A report from the New York Post. “Blackstone Group’s transfer of a $308 million loan on 1740 Broadway to a special servicer had real-estate jaws dropping on Wednesday. A knowledgeable source said of the move, ‘They overpaid for the building by at least $100 million and the loan terms left them no wiggle room to ask for lower rents. End of story.’”
The Daily Mail. “Scarlett Johansson has sold her two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse in New York City at a loss from what she paid for it 14 years ago. The actress received $1.87 million for the luxe abode, which is $230,000 less than the $2.1 million she paid for the property in 2008. Johansson also poured money into renovating and updating the property.”
From KPAX on Montana. “Once locked at historic lows, apartment vacancies across Missoula have begun to rise, spelling possible relief for renters. The median price of a home also fell over the winter. The median price of a Missoula home hit a record-high $520,000 last November. However, MOR said it has slipped each month since and stood at $475,000 in February.”
From News 4 Jax. “‘Part of it is, you know, the per sale market as well. I mean, we’ve seen about a 22% increase in the median price in the past 12 months, year over year. Thankfully, we see that moderating a bit,’ said Mark Rosener, president of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. ‘Since November, the median prices just kind of fluctuated 2 or 3% either way. So hopefully, we’re beginning to see some of those indicators moderate a little bit.’”
From Bankrate. “Rates above 5 percent? That was exceedingly rare. During the past 10 years, the average cost of a 30-year mortgage topped the 5 percent threshold for just one fleeting six-week period in late 2018. Ken H. Johnson, a housing economist at Florida Atlantic University, likewise says rates could hit the 5 percent mark soon. ‘Unless things slow down in the 10-year Treasury note market, any day now,’ he says. ‘We are outside the bounds of normality now. Strange things happen at the peak of a market.’”
From Reuters. “A sharp sell-off in U.S. Treasuries has increased concerns about low levels of liquidity in the $23.5 trillion market, potentially amplifying losses for investors which already had a dire start to the year. Concerns have increased for several factors. One is that the Fed has ceased buying U.S. Treasuries, after ending this month a bond-buying programme aimed at supporting the economy during the coronavirus crisis. ‘We are adjusting to that new world where the Fed is not a buyer,’ said Ed Al-Hussainy, senior rates and currency analyst at Columbia Threadneedle.”
From Dow Jones. “The numbers: U.S. new-home sales decreased 2% to an annual rate of 772,000 in February, the government said Wednesday. The supply of new homes for sale rose between January and February to a 6.3-month supply of units. In January, new home inventories were already at the highest level since 2008, according to Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.”
The Financial Post. “The homebuying frenzy that helped drive house prices to new heights during the pandemic appears to be slowing, according to a new poll from Royal Bank of Canada. Last week, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported a 24 per cent jump in listings in February from January, and a 4.6 per cent rise in home resales.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “The Toronto-area real estate market is cooling in March after a torrid start to the year. Fresh listings have soothed the ‘fear of missing out’ that permeated the market in January. Davelle Morrison, broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., recently listed three properties in different neighbourhoods and all three saw relatively calm action on the days reserved for reviewing offers. In one case, Ms. Morrison listed a 1,200-square-foot midtown condo with attractive views for an asking price of $1.5-million. The unit received one offer and sold $100,000 below asking.”
“In a downtown neighbourhood, a three-bedroom fixer-upper didn’t attract the attention she expected despite its popular location. The challenge for sellers then becomes that buyers who have already taken a cautious approach sense the slowdown and decide to wait a little bit longer, she says. ‘It’s a shock for sellers when there’s a sudden shift. It’s a tough pill to swallow.’”
“Shane Little, a real estate agent with Re/Max Hallmark Richards Group Realty, says the east end – one of the hottest areas of the city at the start of 2022 – is noticeably slower in March. One sector in particular stands out: Buyers have become wary of the wild bidding melees that propelled prices for three-bedroom, semi-detached houses in such neighbourhoods such as Riverdale, Leslieville and Riverside, he notes.”
“Today some buyers are purchasing comparable semis in those pockets for $1.5-million or $1.55-million, compared with the $1.7-million some buyers paid in order to beat their rivals in January, he says. Mr. Little says he doesn’t view the shift so much as today’s buyers negotiating a deal as panicked bidders paying more than they should have in the opening weeks of the year.”
“Mr. Little crunched the numbers in the swathe between the Don Valley Parkway and Victoria Park Avenue, bound by O’Connor Drive to the north and Lake Ontario to the south. He found that 31 properties failed to sell on the scheduled offer night from mid-February to the middle of March. That’s three times the number in the 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, he notes.”
“With total inventory in the area swelling by 61 in March from February, the sample size was larger, he points out, but the percentage of homes that missed on offer night shot up by 310 per cent. ‘We were flooded with product in February and March,’ he says. Homeowners, meanwhile, have exceedingly high expectations if they list their property for sale. ‘Sellers might be a little bit greedy right now,’ Mr. Little says.”
“Mr. Little points to an offer night in March when an agent in his office represented buyers who bid on an east-end house in the $1.5-million range. The sellers received three offers but rejected all of them. ‘The sellers still had that number in their heads and they couldn’t wrap their heads around taking less.’”
The South China Morning Post. “Mainland Chinese owners with luxury homes in Hong Kong’s upmarket Mid-Levels area are offloading their properties at deep discounts to cover their stock market losses, which is mired in a prolonged slump. About 10 to 20 per cent of mainland homeowners in Mid-Levels have reduced prices as they are in urgent need of funds or shedding their holdings, said Samuel Lai, senior district sales director at Midland Realty.”
“‘Homeowners in urgent need of money may cash in for having burnt their fingers in the stock market,’ said Lai, who estimates another 5 to 8 per cent will lower their asking prices until the pandemic and stock market volatility ease.”