It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘I’ve already called the Realtor,’ said Cindy Phillips. ‘It’s the fear of the storm. Are we going to have a home after? What are we going to do if we don’t? We’re getting too old to be in Florida.’ Three hurricanes is too much. I can’t do it anymore.’ Several of her neighbors homes’ roofs had been ripped open, with pink insulation littering the small community located north of downtown Sarasota. The Phillips’ home only had some minor damage, if you overlooked the awning that had previously been torn away by a gust during Hurricane Helene last month. While most Jet Park Mobile Home residents in Palmetto are snowbirds, the park has been Mike Mitchell’s home year-round for the past decade. ‘I was struck by the sadness of seeing all the dreams of a lot of people vanish,’ Mitchell said.”

“Listed on Zillow is a stunning home on Anna Maria Island, on the coast of Manatee County in Florida. On Oct. 2, after Hurricane Helene made landfall, the price was slashed by $699,000 to $1.5 million. The description reads: ‘LARGE Price Reduction—SOLD AS IS—Seller attended to IMMEDIATELY After Hurricane Helene … Up to 36 inches drywall removed throughout entire house, dehumidifiers and fans started immediately and running 24 hours, hardwood floors and vapor barriers removed, all lower cabinets removed, all doors removed, all appliances and furniture removed, dried and sanitized (anti-fungal spray throughout entire house).’”

“So the question remains, would you buy it? For more people the answer is—not a chance. Florida is hurricane prone. We’ve always known this, but it could be impacting home sales in its coastal metropolitan areas. In West Palm Beach, pending home sales nose-dived almost 18%, the greatest decline experienced in any of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas. Then there’s Tampa, which saw pending home sales drop 15.5%. In Miami, pending home sales fell close to 15%. ‘That’s due partly to Hurricane Helene, but coastal Florida’s housing market has been slowing over the last several months as insurance and HOA [homeowners association] costs surge due to the increasing prevalence of climate disasters,’ the analysis stated. In July in Tampa, the number of condos for sale rose around 57% from a year earlier; prices, however, dropped 5%, a separate Redfin analysis found. The same was happening in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, and Orlando.”

“The New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors (NOMAR) hosted its annual Forecast Symposium. A major theme this year was Louisiana’s ongoing insurance crisis, which is severely affecting home sales and affordability. Those prices have made it very tough for some realtors to sell homes. That means less money is coming in. ‘To be honest, I used to do real estate full-time. I do not do it full-time anymore because it’s just too hard. I have a family as well. So, I can’t put everything on these deals happening, because I need them to happen. If they don’t happen, then my clients aren’t happy and then family isn’t happy,’ said Misty Frye of Frye & Melancon Realty in New Orleans.”

“Misty Frye has been an agent for 17 years and says the cost associated with a buying home in Louisiana can often put potential buyers on an emotional roller coaster. ‘People can be tearful, they’re upset. They think they’re getting to the finish line and then something comes up and it’s like, oh no, you can’t do it, the insurance blew it out of the water,’ Frye said.”

“For Eli Valdez, 2019 was a ‘very happy time,’ he said. He had become a first-time homeowner and gotten married. But not long after buying his first home in Windsor Park, a neighborhood in North Las Vegas, Valdez said things ‘just started to go wrong.’ The door to Valdez’s home had to be replaced because it wasn’t fitting correctly in the doorway. And sitting in his living room, Valdez said he could see that his house had become slanted. Barbara Carter, a resident of the historically Black neighborhood, said she and her husband bought their house in 1966. ‘We had dreams, plans that this is something that we would leave to our children. But now this dream is dead,’ Carter said in a public comment made in a meeting Thursday of the state’s Interim Finance Committee.”

“In Great Falls, several million-dollar homes have been lingering on the market for months, a stark contrast to the demand for affordable housing. As of August 2024, the median home price in the area was just over $300,000, reflecting a 3.3% drop since last year. ‘We’re seeing a lot of people coming to Montana for a different lifestyle, including retirees and military veterans,’ said Lynn Kenyon, broker and owner of Live In MT Real Estate. ‘Montana, especially areas like Great Falls, is still relatively affordable compared to places like Whitefish and Bozeman, which have become more like California in terms of cost. Sellers are in control right now. They often prefer buyers who don’t have to sell another property first.’”

