million. But this is less than half the number of homes bought for more than NIS 10 million in 2021 and 2023 is likely to see even less deals. Past experience has shown that the high-end market jumps quickly, as we saw in 2020-2021, but also that fades quickly. The rapid contraction of 2022 is reminiscent of the real estate crisis that hit the country in the first decade of the 2000s. At that time, there was talk of a very large decrease in the number of deals, sometimes even accompanied by sharp price drops.”

The Herald Sun in Australia. “Sellers who strike it rich — especially in a short amount of time — are often celebrated in real estate. But there is, of course, a sadder side to the market. Victorian vendors who copped significant losses on the property market after buying homes in 2021 and then selling in 2022 have been revealed in new PropTrack data. Check out the residential biggest re-sale losses between 2021 purchases and 2022 sales below.”

“6 Montpellier Drive, Avondale Heights. BOUGHT FOR: 9/12/2021 $1.175. SOLD FOR: 25/10/2022, $915,000. 11 Viola Ave, Brooklyn. BOUGHT FOR: 1/7/2021 $905,000. SOLD FOR: 27/4/2022, $720,000. 20 Balonne Close, Taylors Lakes. BOUGHT FOR: 11/6/2021, $1.2m. SOLD FOR: 27/4/2022, $985,000. 17 Tamar St, Ringwood North. BOUGHT FOR: 4/12/2021, $1.07m. SOLD FOR: 5/10/2022, $900,000.”

A weekend topic starting with the Los Angeles Times. “While it’s hard to predict what comes next, economists said it’s doubtful rates will fall back to 3% or below anytime soon. That’s in part because such rock-bottom rates were the result of extremely loose monetary policy during the height of the pandemic, something experts said the Federal Reserve isn’t likely to revisit even if the economy falls into recession. ‘Remember, we got to [such low rates] under the most extraordinary of conditions,’

A weekend topic starting with the Los Angeles Times. “While it’s hard to predict what comes next, economists said it’s doubtful rates will fall back to 3% or below anytime soon. That’s in part because such rock-bottom rates were the result of extremely loose monetary policy during the height of the pandemic, something experts said the Federal Reserve isn’t likely to revisit even if the economy falls into recession. ‘Remember, we got to [such low rates] under the most extraordinary of conditions,’ said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of research firm HSH.com.”

From Market Watch. “An era of cheap debt that helped lift prices on hotels, office buildings and other U.S. commercial properties to dizzying new heights has ended. Borrowers thirsty for financing have watched mortgage rates roughly double in 2022 from the 3% lows. ‘You had all these large tech companies signing big new leases, which was getting the market comfortable with the idea that the office sector was going to recover over the longer term,’ said Greg Handler, head of mortgage and consumer credit at Western Asset Management.”

“Now, one of the few brights spots in the near $21 trillion commercial real-estate market has become another headwind, Handler said. ‘It raises real questions about who is going to pick up that extra square feet, and at what price.’ ‘There is an estimated $450 billion of loans that comes due in each of the next four years,’ said Rich Hill, head of real estate strategy and research at Cohen & Steers, a real assets-focused investment manager. ‘The market is having to come to the reality that the days of cheap money are gone.'”

Bisnow Boston in Massachusetts. “Leaders in Boston’s commercial real estate industry are sounding the alarm over the planned increases to the city’s linkage fees, a hike they worry could slow development and push investors away. ‘I understand why they did this, because the lab and the biotech world has really been the golden goose in the last couple years in keeping the commercial market going,’ said Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. ‘I think they missed the market. It’s not like it’s on the way up or plateaued, it’s on the way down.'”

Bisnow San Francisco in California. “Three years of remote work and hybrid offices have taken their toll on the San Francisco office market, making the formerly bustling blocks of downtown feel like another planet compared to what they were like in 2019, when offices were bursting at the seams and developers couldn’t put up new buildings fast enough. Those pre-pandemic days of 2019 seem like eons ago, rather than just three years back when a new unicorn was born seemingly every day.”

