A report from CNBC. “‘We actually believe the industry is already overbuilding in single-family to normalized demand by roughly 20% and about 10% for multi-family, so we couldn’t be on more of an opposite side of where the market is and where the industry is, frankly,’ said Ivy Zelman.”
From Market Watch. “Originations of large ‘jumbo’ U.S. residential mortgage loans that exceed ‘conforming limits’ set for housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could hit $550 billion this year, a level not seen since the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, BofA researchers wrote. The race to make large loans on expensive homes comes as property prices have surged during the pandemic, up almost 20% from a year ago, as of July, while touching fresh records in many cities across the nation.”
From CBS 5 in Arizona. “A Phoenix-area realtor reports that iBuyers own nearly 13% of all listings in Maricopa County. The reach of tech corporations can be felt at a gated community near Thomas Road and 32nd Street, where an iBuyer purchased a house for $600,000, $100,000 more than neighboring homes.”
From 6 News in Virginia. “While the pandemic has made it more difficult for people to buy a home in the Richmond area, real estate experts said the market has improve over the last six months, and now is the time to start looking. Christine Mottley, a real estate agent with One South Realty Group said Richmond is now seeing more homes available on the market than in the spring. ‘It might be cheaper to buy a home believe it or not, so yeah, depends on your situation,” Mottley said.”
The Press and Guide in Michigan. “The way veteran Realtor Robert Marx sees it, the housing market for Dearborn and Dearborn Heights is in the midst of a ‘little bit of a shift’ from the wild ride of the past year. ‘It’s subtle, but it’s happening,’ said Marx, pointing to a slight, end-of-summer cooldown for home sales. ‘We’re seeing it across the country, and we are seeing it here. Buyers are starting to say ‘Whoa, wait a minute, what are we doing here?’”
From Fox 31. “At this point, it seems as though Colorado’s housing market has stalled at the high prices reached during the summer, according to the Colorado Association of Realtors. In September, the median price of a single family home in the Denver metro counties was $562,000. This is a slight dip in the most recent Denver market history. In June, Denver metro’s median sales price for a single family home was about 20 grand more at $585,000, the highest point in history. The inventory of active listings has doubled since this January, from 2,000 to 4,100.”
The Williamson Home Page in Tennessee. “September statistics from Greater Nashville Realtors show the market frenzy might be starting to ease. Home sales in Williamson County decreased for the second consecutive month in September, according to GNR data. The median home sales price fell by 4 percent and total transaction volume dropped by nearly 38 percent from the month prior. While demand is still strong, some urgency has faded.”
“Highly desirable properties are still generating bidding wars, but others are sitting on the market, according to Greater Nashville Realtors president-elect Steve Jolly. High-end listings are more abundant because the investors who have been gobbling up single-family houses tend to purchase inexpensive homes to maximize returns, according to the NAR. ‘We are seeing fewer and fewer first-time homebuyers because of this,’ Jolly said.”
The Albuquerque Business Journal in New Mexico. “Ramon Casaus, CEO of ROC Real Estate Partners, said Albuquerque’s housing market is starting to correct itself. He has had to tweak his usual five-day plan for a new single-family home listing from months ago — but just slightly. The single-family home sat for an average of 13 days, which has been commonplace since the spring. ‘If a property isn’t sold in 30 days right now, something’s going on,’ he said. ‘You should have an offer within one week.’”
“‘Inventory in the greater Albuquerque area is improving, which is reflected in the slight drop in median sales price,’ said Belinda Franco, 2021 GAAR president. ‘This fall, buyers should have more options because homes are receiving less offers.’”
The Dallas Business Journal. “The DFW market is cooling because more inventory is coming on the market and the volume of homes sold has decreased over the last three months, Brown said. Sales prices are also declining a tad, she said. ‘It’s still pricey,’ said DFW Opendoor General Manager Sharon Brown. ‘It’s still a seller’s market, but because of the inventory lift, because there’s more supply on the market, the price is slowly coming down — not tremendously, but slightly.’”
“New home construction in DFW is booming — up 37%, which beats the Real Estate Research Center’s forecast of a 22% rise. Brown said conditions are improving for buyers in DFW. ‘It’s better to buy now, for example, in Dallas, than it was four months ago. But it’s worse to sell now than it was four months ago,’ Brown said.”
From Bloomberg. “Elon Musk reduced the offer price on the California mansion he’s selling as the world’s richest person cuts ties with the state. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer’s 16,000-square-foot Bay Area house was offered for $31.99 million, down about $5.5 million from a prior listing, according to Zillow.”
From Senior Housing News. “Municipal bond defaults are climbing in 2021 — and the senior housing sector is at the top of the pile, according to Municipal Market Analytics. For the full year of 2021, the firm has so far recorded 47 first-time payment defaults, representing about $2.4 billion in credit. More than half (27) of the defaults were linked to senior housing communities, which is listed as a ‘risky’ sector for credit along with hospitals, student housing, jails and higher education.”
“The report suggests that there is still underlying pain in the senior housing industry. The report also shows that first-time payment defaults have risen since 2018, when Municipal Market Analytics tracked 46 defaults. The following year, defaults hit 55, before leaping up to 88 in 2020. ‘The slowest fourth quarter defaults total since 2009 was 14 — registered three times in 2014, 2017, and 2018 — suggesting that 2021 will see at least 13 more defaults by 12/31,’ the Municipal Market Analytics report reads.”
From Reuters. “Debt-saddled Chinese property firms took heavy fire in bond markets on Tuesday, after the poster child of the sector’s woes, Evergrande Group, missed its third round of bond payments in as many weeks and others wrned of defaults. ‘It is pretty serious now and it looks like it is going to be long and drawn out process,’ said London-based Trium Capital fund manager Peter Kisler about Evergrande and the wider crisis. ‘I don’t see the recovery being particularly high,’ he said referring to what Evergrande bondholders would get if the company gets broken up. ‘I think 20 cents [for every dollar of the bonds’ original face value] is more or less fair.’”