It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘This continued demand for homes is enticing more homeowners to sell in order to avoid the fear of missing out on historically high prices,’ said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. Redfin reported that the share of home sellers dropping their asking prices each week continues to increase. In addition to new listing being up over last year, the share of sellers who made listing price adjustments grew 0.7% year-over-year to 17.3% of active inventory–the highest share in 21 months.”
“Starter home listings have risen the most in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where 17% more entry-level properties hit the market than last August. Milwaukee and Tampa, Florida rounded out the top three markets with 16.7% and 13.7% increases. Rising FOMO among home sellers could help the trend continue. Homelight shows that 41% of new homeowners — those who’ve owned a home only one to three years — are looking to cash in on their properties. In the Midwest, it’s a whopping 49%. ‘Established homeowners aren’t the only ones gunning for a lucrative sale,’ the report reads. ‘New homeowners are taking notice, too.’”
“In the four-week period ending August 18, price cuts hit the highest point since October 2019. Price drops were most common in Naples, Tampa and Cape Coral, Florida, as well as in New York City and Houston.”
“Looks like 007 has failed at a mission. Pierce Brosnan has taken his $100 million Malibu home off the market after a year without any offers, The Post has learned. Initially listed in September 2020, it was removed by Brosnan last month without attempting to lower the hefty price tag.”
“Realty Trac found foreclosure filings fell 26% in July compared to the previous month in the Bay Area. Unfortunately for many homeowners, the monthly mortgage remains stressful. Reginald Pearson lost his job as a plumber in September of last year. He’s nearly depleted all his savings and doesn’t know how he’s going to pay his mortgage in the near future. Pearson, who bought his new home right before being laid off, says he hasn’t needed a forbearance so far, but wonders how much longer he can hold out.”
“‘Best guess, October, November before things are going to happen. I’m gonna make some other moves,’ said Pearson.”
“Demand for every kind of housing in South Florida has been soaring, but some experts see signs of a shift. Last month, property sales in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties dropped compared to July 2020. ‘I see that there’s a correction coming. The question is, is it going to be a correction like what we saw in ‘08 where there’s a bubble that just deflates, or is it going to be something that’s a bit more gradual?’ said Weston real estate attorney Roy Oppenheim.”
“Oppenheim is concerned about an potential increase in foreclosures as lenders lift pandemic prompted moratoriums on mortgages ‘The foreclosure mills, the people that brought you foreclosure fraud 10 years ago, are ramping back up as we speak,’ he said.”
“Earlier it was very difficult to get a house in Vijayawada, Guntur and other cities where even agents would come up with tenants. In Vijayawada the main reason was that development of Amaravati has come to a standstill. Many left the city to avoid the huge rents as their source of income has taken a major hit. A house owner T Malleswari said that for the past 14 months two portions in his house were lying vacant. ‘We have removed the to-let board, feeling ashamed that it has been hanging on the wall for so long,’ she said while recalling that earlier even before a tenant would vacate, new people would come up with three to six months of rent in advance.”
“Property and legal experts told The Edge Malaysia in a report this this week that there could be potentially ‘millions, if not billions, of ringgit worth of projects being abandoned once the movement restrictions or bank loan moratorium is over. ‘Without the mandatory extensions, developers may have to pay huge liquidated ascertained damages (LAD). Some may face issues with the authorities and be left with no choice when they run out of money and funding to continue with the project,’ said an abandoned project specialist who declined to be named said.”
“More than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic hit Singapore, some construction firms are still losing money on each project that they have taken. One company, CHH Construction System, has been working solely on projects that are netting the building firm at least a 15 to 20 per cent loss each. ‘We have projects signed before the pandemic and have to fulfil our contractual commitment,’ its managing director Nelson Tee said. Many contractors said they are bound to work on ‘dead’ projects, knowing full well that they will be suffering huge losses by the end.”
“The subcontractor for the public hospital project said that he had already witnessed three to four subcontractors closing down in the pasttwo years. He described subcontractors — who are hired by a main contractor to perform specialised tasks — as the ‘roots’ of a tree. ‘The root system is already damaged. It is only when people see the tree branches dropping, the leaves going bare, then they sound the alarm.’”
“After years of fast growth and a buying frenzy, Chinese housing behemoth Evergrande is one of the country’s largest and most indebted private enterprises, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. In a nutshell, debt. Evergrande has increased its acquisitions in recent years, capitalizing on the real estate boom.”
“The group announced this week that its overall liabilities had risen to 1.97 trillion yuan ($305 billion), and it warned of ‘risks of borrowing defaults.’ Moody’s downgraded its strength rating to ‘negative’ in August, citing concerns about repayment capacity, while Fitch and Standard & Poor’s followed suit. Evergrande’s stock has dropped by more than 70% in a year, and some contractors and suppliers have complained about not being paid on time.”
“Border closures that stopped thousands of international students studying at Australian universities have reportedly caused entire buildings to remain vacant, impacted small businesses, and left self-funded retirees worried about how they will pay their mortgages. ‘Right now, the CBD here in Melbourne is so quiet you can fire a gun down the streets. It’s eerie. I’ve heard of operators that have five or 10 buildings in the CBD and they have had to shut things down and move all their tenants into one building, so they only have to run that one tenant building,’ said Managing Director of Student Housing Australia Mark McDonald.”
“‘Many owners are without a tenant or rents have fallen below their holding costs,’ he said. ‘Virtually no owner of student accommodation is unaffected. Many owners are self-funded retirees or have mortgages on these properties and are struggling financially and there is no assistance to help them. We can’t do anything about removing people who can’t pay rent, we have seen rental reductions, new legislation imposing greater costs – the hits just keep coming.’”