A report from the Orange County Register. “Home values have declined from pandemic-era peaks in more than half the states and metropolitan areas, according to some new price data. The sharpest declines in metros were largely in California, Idaho and Nevada markets. The 10 largest dips from 2022 highs, and gain from February 2020 …Boise: Off 13.1% from peak and up 40% in pandemic. Carson City: Off 12.2% from peak and up 26% in pandemic. Austin: Off 11.3% from peak and up 43% in pandemic. San Francisco: Off 10.7% from peak and up 13% in pandemic. Coeur d’Alene: Off 10.6% from peak and up 52% in pandemic. Idaho Falls: Off 10.5% from peak and up 47% in pandemic. Sacramento: Off 9.7% from peak and up 26% in pandemic. Santa Cruz: Off 9.3% from peak and up 23% in pandemic. Stockton: Off 9.3% from peak and up 31% in pandemic. Reno: Off 9.2% from peak and up 31% in pandemic.”
The Greeley Tribune in Colorado. “The following is compiled using the latest data available from Redfin: Median sale price for homes in Greeley through February: $400,000 (+0.8% from January; -4.8% since February 2022). Median sale price in Windsor: $526,615 (-15.5% from January; -9% since February 2022).”
From KIRO 7 News. “A new housing report by the Northwest Multiple Listing Services shows the prices of homes in several Washington counties had been on a downward trend this year. The report showed the 2023 median cost of a home in King County dropped by 9.39% from March of 2022. Snohomish saw a 10.37% decrease and average prices for Pierce county homes dropped by 6.18%. Matthew Gardner, Windermere Real Estate’s chief economist, said the overall drop is because mortgage rates have increased. ‘Back in March of this year the median sale price was $760,000 here in King County. That’s down from $838,753 in March of 2022,’ Gardner explained.”
From Fox News. “The Oregonian penned an editorial about the coastal state, particularly its city of Portland that was ‘once the darling of national media,’ sees its population fleeing in droves. ‘For decades, Oregon hasn’t had to sell itself as a destination. Who wouldn’t want to live in this state of trees and mountains, drink its award-winning craft beers and enjoy its laid-back culture?’ The Oregonian’s editorial board asked hypothetically. ‘Turns out – thousands of now-former Oregonians.’”
From Reuters. “Jeffrey Haley, the CEO of American National Bank and Trust Company, saw the crunch coming at the start of 2023. Rising interest rates and a slowing economy to him meant that loan growth would likely fall by half as the Danville, Virginia-based community bank turned its focus to better-quality, higher-yielding credit, worrying little about volume. Then a pair of U.S. regional banks abruptly failed in mid-March. Instinct told him things would tighten further, with loan growth plunging to perhaps a quarter of what it was in 2022, when his bank’s loan book grew by 13% to around $2.1 billion.”
“Coming into 2023 ‘my rule of thumb was whatever you did last year you will probably do half this year,’ Haley said. ‘Based on current events … I now think it gets cut in half again.’”
Kelowna Now in Canada. “Yes, home sales in Kelowna were up in March compared to the doldrums in January and February. However, the activity is still way off what it was in March 2022 when the market was hot. As well, selling prices continue to bounce around, and are considerably below record-highs set last spring. Sellers will have to accept a price of about 15% less to sell their home compared to a year ago. The seller of a typical single-family home will not get the record-high benchmark selling price of $1,131,800 they would have gotten in April 2022. Instead, they can expect $130,300 less, or $1,001,500, which was the benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home in Kelowna in March.”
“The sudden downturn in the housing market has been well-documented and fretted about. The benchmark selling price of a typical townhouse in the city last month was $703,200, down from $742,200 in February and off $125,800 from the record-high of $829,000 set in May 2022. The benchmark selling price for a typical condo in Kelowna last month was $492,600, down from $496,300 in February and off $64,400 from the record-high benchmark of $557,000 in April 2022.”
The Telegraph. “Across Britain, homes are getting listed at prices far below what they would have sold for during the pandemic as homeowners, buy-to-let investors and first-time buyers alike creak under the strain of high mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis. But the pain has only just begun – and it will be driven by the mortgage market. James Setright, 36, has seized an opportunity to move house while prices are falling. Setright is snapping up his five-bedroom house for just over £875,000, a discount on its £895,000 asking price, which he thinks was already cheap.”
“‘That property should be [selling for] £1.2m but the guy obviously needed to get rid of it. There is an awful lot of this happening. It’s obvious that they need to sell because they can’t afford to live there and they are moving somewhere else,’ says Setright, who works in property himself.”
“Back in October, the share of sales that were agreed after price changes was up only 2.5pc compared to the pre-Covid norm. In March, the share was up 44pc. ‘Clearly, it is price sensitive. Maybe what you’re seeing is a realisation amongst sellers that circumstances have changed, that buyers’ budgets are more constrained and there isn’t much point in waiting for the market to catch up with their price expectations,’ says Lucian Cook, head of UK residential research at Savills estate agents.”
The Korea Times. “Zigbang, the operator of Korea’s leading real estate brokerage app, is asking some of its employees to resign and offering them compensation packages equivalent to three months of wages, according to industry officials, Sunday. The request was reportedly made as the company’s financial losses have grown rapidly over the past few years. Amid the snowballing loss, Zigbang CEO Ahn Sung-woo is said to have told employees last month that he will not receive his wage.”
“Zigbang has relied on commissions from real estate agents who use its app to attract customers. The volume of housing transactions in Korea, however, halved to 508,790 in 2022 from 1.01 million in 2021, according to the Korea Real Estate Board. ‘Zigbang seems to have been too aggressive in its investments over the past few years,’ an industry official said. ‘Due to the housing market slump, investors have been reluctant to bet on real estate platform operators.’”
The Vietnam Reader. “As reported in the province’s DOC department, in the first quarter of this year, 72% of the number of real estate transactions through notarization has decreased year over year. The trend is also applied to the volume of the province’s real estate construction permits, which is dropped by 50%. As noted, the areas with a sharp decrease in transaction volume are Da Lat, Di Linh, Bao Loc, Bao Lam, Duc Trong, and Lam Ha districts. These places used to be hot spots for real estate investment in the period 2020-2021. At the time of ‘hot fever,’ some land plots were transferred to many people, and the price was inflated by 40-50% compared to the original selling price.”
“Many landowners have discounted by 20-30% for capital recovery since the end of 2022. For example, a 150 square meter lot in Bao Loc City was invested VND 1.15 billion last year. However, he has been advertising for many months now for VND 850 million, cutting a loss of 26% but no buyer to be found. ‘This year there is a sharp drop in the transaction volume, about 1/3 year over year,’ said Ms. Tham, Director of Tam Real Investment Joint Stock Company located in Da Lat City. In a plummeting market, no transactions come off. Although investors still asked for information, they find it hard to invest. ‘Bao Loc or Di Linh Districts used to be perfect destinations for estate investors. And now they can not sell them even with a 30% discount.’”