It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “The number of single-family home sales has declined for three consecutive months. Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, said the single’ biggest reason for the slide is that the typical price of a home in Massachusetts has climbed ‘too high and too fast.’”
“In the Portland area, the median sale price for houses and condos in September was $510,000, a decrease of $15,000, or 2.9%, from $525,000 in August. ‘August was likely the peak for the year based on the statistics of the past,’ said broker Dustin Millert in Lake Oswego.”
“In Palm Beach County, the median price for a condominium or townhouse jumped 6% to $246,500 after dipping almost 2.5% in August. The median price for a single-family home fell 2% to $469,900. That represents two straight months of decline after hitting an all-time high in July of $500,000. September’s decrease means home prices have fallen more than 6% in 60 days.”
“Continuing a trend in the real estate market coming out of red-hot summer pricing, the median price for all homes in Northwest Austin dropped for the third straight month. In Northwest Austin, the median price of all properties—including single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums—fell to $535,000. That is the lowest recorded price for homes in Northwest Austin since March. September was the third straight month where home prices overall have declined across Northwest Austin.”
“Although home sales are not at the record highs anymore, the median price in the Central Valley continued at $450,000 from August to September. Fresno-based realtor Vasili Sotiropulos told The Sun that the slight decrease in sales is a notable difference from the summer months when homes were selling within a few days significantly over asking price. ‘It’s still a seller’s market. So even if we’ve slowed a bit, yeah it’s a little bit better time to buy, a little less competitive – don’t get it mistaken with this is some kind of crash.’”
“All types of housing in San Diego experienced growth this year. The median for a resale single-family house was $831,250, down from a peak of $840,000 in July. Ventura County’s price was down 2.1 percent for a median of $725,000; Orange County was down 1.1 percent for a median of $890,000; and San Bernardino County was down 0.4 percent for a median of $463,000. Agent Jan Ryan said that even with rising prices and lower inventory, buyers are getting pickier than they were earlier this year when it seemed like anything would sell. ‘You can’t take pictures with your cellphone, not make the bed and then price it high and expect it to sell,’ she said.”
“A friend of mine who is a noted home appraiser in the Raleigh-Durham area told me recently that for the first time this year, a home was sold close to the price of his appraisal. 13 years ago, Congress enacted measures that offered appraisers independence and prohibited mortgage bankers from working with appraisers to match a price. That hurt the borrowers as home values went under water, and foreclosures skyrocketed to record levels.”
“Chances are that the rules requiring the separation of mortgage bankers and appraisers may prevent the same level of housing market disaster this time around — although the securitization market may only be weeks away from facing a frenzied environment full of winners and losers.”
“DeNardo Capital Management’s hail-mary attempt to save its Westchester County luxury condo development from foreclosure has fallen short of the goal line. Lenders Specialty Credit Holdings and Zee Bridge Capital were the winning bidders for the more than 250,000-square-foot site in a UCC foreclosure sale, according to a filing in Westchester County Bankruptcy Court.”
“Trinity Place Holdings is racing to close an inventory loan for its trophy Financial District condo tower before forbearance agreements with its lenders expire. Sources familiar with the project said the developer is set to close this week on a loan from an undisclosed lender that would refinance existing debt on the 40-story condo at 77 Greenwich Street, but the scramble underscores problems that have been brewing at the project for years.”
“In the latest twist on ‘The Twists’ — a stalled pair of luxury condo towers over the High Line Park — a foreclosure auction later this month might not come anywhere near resolving the complicated saga, sources told The Post. The towers’ unfinished appearance has puzzled High Line strollers since construction came to a halt in late 2019. Despite the looming foreclosure auction– which is not a court action, but a public offering — sources said that the impenetrable tangle of claims involving The Xi might take much longer to resolve.”
“Companies that worked on the project are seething over the veil of intrigue. One subcontractor told The Post, ‘We have no idea when or if the project will proceed. Nobody will talk to us.’ Although the property might appeal to developers and investors in a rebounding condo market, ‘This situation is not for the faint of heart,’ a financial source said. ‘It has more moving parts than an octopus. It’s like a giant squid with a million tentacles of claims and complications. Resolving the debt has to come first before any construction can resume,’ the source added.”
“Economist James Laurenceson, the director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS, told the ABC that Beijing will be focused on two objectives to contain the crisis. ‘Shoring up social stability, such as by protecting the thousands of households that have put down cash for yet to be completed apartments,’ he said. ‘Second, limiting contagion so that an Evergrande default doesn’t spiral out of control to become a much bigger property bust and debt crisis. But beyond these constraints, all indications are that Beijing is going to allow Evergrande and its investors to incur serious losses.’”
“‘Earlier this year, fearing a situation similar to what we are seeing now, we began selling out our dollar bond exposure to Evergrande… Our assumption has been vindicated. Offshore creditors have the least protection in the event of liquidation of Evergrande, and we assume bondholders will recover about 10% of their total dues,’ said a portfolio manager at a global fund. On Oct. 18, Fitch and Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit outlook or ratings of 18 Chinese developers. According to some analysts, the large-scale downgrades could mean that the era of blind property worship, as a means of stable investment, is nearing an end in China.”
“‘As China is lowering the reliance of property and trying to let the air out of the housing bubble and deleverage, we will see defaults for sure and some developers may go bankrupt,’ said Li Yujia, senior economist with the Real Estate Assessment and Development Research Centre, a research arm of Shenzhen’s government.”