It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “According to an ATTOM Data Solutions report buying a home is more affordable than renting in 53% of the U.S. housing markets. ‘The current market here in Bakersfield for renters is a little difficult. There is a high demand for rental homes especially in the Northwest area and a lack of inventory,’ said relaltor Melinda Clemmer. However, if the market crashes that can impact the prices for renters. ‘It is less expensive to rent but as soon as we fall in a downward crisis and people are pushed out of their homes due to foreclosure or short-sells, our rent values do increase because those people are pushed out of the buyers market and owners market,’ Clemmer said. ‘They’re pushed into the rental market and in turn supply and demand pushes up the rental.’”
“Michele Cooper, a sales manager with San Joaquin Valley Mortgage said because of today’s low-interest rates, it’s more affordable to own a home. ‘If they can do 100% financing where they had to put no money out of their own pocket, get a rate as low as 3.5% and have the house payment only a couple of hundred dollars more than they are paying for rent, and that becomes their own property and not somebody else’s property,’ Cooper said. ‘I think it’s a win-win for a consumer to actually own a home and take those benefits.’”
“First-time buyers shouldn’t give up hope. They can buy a lower-cost home and take out a loan with a smaller down payment. Borrowers with a credit score of 560 or higher can obtain a Federal Housing Administration loan with a down payment as low as 3.5%. At the start of the year, the VA eliminated down payment requirements on all its loans, said Chris Birk, director of education at Veterans United Home Loan, the nation’s largest VA lender. The share of VA loans has gone from 2% of all mortgages before the housing crisis to above 10% currently. ‘Veterans and service members in the Denver area can borrow as much as they can afford without the need for a down payment,’ Birk said. ‘That hasn’t been the case historically.’”
“Adaptive Construction Solutions’ Nicholas Morgan said Houston grew by 10.5 percent from 2013 to 2018. In 2019, there were more than 60,000 new jobs and this year, about 40,000 new jobs are expected. ‘There’s 23,000 multi-family units under construction in Houston with another 28,000 planned. So, we need approximately 300,000 new jobs to support all of that construction projects,’ said Morgan. He said another challenge is luxury apartment construction is not a high paying job. Morgan said in 2020 it will continue to expand, just not at the same pace. Plus, Houston has overbuilt office and warehouse space.”
“A perfect storm of regulations, taxes and excess supply means there could be more struggles ahead for New York City’s troubled luxury residential market. Developers’ rush to build ritzy condominiums over the last few years caused a well-documented oversupply in the city. Sponsors and sellers at the high end have been forced to cut prices and offer incentives to score buyers — and there is little suggestion the challenges will ease any time soon. There are still scores of new units hitting the market. ‘The entire year was a struggle,’ Olshan Realty President Donna Olshan said. ‘You had to lower your price by 10% before you can even find a buyer.’”
“Lawyers representing investors in syndicated mortgages of the failed lender Fortress Real Developments Inc. are urging their clients not to respond to an ‘inappropriate’ financial offer from condominium developer Brad Lamb. George Benchetrit, partner in Chaitons LLP, one of the court-appointed lawyers for thousands of investors caught up in the financial failure of Fortress, once Canada’s largest syndicated mortgage company, said the Lamb offer could see investors lose 70 per cent of the value of their original investment. He said some of the individual investors, ‘have invested in some cases all of their retirement savings.’”
“An award-winning mansion on Vancouver Island is on sale for less than half of its asking price just a few years ago, in the latest sign yet that the foreign-buyer frenzy in British Columbia is history. ‘Several of the homes I have listed are American owners who are selling. They really get gouged, unfortunately, and from my perspective it’s a bit embarrassing, because we can go down there (to the U.S.) and buy anything we want,’ said listing agent Logan E. Wilson.”
“A city in the East of China has moved to combat property speculation by banning new home owners from reselling their houses for at least three-and-a-half years, reported Caixin. Tangshan, a prefecture-level city near Beijing, implemented a 42-month resale restriction on Jan. 4 that applies to all newly built homes purchased after that date. It’s the latest local government effort to rein in property speculation.”
“Since 2017, more than 50 cities have introduced resale restrictions on new homes, with Shenzhen introducing a record five-year ban in 2018. But many small cities have seen only tepid trading, which has depressed property developers’ willingness to invest and bled into local economies. Some are now granting subsidies to homebuyers to boost sales. Once red hot, China’s real estate market reached a turning point in late 2016 after years of rapid growth, as multiple cities tightened property regulations in response to Beijing’s call to curb speculation and rein in soaring home prices, as well as to prevent a property bubble that could trigger turmoil in the country’s financial sector.”
“Hong Kong developers could come under pressure to reduce prices amid a spate of new project launches, according to market observers. Centaline Property Agency said on Monday that six developers who hold 5,120 unsold flats since 2016 are likely to speed up sales to avoid the soon-to-be introduced vacancy tax. ‘Larger flats will see developers offering deeper discounts,’ said Sammy Po, chief executive of Midland Realty. The forecast of abundant supply comes as homebuyers stay sidelines.”
“‘The investors have vanished from the market. Earlier, there were many investors and now the residential sector is more of an end-user market,’ said Paramvir Singh Paul, branch director for the Pune region at Knight Frank India.”
“Property investors who are counting on home values to double every seven or eight years are in for a reality check as new research shows many areas are worth less now than they were more than a decade ago. RiskWise Property Research examined 88 SA4 areas, geographical locations with a population of at least 100,000, for houses and units. It found that in 55 cases, the values of either houses or units, or both, were similar, or below their values five years ago.However, home values for 26 of those 55 areas were lower now compared to 10 years ago. The research found that all the SA4s where home values have not grown for more than 10 years were in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.”
“Among the worst performers include Mandurah, 72 kilometres south of Perth, where prices had stagnated since 2006. In outback Queensland, house prices had fallen back to where they were in 2006, sitting at $139,426. The property markets in Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday areas in Queensland have also suffered with unit values dropping to its 2006 level. ‘It’s important to realise that there is a tangible risk in the long term if you buy properties with inflated values and that this long-term risk can be way over 10 years and in some occasions as much as 20 years,’ said Riskwise chief executive officer Doron Peleg.”
“On a suburb level, a research by Select Residential Property found that Dysart, a Queensland coal mining town 930 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, has performed the worst over the past 10 years. ‘Property prices had dropped by 76 per cent to $99,000 – roughly a quarter of what they used to be 10 years ago,’ ‘said Jeremy Sheppard, head of research at Select Residential Property.”
“Charlie Sheen has sold his home in the 90210 ZIP Code for $6.6 million — a far cry from the $10 million the actor first sought two years ago. Sheen bought the place through a trust in 2006 for $7.2 million, records show.”