A report from Money. “When Bob J. saw a model home he liked in a subdivision northwest of Dallas in October, a quick 24-hour negotiation with the builder netted him a savings of $125,000, free furniture and a fully decked out backyard already complete with a pool. ‘My real estate agent knew that the model home was four years old, and the builder was using another model for sales,’ says Bob, who asked to be identified only by his first name and last initial because he doesn’t want his new neighbors to know about the deal he got. ‘We were ready to buy, and we understood the builder’s need to sell.’”
“‘Buyers can ask politely about items they would like to have and often sellers are happy not to have to move them,’ says Nathan Zieman, a real estate agent with The Corcoran Group in Delray Beach, Florida. ‘Really, everything is negotiable, and you could be doing the sellers a favor.’ This is especially true for estate sales and vacation homes.”
Axios on Washington. “The value of a typical Seattle-area home fell 5.8% between April and November, a much steeper drop than the normal seasonal decline, according to Zillow. In another sign of a fast-cooling market, the number of homes listed for sale in and around Seattle this month was more than double the number listed a year earlier, per Zillow data. Earlier this fall, Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin pegged Seattle as having the nation’s fastest-cooling housing market. That trend has continued, Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr told Axios, with Seattle seeing ‘the sharpest cooldown in the nation. It’s gone from blazing hot to icy cold,’ Marr said.”
The Portland Press Herald. “A total of 1,289 homes in Maine changed hands last month, a 19.4% decrease from October and a 28.7% decrease from November 2021. All 16 counties experienced fewer sales, but two counties bucked the long-running trend and saw prices dip for the three-month period ending Nov. 30. Prices fell by 8.3%, from $290,000 to $266,000, in Waldo County; and by 4.4%, from $339,750 to $324,900, in Hancock County.”
The Milton Courier in Wisconsin. “Newville Trails, a subdivision just off Interstate 90/39 at Newville, sits platted out. Streets are laid in a circle around it, poised for residential growth. But it will be a quiet Christmas for the less than a dozen families who so far are the only residents. Plans filed with Rock County planning authorities in April 2021 showed the then newly-platted subdivision could grow to have as many as 62 homes. But as of this month, just a handful of dwellings have been built, and some are unfinished going into the winter months. There is evidence that some residential wells were drilled earlier this year. But those are the only apparent improvements at otherwise inactive parcels in the hilltop subdivision, an indicator that some projects in the pipeline have gone on hold.”
“Kyle Carrier, a real estate agent in Edgerton who is marketing some of the Newville Trails homes said one Madison-area builder involved in new home construction in the Newville Trails subdivision intends to resume building there at some point. In one case, a builder Carrier works with to sell homes on speculation has sold 10 new single-family homes in Beloit to an investor who may rent the properties in the short-term. Carrier said the investor could close on more homes next year with the same plan if market conditions remain depressed.”
From Mansion Global. “After nearly three topsy-turvy years, the real estate market in New York City has started to look more like pre-pandemic times, according to a report from StreetEasy. Rising borrowing costs resulted in home sales in the city dropping 35% in November compared to the same time a year ago, the data showed. In addition, 11.7% of sellers cut their asking prices, up 2.1% from last year. ‘The New York City market is drawing a resemblance to 2019, when rising inventory led to more price cuts and tempered sale prices,’ StreetEasy economist Kenny Lee said.”
“In Manhattan, the typical home sold for $1.1 million last month, about 0.5% below its peak in August, the figures showed. At the same time, new listings fell 16.7% year over year and nearly 11% of listings got price cuts. A typical listing with a price cut slashed its asking price by 5.3%—the highest margin since October 2020.”
From Boston.com in Massachusetts. “The 3,806 single-family sales in November reflect a roughly 29% decrease year over year and about a 35% drop since 2020, according to a report The Warren Group released Wednesday. The 1,663 condo sales in November represent a 22% decrease year over year and a 22% dip since 2020. The median sales prices were higher in the condo and single-family markets in November, but they were down from their spring peak, said Melvin A. Vieira Jr., GBAR president. ‘It’s quite likely we’ve hit the ceiling on prices, at least for now,’ Vieira said. ‘Buyers simply can’t afford as much home as they could just six months ago, and with listings starting to sit longer and become more plentiful, sellers are having to lower their expectations on property value and even make price adjustments to attract offers.’”
“Doing a deep-dive into the market in Cambridge, the report finds roughly a 30% drop in single-family homes sales and a 28% decline in condo purchases. The median sales price for a house dropped about 14% to $1,850,000. Contrast this with sales in the city of Quincy, which were down roughly 39% for condos and roughly 43% for single-family homes. The median sales prices are a mixed bag: The cost of a condo in the ‘City of Presidents’ fell 33.3% to $339,950 in November.”
