A report from WHIO TV in Ohio. “The housing market has seen a significant surge during the pandemic, but now it’s beginning to slow down. Rhonda Chambal, President of Irongate Realtors, said, ‘I actually have a brother-in-law who is an agent in Phoenix. He calls me and tells me what the trends are there. It seems like their market in the past month has hit a screeching halt.’ In Dayton, it’s considered to be at a normal market given factors like average salary. ‘Right now, it’s still a strong sellers’ market. We’re still seeing multiple offers usually within the first 48 hours. It’s usually 2 to 3 offers whereas last spring 10 offers would be a normal occurrence,’ Chambal said.”
From Realty Biz News. “In Boise, Idaho, home prices are up 62% over the past two years. In April, 41% of home sellers dropped their prices, the largest of 108 metro areas tracked by Redfin. More than 20% of home sellers dropped their price in April in seven of the 10 most popular migration destinations, the report says. Other areas that are seeing a rise in price drops include Cape Coral, Fla. (at 33% in April); New Orleans (32%); Baton Rouge, La (31%); and Sacramento, Calif. (30%).”
“‘Many places like Boise or Sacramento that saw a surge in migration and a sharp increase in home prices over the past two years have now seen an abrupt drop-off in demand, leading sellers to drop their prices with increasing frequency,’ said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist.”
NBC San Diego in California. “Homes for sale jumped 9% in the last week compared to the same time last year. Those trends are being seen across San Diego, according to San Diego-area realtors David Stone and Patty Cohen. Stone says the hot housing market that had offers made and accepted within minutes is cooling down. ‘Now my most recent listings that went on the market, there was still a lot of activity but there were only two or three offers,’ Stone said. Cohen says the market is in a transition mode. ‘Sellers are feeling the pressure of getting on the market,’ Cohen said.”
The Dallas Morning News. “Rapid home price growth in North Texas and in cities nationwide continued to break records at the start of the year, but economists expect the market could change its tune in the months ahead. Dallas-Fort Worth home showings were down 9% year over year in April and 11% since March, according to ShowingTime. ‘Mortgage costs are more than 50% higher than they were a year ago, and prospective buyers will likely start to rethink what they can afford,’ said Dan Handy, an economic data analyst for Zillow. ‘Sellers may already be responding, with the rate of price cuts now on the rise, to meet buyers where they are. Price growth will likely begin to come back towards earth as many buyers are priced out and inventory rises.’”
The New York Post. “Hamptons homeowners are quickly learning that the sky-high prices they charged the past two summers for renting out their properties are a thing of the past. The owners of one waterfront rental Enzo Morabito, of Douglas Elliman represented hoped to get $70,000 a month for the place — but, with hundreds of rentals still available, a potential renter felt confident enough to counter with an offer of $45,000. ‘We were hoping the renter would split the difference, but it’s a different market right now,’ Morabito said.”
From KHOU on Colorado. “Demand for homes in Denver remains high, but experts are noticing a few trends in the local housing market that might signal a future shift. In its May report, the Denver Metro Association of Realtors said inventory has increased, the number of showings has decreased, and in some cases, bidding wars have cooled off from the extremes seen in recent months. ‘We’re starting to see a little more of a normalization of the market, and where we’re seeing that is month-end active listing number — basically how much houses are actually on the market at the end of the month. That went up by almost 1,000 properties, which is 40% month over month, which is dramatically higher than historically,’ said Andrew Abrams, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee.”
The Real Deal.”Digital mortgage lender Tomo has laid off nearly one-third of its workforce less than three months after an equity capital injection — the latest casualties in a tech and mortgage industry purge. A total of 44 employe es were let go. It is unclear if any executives were jettisoned in the downsizing, which management attributed to headwinds in the mortgage and venture capital markets.”
“‘The recent shift in the mortgage and venture capital markets due to the rapid increase in interest rates has impacted Tomo’s business plans, and led us to make changes to our near-term strategy,’ CEO Greg Schwartz told the publication.”