“Unicorns — companies valued at $1B or more — didn’t just dominate the real estate market in San Francisco, they set the tone for office markets across the country, setting new high-water marks and new trends for office usage and design. Large tech companies operated in a ‘growth-at-all-cost mentality,’ according to CBRE First Vice President Caroline O’Loughlin Livermore. Livermore also said for the companies that are keen on returning to the office, particularly for smaller tech companies or startups, the office leasing environment has never been better. ‘I think the opportunities for companies, the leverage has never been, frankly, more in a tenant’s favor in San Francisco. I think it’s even more aggressive than the dot-com bubble bust in 2001-2002,’ she said.”

The Palm Springs Post in California. “In October, Jim Ewing, a former Airbnb host with a property in the Coachella Valley, posted a few brief comments on Facebook. He tapped into sentiment being expressed nationwide that even came with its own hashtag — #airbnbust. ‘Has anyone seen a huge decrease in bookings over the last 3 to 4 months?’ he asked a public group for Airbnb hosts. ‘We went from at least 50% occupancy to literally 0% the last two months.’ ‘Not a single booking in September or October,’ said Ryan Babakhani, a host who uses another service. ‘It’s supposed to be the high season in desert. I’m considering cutting my losses and selling the house.'”

“Nationally, vacation rental occupancy is indeed way down, thanks to the explosion of new property listings increasing the supply. ‘The number of bookings is not down. But we have 23% more listings in the U.S. today than we had last year,’ said Jamie Lane, the vice president of research for AirDNA, a short-term rental analytics firm. ‘That means the number of bookings per available listing, or occupancy, is down pretty strongly off 2021 highs.'”

“Katie Kay Mead, the longtime owner of a vacation rental in Palm Desert and a ‘superhost ambassador’ for Airbnb, said when she looks at the short-term rental market, she sees a correction on the horizon, not a bubble about to burst. ‘Honestly, we’re trimming the fat,’ she said.”

“Some over-eager investors who took advantage of low interest rates had an unrealistic idea of how much money they could make, she said. Mead predicted that those investors may become casualties of the vacation rental business leveling out after a huge economic boon. ‘They bought houses, at a premium, in the middle of an unprecedented time for Airbnbs,’ she said, referencing record-high occupancy rates last year. ‘In the fall of last year, we were extremely busy, it was crazy. We’re not there anymore, and new hosts were under the impression it was going to be like that forever.'”

“Some new hosts put in the minimum amount of effort and still expect a huge return on investment, she said. ‘This is not passive income. This is not real estate investing. This is hospitality,’ she said. ‘The people who bought a house for cheap and filled it with IKEA furniture and called it a day? They’re going to be in trouble.'”

From WKBN. “According to RedFin Corporation, 60,000 home purchase agreements fell through in October in the U.S. That’s the highest amount since the real estate brokerage started tracking it in 2013. Cliff Freeman is a real estate agent in Texas but coaches agents all over the country. He says cold feet and buyer’s remorse can come from people letting their emotions override logic when buying a house. ‘We had many people as they got under contract, I guess they sobered up, so to speak and said, ‘Hey, I’m overpaying by this house, and I don’t think this is the right thing to do right now,’ Freeman said.”

The South China Morning Post. “With Beijing unveiling a liquidity package, dubbed as ‘three arrows,’ that offers a glimmer of hope for the bruised sector, it is unlikely that every single developer will enjoy the benefits. Some high-profile names will fall behind and some will eventually fade away. ‘Not everyone will survive, some will just die,’ said Carol Lye, associate portfolio manager with Philadelphia-headquartered Brandywine Global Investment Management. ‘Maybe 5 to 10 per cent, or more [will fold]. It really depends on how much financing they can get, particularly how much the banks are willing to lend them. It’s tough.'”

“Once developers complete offshore debt restructuring, it will be easier for them to tap onshore financing, but that may take at least one to two years, or even longer, according to Ron Thompson, managing director of global turnaround firm Alvarez & Marsal. ‘If a company is in default to its offshore creditors and is not even trying to find a solution, why would a domestic bank lend any money to this company?’ asked Thompson.”

