A report from the Idaho Press. “In Ada County in 2016, there were 38 homes sold for $1 million or more. In 2020, that number was up to 314. There have already been 362 million-dollar homes sold in 2021, as of Wednesday. In June, the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service report showed signs of inventory on the upswing. Anecdotally, Realtors have noticed it too. A cooling off of the hot housing market could be coming. That’s still to be determined in the long run. A dramatic shift in either direction could be potentially dangerous.”
“‘I think there is a bubble going on,’ University of Idaho economist Steven Peterson said. ‘And I think the high end purchases of homes is a reflection of that. I think it’s mitigated by this is likely a bubble in equity as opposed to debt. An equity bubble tends to be less destructive than a debt bubble.’”
From Philadelphia Magazine in Pennsylvania. “Alas, nothing lasts forever, and Kevin C. Gillen, senior research fellow at Drexel University says the conditions that have produced this insanely competitive market are bound to change. And while Gillen says Philly buyers alone can’t support current price levels, a price drop isn’t the only possibility for the future: ‘We’re either going to have a significant downward correction, which will be painful, or we’re going to become an unaffordable city, which will also be painful. Neither of these two outcomes will be good. Now, which one is going to happen?’”
From Click on Detroit in Michigan. “For much of 2021, sellers could count on multiple offers, most over the asking place. But that hot market has finally calmed down a bit. Real Estate One CEO Dan Elsea said the peak market happened in April and has cooled off since. ‘It might be a wise move now to treat that first offer that comes in, to work on it pretty good — rather than throwing it away for the next offer,’ Elsea said.”
The Oklahoman. “In the wee hours one day in the spring, Christy Taylor spied a listing for a house for sale in Edmond’s Fox Lake neighborhood. Here’s how they got the house, for $421,500. They offered $20,000 over the ask price. They waived inspections — ‘not advised,’ Christy acknowledged. And they decided they could live with some ‘interesting’ tile work. ‘The crazy thing is it appraised,’ said real estate agent Emily Frosaker-Kyle, who worked with the Taylors.”
“She said appraisals lately have been meeting multiple-offer, bid-up prices on her deals, which could signal that the market is settling some. The housing market, nationally, appears to be cooling. In Oklahoma City, it’s still hot, just not quite as hot. More signs of cooling in the market: Not so many homes now are going under contract the same day they’re listed or the next day, said agent Keri Gray of KG Realty.”
“‘My listings have been on the market for an average of two weeks versus 24 hours or less. I have not received a multiple offer in over a week,’ she said. ‘I did get an offer today on a property I would have had multiple offers on a few months ago. It was less than listing price.’ Gray wondered whether sellers are choking the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs. ‘The issue is that sellers are wanting to list so high now and have big expectations. We are dealing with low appraisals now,’ she said.”
“Only the froth has dissipated because the market is still hot, said Jared Kennedy of Lime Realty. ‘The ‘boom’ may be over, but it’s still a sellers’ market. The biggest issue on our horizon is being in the middle of market reality and what a seller’s neighbor/friend/family was able to get for their house six months ago,’ he said.”
From Mansion Global on Nevada. “Like so many markets across the U.S., the Las Vegas housing market is on a continued hot streak. At the Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, one of the city’s major luxury high-rises, ‘Before [the pandemic], you couldn’t get one of those units,’ said Corcoran Global Living agent Don Kuhl. ‘Now we have 24 units available, a little over 10% of the building. The price point has held, they’re not giving these away, but the fact that there’s inventory is an opportunity.’”
From Cal Matters. “California being what it is – a very large state with a complex social and economic matrix and a unique political structure – generates an endless stream of analysis and criticism. In recent decades, as California veered to the left politically, it drew fawning attention from like-minded media, portraying the state as a harbinger of the nation’s future. California’s politicians such as Gov. Gavin Newsom fed the notion. ‘California is what America is going to look like,’ he has boasted. ‘California is America’s coming attraction.’”
“While California professes to seek progressive goals, it has failed to match its words with effective action, concluded New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, a Californian by birth and choice. ‘California, as the biggest state in the nation, and one where Democrats hold total control of the government, carries a special burden,’ he wrote. ‘If progressivism cannot work here, why should the country believe it can work anywhere else?’”
From KTLA in California. “David de Russy steered his bicycle through a sparse crowd of midweek visitors streaming down Los Angeles’ Venice Beach boardwalk between multimillion-dollar homes, T-shirt shops and eateries on one side and vendors peddling paintings, hawking crystals and offering tarot card readings on the other. For the first time in about a year, he was happy the view toward the ocean was largely unobscured with the misery of homeless camps that mushroomed along the sands during the coronavirus pandemic.”
“A certain edginess always coexisted with a peaceful vibe, but the concentration of homeless people has left residents and business owners frustrated and angry. Videos posted to social media showed a homeless man being shot, men and women throwing wild punches and wrestling on the boardwalk, and a tent being set ablaze in the sand. One man was found bludgeoned in his tent last month and another homeless man was arrested as the suspected killer.”
“Residents tell stories of break-ins and thefts, seeing people use heroin in the alleys behind their homes or defecating in their yards. ‘This is no way for people to live,’ said Brad Neal, a lawyer and owner of 10 buildings in Venice. ‘Everyone is suffering. Not just the unhoused but the housed as well.’ Neal, who recently armed himself with a club to get to his car after he said he was almost assaulted, said he worries about his tenants.”
From Bloomberg on New York. “A condo near the top of one of Manhattan’s most exclusive residential towers may face foreclosure after its unknown owner defaulted on a $13.75 million mortgage. The firm that owns the debt on the 72nd floor unit at 432 Park Ave. is seeking to take possession of the property, according to a lawsuit filed last week. The owner of the three-bedroom, 4,019-square-foot (373-square-meter) apartment hasn’t made a mortgage payment since March, the suit says.”
“A foreclosure on the apartment — purchased in 2016 for $30 million, by a buyer whose identity was shielded by a limited liability company — would be the first at 432 Park, according to PropertyShark. That’s the same Billionaires’ Row tower where a penthouse was recently listed for sale at $169 million.”