The Times Colonist in Canada. “People who waded into Greater Victoria’s real estate market reflect on their sometimes unsettling experiences when homes were constantly being sold above asking price. Sales figures released by the board Wednesday showed 1,776 listings in the region at the end of the month, a 30 per cent jump from the same time last year. Eric Loeper recently bought his first home after losing a series of bidding wars over the past two years. Loeper said he went from looking at townhomes to being forced to settle for a one-bedroom condo, as prices increased by about 50 per cent.”
“‘We lowered our expectations and started looking for condos in Langford. We found one we liked, viewed it the day it was listed, and made an unconditional offer that evening.’ He got that property, but it was the same price as the townhouse he made an offer on six months earlier, although it was half the size and 10 years older. ‘Imagine, you have 15 minutes to look around the property before making an unconditional offer and putting up a $20,000 deposit. The biggest decision you ever make, and you have minutes to make it,’ he said, noting the ‘buyer’s remorse’ kicked in the minute the papers were signed.”
“He said they have been asking themselves if they paid too much, and what happens if the market crashes. ‘To add to that, interest rates started rising. We have endured two interest-rate increases already, and we have not even made our first mortgage payment yet.’”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Patrick Rocca, broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., says prices are holding up for properties in the core 416 area code, but he is seeing a drop-off in showings and fewer bids when an offer deadline arrives. ‘Activity was down dramatically,’ Mr. Rocca says of the week leading up to the anticipated rate hike from the Bank of Canada on June 1. Manic demand and paltry supply at the beginning of 2022 pushed the average price in the Greater Toronto Area to $1,344,544 in February, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. In April, the average price in the GTA had slipped to $1,254,436.”
“The average price of a detached house in the 416 area code stood at $1,947,975 in April compared with $2,073,989 in February. The average price of a detached house in the 905 dipped to $1,526,791 in April from $1,727,963 at the February peak, according to TRREB. Farah Omran, economist at Bank of Nova Scotia notes that sellers are sometimes forced to accept offers below what the past two years led them to expect, as well as offers with conditions attached. If prices erode, sentiment can swing sharply: buyers on the sidelines are more likely to think they will get a better deal later on if they wait, Mr. Rocca points out.”
The City AM in the UK. “Falling buyer demand ‘punctured by changing sentiment around the cost of living and personal finances’ will weigh on listings for much of the year, head of research at Zoopla, Gráinne Gilmore, explained. ‘Another signal that the market is starting to soften is the number of properties where asking prices are being cut by more than five per cent,’ said Gilmore, adding that ‘Some one in twenty properties have been re-priced this month, with the average new asking prices some nine per cent below the original.’”
“Though Vincent Dennington, director at Oxford Street-based estate agents John D Wood & Co., noted that a market slowdown may be a sign of property prices rebalancing from their bloated heights. ‘This may also be a sign that properties have been initially overpriced and are not achieving any interest from potential buyers; therefore needing to be adjusted correctly to ensure a reduction generates new interest and ultimately offers,’ he said.”
From Stuff New Zealand. “It seems that every other week we get a data update showing house prices falling. CoreLogic is the latest. House prices are falling. Across the country, they are down about 6% from their peaks. The FOMO (fear of missing out) is gone from the market and buyers are in a better position to negotiate with sellers on the price they are willing to pay. Sellers who are keen to move on are potentially having to take a lower price to do so.”
“The Wellington market peaked in October and the region’s prices had subsequently dropped by 10.4%. Auckland’s peak was in November and its prices had fallen by 10.2% in the five months since.”
From ABC Business. “Two of Australia’s biggest banks have moved to curb high-risk home lending, as the regulator revealed it has been warning some institutions to cut back on risky loans. This week, ANZ told mortgage brokers and its bankers that from June 6 it would no longer make loans to borrowers who would owe more than seven-and-a-half times their annual income. That is down from a previous cap of nine times income. Earlier this month, NAB lowered its debt-to-income (DTI) limit from nine to eight times income.”
“RateCity’s research director Sally Tindall said that change, combined with rising interest rates, will have a much bigger effect on how much people can borrow. ‘If you’re looking to take out a new loan, don’t rely on your bank to tell you how much you can borrow. Work out what your monthly repayments would look like if rates rose by up to three percentage points but also think about how much debt you’re taking on. Property prices can go up and down, but that won’t make your debt magically disappear. You might decide that being shackled with an excessive amount of debt for the next 30 years isn’t actually worth it.’”