The Globe and Mail. “Canadians have good reason to be upset with Tiff Macklem. Even Tiff Macklem says so. At the start of the year, the Bank of Canada expected inflation would be close to 2 per cent by the end of 2022. It’s roughly 7 per cent. ‘That’s a very big forecast error,’ the central bank Governor said in a year-end interview with The Globe and Mail. ‘So, yes, we have some explaining to do.’ Outside the Bank of Canada’s Ottawa headquarters, a snowstorm raged, a fitting metaphor for the kind of year the 61-year-old has had.”

“When the year began, the bank maintained a record-low policy interest rate of 0.25 per cent, and an explicit pledge to keep it there until the pandemic-battered Canadian economy had returned to full speed. It ends the year with a policy rate of 4.25 per cent, a 15-year high. In between, Mr. Macklem and his colleagues have raised interest rates seven times, as they race to cool an overheated economy in an effort to tamp down the highest inflation rate in nearly 40 years.”

“Housing values have slumped; mortgage costs have surged. Grocery prices are up 11 per cent year over year. Many households are stretched to their financial limits. The central bank has itself acknowledged that rate increases could tip the economy into recession.”

“All of this made Mr. Macklem the leading economic newsmaker of the year – and, to hear some people talk, a leading public enemy. Critics at both ends of the political spectrum have questioned Mr. Macklem’s motives and competence. He has faced accusations of acting too slowly on inflation, of irresponsibly fuelling inflation through the bank’s expansion of the money supply, of making workers and households pay the price for his mistakes with a devastating succession of rate increases.”

“Mr. Macklem isn’t alone. Central bankers around the world have faced a reckoning over how they misread the rise of inflation. And their tough response – one of the most rapid and globally synchronized monetary-policy tightening episodes on record – has drawn howls from investors and politicians alike. The question dogging Mr. Macklem and other central bankers who oversaw the runup of inflation in 2021 and 2022 is not whether their models failed, but whether their judgment did. When asked if this was the case, Mr. Macklem answered haltingly. ‘The course of history will have to decide,’ he said. ‘We’re not through this yet.'”

“Mervyn King, the former head of the Bank of England, is less charitable in his assessment of what central bankers around the world got wrong. Because QE didn’t spark inflation when central banks used it during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, central bankers became convinced that they could control inflation simply by pledging to defend 2-per-cent inflation targets. ‘But the decisions made during the pandemic undermined that position,’ he said. ‘Why would economic agents trust central-bank forecasts that inflation will shortly return to the 2-per-cent target when it has risen to 10 per cent?'”

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “In June 2021, when the cryptocurrency markets were soaring, the developers of the Arte condominium in Miami’s Surfside neighborhood announced that a buyer had purchased a penthouse there for $22.5 million in cryptocurrency. The deal was heralded as evidence that cryptocurrency would eventually become commonplace in the real-estate world. Now that same buyer has resold at a loss for $18 million. The deal closed for cash this time, said Danny Hertzberg

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “In June 2021, when the cryptocurrency markets were soaring, the developers of the Arte condominium in Miami’s Surfside neighborhood announced that a buyer had purchased a penthouse there for $22.5 million in cryptocurrency. The deal was heralded as evidence that cryptocurrency would eventually become commonplace in the real-estate world. Now that same buyer has resold at a loss for $18 million. The deal closed for cash this time, said Danny Hertzberg of Coldwell Banker Realty, one of the listing agents. The unit was listed for $28 million in September 2021 and its price was lowered several times. It was most recently asking $19.9 million.”

“Not surprising to many, that interest rate jump has resulted in a real estate market cool-down that has given buyers an upper hand they didn’t have when interest rates were so low, said Realtor Else Siebert. She sold a home recently in Sudbury to first-time homebuyers who didn’t want to waive a home inspection. She said buyers are taking advantage of the fact they don’t necessarily have to pay over asking price. ‘Buyers are making offers on homes that have been sitting on the market for a few weeks and they’re able to capitalize on this ‘normal’ market and secure a home, under list price. That was unheard of for the past few years,’ said Siebert.”

