A report from Fox Business. “Zillow reached a deal to sell about 2,000 homes from its ill-fated house-flipping program. The company said it intends to sell roughly 9,800 homes it owns, plus another 8,200 it had been in the process of buying. The company expects to lose between 5% and 7% on these sales. In addition to the homes Zillow had left at the end of the third quarter, the company said it has another 8,200 in contract to buy and will also need to sell.”
From WRAL in North Carolina. “In the Triangle, Zillow will remain a home seller since it owns more than 100 properties acquired through its program, some of which have yet to be listed on the open market, a Zillow spokesperson told WRAL TechWire. told WRAL TechWire. ‘When you’re talking about billions and billions of dollars, and buying 100, 200 houses every day, you’re going to make mistakes,’ said real estate technology industry analyst Mike DelPrete. Zillow’s mistake was, according to DelPrete, a ‘catastrophic pricing failure.’ The company racked up about a billion dollars in losses before deciding to end the iBuying program.”
The Dallas Business Journal. “The housing market downshift has been palpable in North Texas, said Mark Johnson, CEO of Frisco-based JPAR Real Estate, who used a racing analogy. ‘If the speed limit is 70 miles an hour, we’ve been going 150,’ Johnson said. ‘We’re still going 100. Yeah, we’ve slowed from 150 to 100, but the speed limit’s only 70.’”
“What that means in the field is that instead of getting 20 or 30 offers on a house, buyers and real estate agents are seeing four or five, Johnson said. About 25% of homes that hit the marketer still selling ‘instantly,’ he said, and the 75% that remain are selling within 30 days. Another positive sign: Building permits across Texas are up 25% or more, so more homes are coming on the market, Johnson added. ‘The new builders are coming to the rescue,’ he said. ‘There’s relief for many folks.’”
The Spokesman Review in Washington. “Spokane County’s housing market frenzy moderated in October as a fall cooldown brought fewer competing offers and home sales. ‘You could feel a little bit of the slowing down as we were changing seasons,’ said Kyle Krug, a Spokane-based broker. ‘I think we are getting fewer offers per home and we’re also getting fewer escalation clauses. We are also seeing a lot more price reductions, too.’”
The Sacramento Bee in California. “In October, the median home sale price in Sacramento County remained steady, hovering around $495,000. That’s declined a bit since June, when median prices peaked at $503,000. The trend Placer and El Dorado counties looked relatively similar: after peaks above $680,000 in June, prices have fallen month to month. In October, the median home sale price in Placer and El Dorado counties was $645,000 and $619,375, respectively.”
From Fox 6 in Wisconsin. “It’s a gamble many home buyers took over the last year: waiving their home inspection contingency. In many cases, it was a necessary gamble to land a winning bid. However, with risk can come regret. William Braun wrote to Contact 6 about his recent home purchase. ‘I was constantly looking at properties,’ said Braun of his search for a new condo over the summer. ‘Me and my wife went out, we fell in love with a [condo], by the time we got home, it was gone.’”
“After four failed bids, Braun wanted his offer to stand out. So, he waived the home inspection contingency. ‘When you waive that inspection things can move fast and they do move fast,’ said Braun. ‘Don’t do what I did.’”
The Buffalo News in New York. “Some three dozen landlords from across Erie County have filed a lawsuit calling the state’s ongoing eviction moratorium unconstitutional. Their inability to evict tenants who assert a Covid-19 financial hardship has caused them to suffer ‘tremendous harm,’ with some at risk of losing not only their rental properties, but their own homes, according to their State Supreme Court filing.”
“‘For the month of October 2021, my business has experienced a shortfall of $22,017,’ Anthony F. Trusso said in his affidavit. ‘I have had to use personal funds and funds from my other businesses to cover the losses experienced to cover Tru’s mortgages, taxes, and other expenses.’”
From Bayshore Broadcasting in Canada. “Home sales in Bruce and Grey counties cooled off in October. The Realtors Association of Grey Bruce Owen Sound says 301 homes sold last month, a substantial decline of 21 per cent from October 2020. Average home prices in Grey Bruce in October were just over $657,000, a decline from September when they topped $703,000.”
The Australian Financial Review. “House prices have fallen across 7 per cent of suburbs in Australia during the past three months, marking a sharp rise from the March peak. The slowdown was most prominent at the high end of the housing market where dwelling values were about $1 million or more, said Eliza Owen, CoreLogic Australia head of research. The volatility in mining towns and regional areas has also resulted in house prices slumping by 10.3 per cent in South Hedland in WA’s East Pilbara region during the past three months.”
“‘Some of the more remote, resource-based markets have seen more suburbs decline in value in the three months to October, and the declines in these areas have been more severe,’ said Ms Owen. ‘This may be a sign of these markets stabilising against a shock to affordability conditions.’”
“Looking ahead, Ms Owen said more suburbs were likely to see a decline in median values as the markets moved past their peaks. ‘The housing market is well and truly past its peak for the current cycle, and it makes sense that as more headwinds accumulate, price increases will continue to slow, and more suburbs may see an adjustment in price,’ she said. ‘This comes back to borrowing constraints associated with the increased loan serviceability buffer from APRA, as well as banks proactively tightening lending conditions.’”
From Reuters on China. “Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer which once epitomised a freewheeling era of borrowing and building, has been stumbling from deadline to deadline in recent weeks as it grapples with more than $300 billion in liabilities, $19 billion of which are international market bonds. Exactly what time the grace period expires on Wednesday is unclear, but the two sources with knowledge of the matter earlier told Reuters that some bondholders had not been paid by the end of the Asian business day. They declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.”
“For its two separate offshore coupon payment obligations that were due in late September, the developer’s bondholders did not receive the payments until one working day after the 30-day grace periods ended. ‘The expectation is that it will be paid,’ said Karl Clowry, restructuring adviser and partner at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. ‘It would be quite a surprise if the funds do not flow to the trustee in the requisite timeframe given the immediate cross-default and ripple effect on suppliers and the wider People’s Republic of China real estate market.’”