A report from the Dallas Business Journal. “As of year’s end, the home price index for the Fort Worth and Arlington areas was about 215, up from about 177 in Q4 2020. Prior to last year, the index had never experienced double-digit percentage growth. Joshua Roberson, lead data analyst for the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University said this data reaffirms that home price growth will moderate this year. There has been a noticeable level of buyer fatigue in markets like Austin, which has seen its price growth decelerate. ‘It’s going to be on the horizon for Fort Worth,’ he said.”
The Martinsville Bulletin in Virginia. “Two hundred fourteen houses were sold in the Martinsville Henry & Patrick County Association of Realtors (MHPCAR) area during the fourth quarter, a 12% decrease from last year. The regional median sales price fell this quarter in the MHPCAR footprint, according to the association’s Home Sales Report. The fourth quarter median sales price in the area was $143,700, which is 28% lower than a year ago, a drop of about $56,300.”
The Sun Gazette. “The City of Williamsport has lost population, as have other cities in Pennsylvania, a crisis of societal changes and the economy. Since 1990, about 4,500 fewer residents live in Williamsport, and the trend does not seem to be reversing. Skip Memmi, director of the city Department of Community and Economic Development, whose previous work experience was in Dauphin County, said lost population and the negative financial impacts are not isolated to this city. ‘It is not just a Williamsport phenomena, but is happening across the state,’ Memmi said.”
From Northwest Georgia News. “I probably got more reaction to my column last week on the inventory of what I call ‘rent housing’ in the works than on any column since my first one, about my personal journey with weight control. (We’ll come back to that.) I got calls from city commissioners, developers, landlords and renters. One person explained that a typical two-income household today could make the $1,400-a-month rent that seems to be the common figure for some of the two-bedroom units that are in the works.”
“I guess I can buy that, if the two parties are equal contributors. A monthly rent payment of $700 from each party does in fact make it more tolerable. Another person explained that what was of more concern to him was the glut of housing that is on the books, and we are learning of more just this week. Townhomes in the old AT&T building space on Second Avenue? I guess that might be considered the height of midtown living. The thought of close to 30 townhomes in that area is difficult to imagine. Another big subdivision out Shannon way is also in the very preliminary stages. I am praying that Rome and Floyd County doesn’t get over-built.”
From WBTV in North Carolina. “A WBTV Investigation into a Charlotte homebuilder has found more foreclosure notices hanging over properties the contractor is trying to sell. The new court records raise questions about whether potential homebuyers are at risk of losing out on their deposits. Thursday a deputy served another notice of foreclosure for a property on Irwin St. owned by R-Cubed. What is supposed to be a large uptown house is still only a slab of concrete. Court records also show four units on Greenleaf Ave owned by R-cubed are entering the foreclosure process.”
The New York Post. “Venus and Serena Williams’ childhood home, where they trained with their father and coach Richard, has fallen into disrepair. A large section of the $1.1 million mansion’s exterior has rotted away, right above the front door, pictures show. The four-bedroom West Palm Beach home is vacant. Richard Williams purchased the property in 1995 for $355,000. The patriarch was forced to relinquish the property in 2017, after divorcing his third wife. Since then, the home has gone into foreclosure. It is scheduled to be auctioned at the end of February.”
The Marin Independent Journal in California. “Rising interest rates have pushed monthly payments for buyers up nearly 7% in the last month, and more increases could be on the way. Jodi Fischer, a loan officer at All California Mortgage in Novato, said lenders are predicting a more balanced housing market will soon arrive, ‘but it’s not necessarily going to be a buyer’s market, it’s just going to be less frenzy.’”
“Agents say the pandemic boom in Bay Area residential real estate has followed big stock market gains, boosting the incomes of tech professionals. The expected interest rate hike sent stocks reeling — and clouded the home-buying plans for professionals who were relying on company equity grants and programs to fund part of their purchases. In September, just one in five Bay Area families could afford to buy the median-priced single-family home in the region, according to the California Association of Realtors. A decade ago, about 45% of families could make a purchase.”
From Bisnow London. “One of the largest development schemes in London has gone into administration, the UK version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the latest in a string of schemes in which Chinese developers have been hit by debt issues, had rows over payments or were forced to sell out once-grand visions. Administrators were appointed to the 700K SF first phase of the Royal Albert Dock scheme in east London being built by developer ABP.”
“Big Chinese names, including R&F, Greenland Group, Shimao and Oceanwide, have also been in the news recently regarding schemes outside of their home market. Some of these troubles predate the liquidity crunch precipitated by the Evergrande crisis; in other cases, overseas sales were precipitated by trouble at home.”
“Construction workers on the One Nine Elms scheme being built by Chinese Giant R&F walked off the site this week, with work on the scheme having stopped for as long as three months. The Telegraph reported in November that R&F had sold fewer than 1 in 15 of the flats at another of its London schemes, Nine Elms Square. R&F said it sold 1 in 3 of the properties that had been marketed.”
“The travails of Chinese developers abroad are not limited to the UK. In January Oceanwide had defaulted on a $175M loan secured against a site in the South Street Seaport area of lower Manhattan earmarked for a mixed-use skyscraper. Oceanwide had been trying to sell the site for three years. In October, lenders took over a semi-completed but stalled project in San Francisco.”
From Bloomberg. “The end of easy money is upon us. Two years after the pandemic sent the global economy into a deep but short recession, central bankers are withdrawing their emergency support — and they’re moving faster than they or most investors had foreseen. As recently as a few months ago, most officials didn’t anticipate the situation they’re now in. They spent much of 2021 arguing that price pressures would prove ‘transitory.’ They welcomed the rapid rebound in employment and dismissed the inflation alarms that some commentators were already sounding.”
“Now, policy makers have decided that inflation has staying power — and that tolerating it risks setting off an upward spiral of prices and wages, which could prove impossible to halt without provoking a recession. By acting now to cool things off a bit, they hope to deliver a fabled ‘soft landing,’ instead of a crash.”