“One Utah home builder is trying something new to attract buyers . Fieldstone Homes, based in Draper, has just launched new options in several communities for buyers to add accessory dwelling units to their homes – basically, a basement apartment. The builder is already currently offering free finished basements, said vice president of marketing Kellie Little. For a little extra, she said, buyers can expand that to a full apartment that they can rent out for extra income. The options are available in Fieldstone communities in Clearfield, Eagle Mountain, and Saratoga Springs, but Little said more areas may open up in the future. ‘They can use income to help qualify for a loan,’ she said.”

“Prices for newly-constructed homes are starting to flatten in Houston as homebuilders contend with a drop in demand and rising inventories. ‘Builders are trying to prevent having to lower their prices any more than necessary, so the way they are doing that is saying, ‘I won’t cut the price, but I’ll give you, say $10,000 to $20,000 in closing costs or free upgrades,’ Ben Caballero, CEO of HomesUSA, said. ‘Builders are throwing money at incentives and bonuses at agents in an effort to stimulate sales.'”

“Georgetown saw little change in the median price of homes between October and November with it decreasing by 0.15%, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors. The median cost of homes sold in Georgetown during November was $475,000, down $720 from the previous month, as prices have fallen sharply since the summer when they reached $550,000 in June.”

“As the end of the year nears, the Southern Maryland housing market has seen several significant changes. The average sold price to original list price ratio has decreased by approximately 2.16% from last year, showing buyers are gaining some leverage during transactions. Homes are starting to sell for less than they are listed. Active listings are up 62.17% from last year. Calvert County saw its first price decrease in several years. ‘Home prices are expected to drop from their peak despite inventory challenges, and possible home buyers will feel those impacts heading into 2023 if they haven’t already,’ SMAR 2022-2023 President Michael Funk said.”

“The sale of existing homes in the U.S. continues to slide, and California has seen some of the largest declines in the nation. ‘With home prices cooling and market competition easing in recent months, some qualified buyers who missed out on the hurried market of the last two years are taking advantage of the shift and finding sellers more willing to negotiate than they have been up to this point,’ said CAR President Jennifer Branchini.”

“Home sales fell 35.1% year over year in November on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to Redfin. That is the largest decline in Redfin’s records that date back to 2012. Pandemic boomtown Las Vegas saw the biggest drop in home sales, down 51.8% year over year in November. Next came San Jose, CA (-50.1%), Salt Lake City (-49.9%), Stockton, CA (-49.8%) and Oxnard, CA (-48.7%). Eleven metros saw year-over-year declines in median sale prices, with San Francisco leading the drop (-11.1%). It was followed by San Jose, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Boise, ID, all down between 2% and 3%.”

“Pandemic boomtowns North Port, FL and Tampa led the increase in the number of homes for sale, with active listings rising 61.3% and 46.1%, respectively. Next came Nashville, TN (45.1%), New Orleans, LA (40.2%) and Seattle (39.2%).”

“Commercial real estate in Chicago rode a wave of ups and downs in 2022. The downtown office market continued to falter and distress spread, major corporations announced plans to move elsewhere, and perceptions of crime and high taxes disincentivized new growth in the eyes of many CRE players. Already, some buildings have been taken over by lenders and more could soon follow. ‘It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the foreclosure market …  because you’ve got so many office tenants that are not renewing their leases, and the big vacancies, they’re not going to be able to pay the mortgages,’ said Gloria Materre, managing director of EnTrust Realty Advisors.”

“The better option might be to just tear down some vacant buildings, according to Peak Properties Managing Partner Mike Zucker. ‘The reality is that if people aren’t going back to the office, maybe some old office buildings should really just come down,’ Zucker said.”