The Modesto Bee. “Even as home sale prices take a dip throughout much of California and the Central Valley, prices are holding fairly steady in the Modesto region. The median sale price for a single-family home in Stanislaus County in November was $430,000, the same median price as the month before and a dip of just $5,000 over the previous year, according to new data from the California Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the median sale price in California dropped 3% between October and November. Most of the Central Valley’s heavily-populated counties saw declines, including Sacramento, Fresno, Tulare, Placer and Merced.”
ABC 11 on North Carolina. “Although there are new places being built in Raleigh, construction overall is slipping. On the upside, there is more room for negotiation. ‘The days are gone of being greedy and just throwing a price out there. You have to be smart as a seller with your pricing because there are fewer buyers out there for your home,’ said Compass realtor Dannid Dichito. ‘It’s a better time for buyers, especially first-time home buyers because you’re actually most of time getting an under asking price accepted and that’s a great thing because your total costs and everything is going to come down.’”
The Deep Dive. “Canada’s de-facto futures housing market is backfiring for investors looking to make a profit on the country’s skyrocketing real estate values. With interest rates rapidly on the rise and no sign of relief anytime soon, Canadian home prices are plunging across the country— leaving investors suddenly vulnerable to massive losses. ‘What you’re seeing is a sizeable chunk of people who went out there and bought these condos thinking that it was an easy flip and an easy way to make money,’ explained Jordon Scrinko, a real estate agent from Ontario, to Bloomberg. ‘Unfortunately there’s far more inventory than anyone expected, and the market isn’t where they were hoping.’”
The NL Times. “Average home sales prices in the Netherlands fell for the fourth month in the row, with November representing the sharpest recorded decrease since May 2013. Owner occupied homes sold in November cost nearly 1 percent less on average than in October, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). After years of sharp, dramatic increases in housing prices, a peak was reached in July. Despite the decrease in November, homes still sold for prices that were 4.9 percent higher than 12 months earlier. That reflected the lowest year-on-year increase in over six years, the CBS said. The year-on-year increase recently peaked at over 21 percent at the start of 2022.”
From Bloomberg. “A leading Hong Kong developer has won a bid for land in a traditionally expensive area for the lowest price in eight years, in another sign of the city’s weakening real estate market. Tycoon Victor Li’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd won the site designated for residential and commercial use in Kai Tak, the former airport area, for HK$8.7 billion (US$1.1 billion), the government said late Wednesday. The bid translates to HK$6,138 per square foot, the lowest since 2014, according to Midland Holdings Ltd.”
“On top of high construction costs, ‘investment sentiment in recent months has made developers more cautious in bidding,’said Alvin Lam, a director at the surveyor unit of Midland. Lam previously valued the property at HK$14.9 billion, more than 70% higher than the transaction price.”
Daily Mail Australia. “Home borrowers who took out fixed rate loans last year face a tough time in 2023 as their monthly repayments surge by 40 per cent – potentially worsening home price falls. A borrower with an average $600,000 mortgage would see their monthly repayments abruptly surge by at least 40.8 per cent, or an increase of $934 from $2,291 to $3,225. Real estate data group CoreLogic’s Pain and Gain report predicted ‘2023 is expected to be a more testing year for the resales market’. ‘The majority of outstanding fixed loan terms secured through the pandemic will have expired by the end of next year,’ it said. ‘This could prompt more motivated selling in a high interest rate environment, even if property sellers have to endure a loss.’”
“CoreLogic has highlighted the areas where a higher proportion of sellers are making a loss, compared with what they paid for the property. In the Melbourne council area – covering Docklands and Carlton – 39 per cent of homes sold for a loss in the September quarter, with vendors losing a median amount of $55,000 after a typical holding period of eight years and four months.”
“Melbourne unit owners were much more likely to make a loss, with 15.7 per cent selling for less than they paid, compared with just 1.1 per cent of house sellers. Parramatta in Sydney’s west had a 20 per cent loss rate, with sellers typically losing $49,360 after offloading properties with a median hold period of six years and nine months. This was much higher than greater Sydney’s average loss rate of 7.8 per cent – the highest level in three years. Unit sellers in Sydney are much more likely to make a loss, with 13.1 per cent of people in this situation, compared with 1.8 per cent of house sellers.”
“Darwin was pretty bad with 35 per cent of sales at a loss, with home owners losing $65,000 after holding the property for nine years and six months. In the Northern Territory capital, almost half or 48.2 per cent of apartment sellers made a loss, compared with 16 per cent of house sellers. In Perth, 34.1 per cent of units sold at a loss, compared with 7.5 per cent of houses. The West Australian capital accounted for 21 per cent of Australia’s loss-making sales in the September quarter of 2022, with homes offloaded after a median hold period of eight years and 10 months.”