A report from KTVB in Idaho. “‘I’ve seen the prices drop, I’ve seen some homes drop $75,000, $100,000, $50,000, just to get people to come in and get into that price range that people are looking for,’ said Garrett Stephenson, a buyer manager for Homie. Stephenson believes houses can no longer be overpriced like they were about six months ago. One of the reasons for this is growing inventory.”
From CandGnews on Michigan. “‘The market has definitely softened,’ said Caron Koteles Riha, a Realtor with Real Estate One in Rochester. Realtors feel bad that they can’t get homebuyers good deals, said Ben Rait, a Realtor with Century 21 Campbell Realty in Madison Heights. Even the past two or three years, he said, they could at least have a reasonable expectation that their buyers would be happy with the price they had to pay for their house, but ‘with the upcoming market, I’m not sure that’s going to be the case or not.’”
The Daily Advertiser on Louisiana. “Bill Bacque’s reports includes year-over-year and year-to-date numbers for Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, Acadia, Iberia, Vermilion and Evangeline parishes. Bacque said, ‘It appears that any pent-up demand attributable to COVID influences is likely behind us.’”
The Williamson Homepage in Tennessee. “Almost half of the Ovation submarket — among Metro Nashville area’s most high-profile mixed-use developments — just sold for $35 million after development onsite unexpectedly stalled for several years. The transaction is the culmination of empty commitments, a foreclosure auction and years of stalling after the original developer of these 34 acres failed to produce results. An unofficial groundbreaking for the $700 million Ovation property involved an RSVP-only party of 140 invited guests — including American Pickers star Mike Wolfe — to celebrate the beginning of a project under general contractor, South Star.”
“Six years later when all 150 acres were expected to be complete and serve as the core of Cool Springs with a single hotel to account for 250 of its 450 rooms, then-owner Paramont Capital began angling to sell the 34 largely undeveloped acres. Days after Mars Petcare’s ribbon cutting, a lending group hosted a foreclosure auction for Thomas’s 34 acres despite Thomas still owning another 42 acres. The unusual auction landed on a bail bondsman casting a winning bid of $42 million, but failing to produce the money, so the group ate the cost of $40.5 million to take the property back.”
From Bloomberg on California. “The developers of two troubled Los Angeles mega-mansions are headed for a reckoning, with one home getting its price slashed in half and the other facing the wrecking ball after a court-ordered auction sale. The two projects in the exclusive Bel Air district, built on speculation that a billionaire would pay top dollar for a massive glass and marble villa, show how high-flyers can run into trouble by overreaching or crossing legal lines.”
“‘Bad ideas, just because they cost a lot of money, don’t become better ideas,’ said Fred Rosen, a Bel Air neighborhood activist. ‘To any future spec-home builder, use this as a lesson,’ said Ted Lanes, who was appointed in July to sell The One, a 100,000-square-foot house. ‘This wave of limitless spec homes has finally crescendoed.’”
The Real Deal on New York. “Invictus Real Estate Partners has swooped into a Brooklyn residential development, buying an $88 million non-performing note from Austin-based hedge fund Prophet Capital. The New York-based private equity firm then immediately took steps to foreclose on the property. The Kent House is located in a buzzy area of Williamsburg, close to two subway stations and numerous shopping and dining spots. The luxury mixed-use project features 96 apartments and 31,000 square feet of retail space, per Commercial Observer.”
The Sequim Gazette in Washington. “Owners of 415 homes and vacant parcels in Clallam and Jefferson counties are undergoing foreclosure proceedings as a statewide moratorium on evictions approaches an Oct. 31 deadline, a Port Angeles real estate broker said. Patti Morris, who manages properties for property management companies, said on Oct. 6 if and when Gov. Jay Inslee ends his COVID-19-related suspension of evictions on renters and homeowners, it will gradually lower prices and ease the pent-up demand being experienced by seekers of new homes.”
“Morris said property owners are often delinquent on reverse mortgages, a loan for seniors 62 and older that allows them to convert equity into cash income with no monthly payments and no interest on the owed lump sum. ‘We have reverse mortgages where we have elderly people who will borrow a lump sum on their home,’ she said. ‘I see a lot of reverse mortgages that foreclose, for whatever reason, whether one spouse dies or they both die, and the heirs do not want to take the opportunity to take the home back. I see that quite often.’”
“Morris has some properties that have been under foreclosure proceedings for two years, she said. Morris speculated that companies won’t list foreclosed properties en masse immediately once the moratorium ends, she added. ‘They want the most out of the property as well,’ she said.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “1029 King St., W. No. 219, Toronto. Asking price: $799,000 (Mid-July, 2021). Previous asking price: $825,000 (Early July, 2021). Selling price: $786,000 (Mid-July, 2021). Agent Scott Hanton hoped a decent crowd would visit this one-bedroom-plus-den suite at the Electra Lofts building, but didn’t get a single tour request. ‘The spring rush of condo buyers dried up, putting the remaining July buyers in the driver’s seat,’ Mr. Hanton said.”
The Observer Uganda. “Edward Muyanja can easily summarize the last 12 months of business in downtown Kampala in one word – painful! Muyanja, a trader in Gwanda Arcade in downtown Kampala, compares the business fortune from the pre-Covid-19 times to the current situation as one which is simply worlds apart. ‘Business is not good,’ he says as a matter of fact. ‘People are no longer working as before due to Covid-19 effect. Here in Gwanda Arcade, some businesses closed.’ He explained that ‘people came and picked their merchandise and left the building.’ Those who tried to ride through the Covid storm, Muyanja added, reached a point and gave up.”
“Joel (not real name) quit his bank job in early 2020. After more than a decade working for one of the largest banks around town, he felt it was time to make the leap. He wanted to be his own boss. Joel opened up a money lending business. His location: the busy downtown Kampala area, where arcades such as Gwanda are located.”
“More than a year later, Joel’s voice breaks when he speaks of the ordeal he is going through. ‘When some of my clients default, they say: ‘look at my shop, it is closed. I have not been working. How do you want me to pay you back?’ Joel, who is battling a drop in sales and a spike in loan defaults, narrates, saying he usually understands the dilemma of his clients.Joel signs off by saying that the public should not be duped into thinking that the fair performance that the banks recorded for 2020 is a sign that economic recovery is on track.”
“‘Many of those banks only postponed the period that their clients should pay back the loans. On their books, the loan does not look like it is non-performing. But now, that one year grace period ended around June. Now wait for the worst!’”
The Daily Mail Australia. “The Chinese developer behind a massive Australian apartment project plagued by poor workmanship is struggling to repay debts, putting owners at risk of huge losses. Yunnan Metropolitan Construction Investment (YMCI) Australia’s ambitious $5billion Ovation Quarter project in western Sydney, which planned for 4,500 units, has come under ASIC scrutiny over company ‘deficits’ that have spiralled out to $83million.”
“Since 2018 sales struggled in the mega residential project, which envisioned a mini city spread over 19 hectares including a school for 1,000 students and retail areas near Sydney Olympic Park. Those who bought at Ovation have raised concerns about ‘chronic problems’ with leaking walls, flooding after rain, fire safety doors and security in a completed building.”
A building industry source told Daily Mail Australia owners who bought into the first stage are facing a collapse in the value of their biggest asset with so many problems now associated with the project. ‘The biggest issue is their value could drop through the floor. What was worth $1million could drop to $400,000. Nobody will want to buy them at market price.’”
“He added the owners could end up liable for increased strata fees and if residents agreed to try to seek the cost of repairs from YMCI they’d face huge legal bills.”