“Trying to interpret Portland’s status from the year’s most-read news stories is like reading a fortune in chicken entrails. Sometimes you see the future. Sometimes you just see shit. The death and partial resurrection of Lloyd Center gets all the press, but Portland has another zombie mall in more dire condition 5 miles east. WW broke the news that the Portland Hilton and Duniway and Dossier hotels were all in foreclosure proceedings—a bellwether of what reduced tourism could mean for downtown properties.”

“Those looking to buy a home in 2023 and homeowners with a high mortgage can expect a ‘challenging year’ in Mississauga and Brampton. Sam McDadi, owner of the largest real estate brokerage in Mississauga said they are now seeing homes being sold through power of sale (when a mortgage lender sells the home due to a default in payments) for big losses. One home in Brampton, for example, was bought during the height of the market, at the beginning of 2022, for $2.65 million and it sold through a power of sale for $1.85 million, McDadi said.”

“‘So $800,000 less in just within the span of six to eight months,’ he said. ‘Now that’s probably one of the more exaggerated sales, but it just tells you that people are in a bit of dire straits.’ Homes in more affluent neighbourhoods in south Mississauga saw prices drop about 10 per cent and north Mississauga came down by about 20 per cent this year, he said. And because interest rates are so high, it is nearly impossible for an average person to get a mortgage for a GTA home. Most homes in Brampton and Mississauga are around $1 million but a person or couple needs to make $250,000 to $300,000 a year to get that size of a mortgage. The mortgage stress test adds another two per cent on interest rates so people need to qualify for around eight per cent interest.”

“This time last year, Australia’s property market was closing out on a massive high. The pandemic property boom was in full swing, appearing inexplicably unstoppable as Australians fell over themselves to pour a seemingly endless stream of money into real estate. Sydney’s house prices rose by $1100 a day. Just to repeat: $1100 a day. But the saying ‘nothing lasts forever’ was not coined from fiction. A property cycle is exactly that – a cycle – and while the craziness of 2021 will go down in history as a once-in-a-generation property boom (which, by the way, continued well into 2022 in five of the eight capital cities), that pace of growth was not sustainable.”

“By the September quarter, house prices were falling in every capital city bar Adelaide, where prices flattened. Nationally, house prices have now fallen 4.9 per cent from the March 2022 price peak, down about $53,000. ‘The past two years have been fascinating to watch in real estate. After soaring price growth in 2021, it was inevitable that we would see an adjustment phase of the property cycle in 2022,’ says Domain’s chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell. ‘This year, the market saw a stark contrast with house prices across the combined capital cities switching to their fastest quarterly decline on record.'”

“House prices at the cheaper end of the market have fallen more this year than prices for homes at the upper end have, Quotable Value (QV) says. Lower-end prices across the main urban centres were down by 11.7% from January to November. In contrast, prices at the upper end of the market declined by 8.6% over the same period, while the average national price fell by 10.2% to $945,568. The Wellington region has been hit the hardest by the market downturn, and four of its districts were in QV’s top five biggest lower-end price drops.”

“Prices for lower-end properties in Upper Hutt declined the most, down 23.5% to an average of $544,159. In Lower Hutt and Porirua, the entry-level price falls were not far behind, with drops of 23.3% and 19.1% to averages of $547,292 and $591,014 respectively. The top five was rounded out by central Auckland and Wellington where lower-end prices were down 18.8% to averages of $500,801 and $568,589. Papakura and the North Shore in Auckland, Dunedin, Palmerston North and Hastings made the top 10, with prices at entry-level down by over 13.5% in all of them.”

“QV spokesperson Simon Petersen said these price falls were good news for first-home buyers, and had restored some credibility to the market after the unsustainable capital gains of 2020 to 2021. Prices were still above pre-pandemic levels after climbing almost 30% last year alone, and the threat of a recession and further interest rate rises as forecast by the Reserve Bank last month was bad news, he said. ‘When interest rates hit the roof, house prices are really going to hit the floor, and then there’s the growing likelihood of a recession.'”

