A report from Crain’s New York Business. “The market has changed since 2012, when Extell’s One57 tower in Midtown reached over $1 billion in purchases in six months, touching off the city’s luxury construction boom. Extell followed that Billionaires’ Row success with several more pricey condo projects across Manhattan, all aimed at the world’s wealthiest investors. Other developers had the same idea, resulting in an oversupply of lavish properties at a time when those buyers have all but disappeared.”
From Queens News in New York. “A new report found that five Queens areas saw significant price drops throughout November. The Breezy Point-Belle Harbor-Rockaway Park-Broad Channel area had the highest median percentage price drop, with a 9.7 percent drop based on one sale dropping $75,000 below the median selling point.”
“Coming in at number two was East Elmhurst, which had a 8.91 percent median price drop with six sales dropping down $109,444. At number three, South Jamaica had a 7.55 percent decrease with the price drops decreasing by $43,000 in total. The fourth neighborhood with the highest median percentage drop was Corona with a 5.46 percent median price decrease, with price drops averaging at a $27,000 decrease. At number five, the Far Rockaway-Bayswater area had a 5 percent median price decrease, however the price drops averaged at a $20,000 decrease.”
The Real Deal on Florida. “Developer David Martin dropped the price of his Grove at Grand Bay penthouse to $19.8 million, a 29 percent cut from the original preconstruction price. Martin isn’t the only developer to adjust his pricing amid a glut of luxury condos in Miami.”
From Patch Massachusetts. “Barack and Michelle Obama have reportedly closed on a multi-million-dollar mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. TMZ reported the former first couple bought the home for $11.75 million. The house had been on the market for four years and was initially listed for more than $22 million before the price dropped to $14.85 million. But according to real estate records, the Obamas got the house for millions less.”
From Celebrity Networth. “Yet another famous celebrity home seller has been forced to levy a steep discount in order to try and move a property in an increasingly tough housing market. But unlike many other similar stories as of late, Tom Ford’s recently price-slashed 22,000-acre ranch isn’t located anywhere near Los Angeles.”
“Instead, the fashion designer and filmmaker’s ranch sprawls over New Mexico land, and after first listing the property back in 2016 for $75 million, he’s cut the asking price by some $27 million down to $48 million.”
The Berkeley Daily Planet. “Boring as it is, land use continues to be the most contested topic among self-styled progressives here and all over the country. More precisely, the contest is the intersection between housing as a market opportunity for surplus capital and housing as a human right. Berkeley, for example, is vastly overbuilt in the category of ‘market rate’ (read expensive) housing and vastly under-built in the basic shelter category for truly low-income people.”
“Many of these boondoggles have already been build, and many more are now in the pipeline. Anecdotally it’s apparent that many older buildings in Berkeley have unrented units, and many of our new buildings have signs advertising available ‘luxury’ apartments which are being held out of the market in anticipation of even higher rents.”
From Curbed San Francisco in California. “Oakland housing activists Moms 4 Housing frequently cite a statistic alleging that there are four empty homes in Oakland for every homeless person—a figure alluded to in the group’s name. But is this true?”
“The best available public figures, variable though they may be, do support the four-to-one claim. In fact, the entire Bay Area has far more empty houses than people without homes in 2019.”
The Durango Herald in Colorado. “Even though hundreds of apartments are going up in Durango, the need for affordable housing continues to intensify. Bill Hermesman, who has owned rental units in town for 25 years, said he noticed a slowdown in demand over the summer. ‘This is probably the slowest year I have had in many, many years,’ he said.”
From Senior Housing News. “There may be an abundance of available homes in some major metro markets over the next two decades, driven in part by the wave of aging baby boomers. Whether all these boomers will be able to find buyers for their homes — and then make the move to senior living communities — is an open question.”
“Some markets with a large population of older adults — such as those in Florida and Arizona — may see a more severe housing glut than others. These trends could impact the senior living industry. Already, baby boomer home-sellers are seeing tepid interest from younger buyers. Some industry insiders — like Rick Exline, director of life plan communities at Des Moines, Iowa-based Life Care Services — fear that a housing glut, coupled with a lack of younger home-buyers, could impede boomers from selling their homes and moving into senior living.”
“‘Millennials are living differently, the next generations are living differently, there may not be the need for the house in the suburb to raise my family,’ Exline told Senior Housing News. ‘So, 10 years out, I think we’re going to have an issue with individuals who want to retire and move to senior living, and where’s the market to buy their homes?’”