A report from Pleasanton Weekly in California. “Buyer behavior has shifted during the second half of 2021 and is likely to continue into next year said Tina Hand, 2021 president of the Bay East Association of Realtors. Hand said buyers are backing off and sellers aren’t used to that. Asked how sellers are responding, Hand said, ‘I think they are a bit surprised that they aren’t getting the prices we were seeing even as recently as August and the beginning of September. They haven’t quite woken to the fact that the market is shifting. Sellers had been getting 15 or 20 multiple bids going $200,000 to $400,000 over the asking price, and that’s not happening,’ she said.”
“From August to September, the median sales price for a single-family home in Pleasanton dropped from $1.79 million to $1.56 million. Hand said, ‘There’s talk about a ‘housing bubble’ but the factors just aren’t there; this is not 2008. What happened then is not going to happen in 2021.’”
From The Real Deal. “When Carlos Rafael Castaneda Mendez embarked on a scheme to take out fraudulent mortgages, he set his sights on four high-end residential properties in South Florida that neither he nor his accomplices owned, according to prosecutors. Castaneda is one of seven people sentenced this week for their roles in what federal authorities say was a $10 million mortgage fraud and identity theft scheme.”
“From May 2019 to May 2020, the strategy was to pose as the property owners, using fake passports and driver’s licenses, open bank accounts in the owners’ names, and take out loans on the real estate, the indictment states. The co-conspirators used the funds to splurge on payments for a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and watches.”
“South Florida’s luxury residential real estate often appears in allegedly fraudulent schemes. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against a Miamian who allegedly ran a $66 million payday loan scheme and diverted some of the money to pay for a $1.5 million unit at Epic Residences & Hotel.”
From Bisnow New York. “Evergrande’s impending collapse is having ripple effects on a development site on the other side of the globe. Amid attempts to offload its properties nationwide and increase cash flow, Chinese developer Oceanwide is marketing its development site at 80 South St. for sale at $190M less than the $390M it paid in 2016. Oceanwide hit pause on its development plans for the skyscraper in 2019 amid a tumultuous time for the company and put it on the market along with two other projects in San Francisco and Los Angeles.”
The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “Not so fast. A 251-square-foot home in Newton that was listed for $449,900 and had a contigent offer in just days is back on the market — at a reduced price. Hans Brings, the listing agent, said that the buyer wanted to put down 20 percent of the purchase price, but couldn’t find a lender that would finance the home because it was too small. The home at 1295 Boylston Street is now being listed for $389,900, and the owner is looking for a cash offer.”
“‘The home’s going to be difficult to finance if at all,’ Brings said following two showings of the home. ‘The key is that someone’s going to have to most likely buy it cash unless they have some sort of a local lender that’s willing to accept the size of the home.’”
“The initial asking price of $449,900 put the home at $1,792 per square foot. The reduced price puts that number at $1,553 per square foot, according to the listing. It sits on a 2,452 square-foot lot. The offer — one of multiple to come in on the home — was accepted about eight days after the property was listed. Brings said he was surprised the buyers weren’t able to find a lender. ‘They weren’t able to find a lender that was willing to accept 20 percent down, which seems kind of crazy to me considering there’s condos that are small condos that actually sell with financing about the same size,’ he said.”
The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “Homebuyers will need to earn more than $200,000 a year to buy a mid-range house in more than 270 Sydney suburbs if tougher borrowing limits are introduced. An analysis of what would happen if a cap limiting a mortgage to six times a borrower’s income came into force in Australia’s booming housing market shows individuals with a 20 per cent deposit would need an annual income above $100,000 to buy in hundreds of suburbs in both cities.”
“PRD chief economist Diaswati Mardiasmo said debt-to-income limits were needed in hot property markets as Australians stretched their budgets to pay for housing. ‘Our proportion of family income devoted to meeting average loan repayments have increased, with NSW showing the biggest spike,’ she said. ‘This suggests that more and more Australians are committing themselves to higher debt. Some would argue that with a hot market [ratio limits] might mean some people are disadvantaged and cannot get the property that they want,’ she said, but it also meant home buyers might consider a home more within their budget, which could help cool the market overall.”
“‘It’s very much on the top of sellers’ minds to try to get a deal together before the market could be impacted,’ The Agency Epping’s Catherine Murphy said. ‘If you know buyers, instead of being able to spend $2.5 million, they can only afford to be spending $2.1 million, that counts that buyer out of the game. The more buyers you have, the more you end up selling for.’”
The South China Morning Post. “News that China is to pilot a much-heralded property tax in selected cities may have a psychological impact on the market, prompting owners of multiple homes to sell down their holdings before the market takes a sizeable hit, according to analysts. With the new levy bound to undercut house prices across the nation – as it is intended to do – agents said those investors might need to offer steep discounts if they want to sell fast.”
“‘Heavily geared investors will be hardest hit as it will become more difficult for them to sell amid a depressed market,’ said Huang To, the general manager for project development at real estate agency Centaline’s Guangzhou unit. He was referring to investors who had borrowed heavily to buy several properties.”
“In Guangzhou, one of the cities tipped to be involved in a five-year pilot scheme for the tax, prices of lived-in homes have dropped by around 10 per cent in recent months, while sales have fallen 20 per cent in each of the last few months, he said. ‘It is hard to find buyers even without the news of the property tax,’ said Huang. He estimated that 40 per cent of households in major cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing own at least two homes.”