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Since the end of the Great Recession, home prices in the Rochester area have pretty much gone in one direction: up. In the last several years, they’ve soared. But could that change soon? ‘I think there will be some adjustments, now that we see that overall prices are beginning to stabilize; knowing that, people may not be willing to grossly pay above list price,’ says Mike O’Connor, president-elect of GRAR. ‘I won’t say overpriced, because

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Since the end of the Great Recession, home prices in the Rochester area have pretty much gone in one direction: up. In the last several years, they’ve soared. But could that change soon? ‘I think there will be some adjustments, now that we see that overall prices are beginning to stabilize; knowing that, people may not be willing to grossly pay above list price,’ says Mike O’Connor, president-elect of GRAR. ‘I won’t say overpriced, because when you have multiple offers on a property, you have three or four people willing to pay that price, in my opinion that’s not overpaying for the property.'”

“‘Homes are sitting on the market longer, just lingering on the market,’ said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. ‘The buyers have disappeared.'”

“Is York County heading toward another market crash? Twenty-six houses went to sale in the first three quarters of 2022, compared to 10 properties in first three quarters last year, according to data provided by the York County Sheriff’s office. While foreclosures might not be on the radar this year, local sheriff sales could increase, said Elle Hale, the president of the Realtors Association of York and Adams Counties. ‘This may be something that comes up in the near future because of all the people who are spending or buying homes at well over the asking price,’ Hale said. ‘That may catch up to them.'”

“Now, bidding wars have largely faded, inventories have loosened and the feeling of frothiness is gone. ‘The market is clearly turning,’ says NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.”

“The bidding wars and frenzied atmosphere have ended thanks to more houses on the market for longer periods of time. Summit Sotheby’s reported that Park City is seeing homes on the market for an average of 80 days (a 50% increase from September 2021), 57 days in Snyderville (down 13%), and 43 days in Heber and Midway (up 30%). ‘There is definitely a doomsday theme happening within the news and concerns that our real estate market is crashing,’ said Julie Snyder, local realtor. ‘This is simply not the case in Park City and the surrounding areas. What happened over the past 2 ½ years was unprecedented. However, it was not sustainable. It was only a matter of time before we stopped seeing the amount of appreciation in values as quickly as we did. It is just that we were going at such a rapid pace that, in comparison, it feels like we are crashing, but we are merely slowing down to a healthier pace.'”

“Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales have further to drop. ‘We are not yet at the bottom,’ as interest rates are still rising. California will see ‘sizable’ price drops of as much as 10%, he said.”

“Wake County home prices peaked in June at more than $493,000. Since then, median sales prices have sunk and houses are sitting on the market longer. Overall, Wake prices have decreased 5% since reaching their high in June. The combined Cary, Apex and Morrisville market has seen a 6.2% decline; the combined Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon market has slipped by nearly 8%, as has the Garner market. John Wood, a Realtor with Re/Max United in Cary, noted that some sellers are reluctant to accept that the pandemic era housing boom is over. ‘We are having obstacles right now getting sellers to understand that our pricing is not the same as it was six months ago,’ he said.”

“‘Try negotiating down the sale price; now’s the time to make what would have been considered a lowball offer six months ago,’ continued Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao.”

“‘You know, anytime we see inflation and rates rise like this, I think you’ll get a little bit of seller fear going on, San Diego realtor Felicity Hunter said. ‘Now we’re seeing our buyers, you know, get their offers accepted, they don’t have to compete with 20 other people and all-cash offers.'”

“Among the country‘s largest 896 housing markets, 121 saw a home price decline between May and September. The markets getting rocked the hardest by the home price correction fall into one of two groups. The first group includes frothy markets like Austin (down 8.23%), Boise (down 6.35%), Colorado Springs (down 4.13%), and Phoenix (down 6.6%). Those markets, according to Moody’s Analytics, all became ‘significantly overvalued’ during the Pandemic Housing Boom. That’s beginning to change. Not long after spiking mortgage rates poured cold water on those markets, prices began to fall.”

“The second group are high-cost tech hubs like San Francisco (down 7.88%), San Jose (down 10.59%), and Seattle (3.93%). Those markets got hit by a double whammy: Not only are their high-end real estate markets more rate-sensitive, but so are their tech sectors. When Fortune coined the term Pandemic Housing Boom, we did so knowing that if the boom ended in a bust we’d have to relabel it a Pandemic Housing Bubble or Pandemic Housing Bust. We even set a criteria for it: Any market that sees a greater than 10% peak-to-trough decline, gets the Pandemic Housing Bubble label.”

“So far, just San Jose (down 10.59%) has received our Pandemic Housing Bubble label. However, other markets are getting close. In total, 19 regional housing markets notched a home price decline greater than 5% between May and September. That includes Western markets like Santa Cruz, Calif. (down 7.51%) and Boulder (down 7.46%).”

“The Fitzgerald family should be ecstatic — they’ve finally achieved their lifelong ambition of owning a horse farm. But a mortgage mishap has turned their dream into a nightmare. In early June, the couple fell in love with a 17-acre farm a few hours north of Calgary. They had an existing mortgage with Scotiabank, on which they still wed roughly $370,000, but had heard that the bank wasn’t adept at handling acreages. Instead, they got pre-approved for a new mortgage at a local credit union. The Fitzgeralds approached Scotiabank to break their pre-existing mortgage.”

“The second appraisal came in at $20,000 less than the price of the home, a value that Scotiabank said was ‘workable.’ With such a significant discrepancy between the appraisals, though, CMHC settled in the middle, with the Fitzgeralds on the hook for the remaining $70,000. When all was said and done, the couple was left with less than $10,000 from the sale of their home — not nearly enough for farm equipment, new furniture, or even movers. ‘We had a gun to our head at that point. We’d already made arrangements to move up there with two kids and nine animals,’ the Fitzgeralds said. ‘We didn’t have a backup plan. It was this place or no place, even though it was going to financially wipe us out. They destroyed our life for a learning opportunity. We should be happy. We have our dream property. But we’ve been crying the entire time we’ve been living here. If we knew this was going to happen, we would have walked away,’ they said. ‘This has been hell.'”

“Estate agents across the UK have seen a steep reduction in interest and offers from potential homebuyers in the past few weeks. Luke Gidney, managing director at the Leeds-based estate agency HOP, told i that demand from buyers had fallen significantly since the end of last month, describing the state of the market as ‘a real mess.’ ‘Back in April we would list a property for sale and we would normally have to cap the viewings round about 30 viewings, because there were too many people that wanted to view it. We’d list the property and within an hour the phone would just be off the hook. Now it’s totally the opposite. We’re sometimes scratching our heads thinking ‘we’ve just listed the property and the phone hasn’t rung yet, what’s going on?’ he said.”

“A ‘neglected‘ terrace could end being one of the hottest bargains in Sydney’s flat property market. An unflattering photo of the back yard on the advertising hoarding for three-bedroom terrace 18 Turner Street, Redfern is what greets passers-by when they encounter this classic ‘renovator’s delight’. ‘Given state of property there’s no point in trying to hide it,’ said selling agent Hayden Richards, of Ray White Touma Group.”

“But with a buyer’s guide of ‘just’ $1million for the large block, walking distance from the city its looks are unlikely to worry potential buyers. Redfern’s median house price remains an eye-watering $1.75million. The ‘neglected’ terrace goes under the hammer on November 5. Overall, house prices in inner-city Redfern have plummeted 11.8 per cent – a massive $315,772 – since April, in line with the downward trends across the city.”

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a more efficient way of losing money over the last two years than investing in real estate startups when they went public. Venture-backed real estate companies that went public in the last two years have lost an average of 85% of their debut value, according to an analysis by Crunchbase. The losses from these companies — which include Opendoor, WeWork, Compass, loanDepot and Vacasa — total more than $42B. None of them have gained value from their opening price.”

“Opendoor saw a 42% drop in value in homes it sold in August 2022, and the company paid $62M to the Federal Trade Commission for misleading home sellers. But private investors haven’t been deterred so far this year, according to Crunchbase, pumping some $4.6B of seed capital into growth-stage U.S. startups tied to real estate.”