“Boston homeowners face a 28% surge in their tax bills if the Massachusetts legislature fails to sign off on a proposal to temporarily raise commercial rates before the end of next month, Mayor Michelle Wu said. The city is particularly vulnerable to the nationwide slump in office demand because of its heavy reliance on property tax revenue and state restrictions on its ability to tap other funding sources. Commercial property values in Boston have fallen 7% in the current fiscal year, reflecting high vacancy rates in older and lower-quality office buildings amid the persistence of pandemic-era remote and hybrid work policies, Wu said. She said her proposal to temporarily increase the city’s rate ceiling for commercial properties relative to residential levies is meant to ease some of the sticker shock for homeowners and smooth out their bills. ‘When there are shifts and swings within either residential or commercial values, that can have a big impact,’ Wu said. ‘We want the environment to be predictable for residents and for businesses.’ The Boston office market is stabilizing, albeit at an elevated total vacancy rate of about 23%, according to third quarter data from Colliers.”

“What became Marin County’s largest tent encampment sparked city officials to pass sweeping limitations on encampments and led to a heated, yearlong legal battle between the city and its homeless residents. But on Thursday, city officials were finally disbanding the encampment, known as Camp Integrity. While some of the encampment’s residents will be forced to pick up their belongings and set up camp elsewhere, dozens have been offered a different alternative: a spot in the city’s new sanctioned camping area. A San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness 2020 survey found that more than half of respondents prefer a ‘legal camp with amenities’ over existing shelter options — experts say they have real downsides. Margot Kushel, director of UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said they ‘tend to be extraordinarily expensive without producing very good outcomes.’”

“That was the case for San Francisco. The city opened six sanctioned camping sites during the pandemic but found they were expensive to operate and unable to provide ‘the level of service and support needed for a successful shelter-type operation,’ according to Emily Cohen, spokesperson for San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. San Francisco was paying more than $61,000 per tent per year — 2½ times the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco at that time. The city closed the last of its six sites in the spring 2023. In San Rafael, officials have allocated $2.2 million — or about $44,000 per tent — in state grants to operate the new sanctioned camp for a maximum of 18 months.”

“‘I am not going to let San Diego County turn into Los Angeles or San Francisco,’ former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in an interview. ‘Why are people leaving San Francisco? Because of the homelessness and all the crimes going on. Los Angeles is not the LA that I remember as a kid growing up. That’s why people are getting so angry.’ Long a coastal hub for tourism, biotech and defense contracting, San Diego’s woes mirror those unfolding across the state: There isn’t enough housing, homelessness is spiraling out of control and daily expenses from gas to groceries are becoming prohibitively expensive. Faulconer contends there’s been too much talk and too little action, particularly since he left his old job in 2020.”

“‘This is a f*cking disaster,’ Faulconer said on a recent afternoon, as he navigated a shanty town along the San Diego River by foot. Plywood structures and large piles of garbage surrounded the former mayor, who in a span of 10 minutes dropped five more F-bombs, as if to convey he knows that his genial reputation won’t get the job done. He walked over to another pile of junk and pronounced the mess a serious health emergency. ‘I did not allow this kind of garbage to happen. We cleaned up the whole river,’ said Faulconer, 57.”

“When Bruno Santos bought his three-bedroom condominium in northwest London last October, he wasn’t expecting to see an increase in his condo fees or to have to pay a reserve fund top-up payment. He is now considering selling. In less than a year, Santos’s monthly condo fees, also known as maintenance fees, increased by over 36 per cent. The fees first went from $399 to $499 a month when he moved in. Then in June, they climbed again to $545. The review also found the condo corporation’s reserve fund was too low. Board members sent a letter to all 14 units telling homeowners they needed to pay a $5,000 ‘Special Assessment’ fee on Oct. 1 to replenish the reserve fund.”

“‘They didn’t ask any homeowners about it,’ said Santos. ‘It’s not easy for anyone to have $5,000.’ Santos said he asked the board members if there was a payment plan option, but was declined. ‘Can I pay in five months $1,000 each month or something like that, they say no. You have to pay $5,000 by October, no matter what happens,’ he said. He said the situation has him considering moving out when his mortgage is up for renewal in a few years. ‘I don’t want to deal with this kind of situation in the future.’”

“395 Carlton St., Toronto. Asking price: $2,399,000 (June, 2024). Selling price: $2.3-million (July, 2024). Days on the market: 21. Agent Richard Silver sold a row house across from Riverdale Farm for $2.1-million three years ago without much trouble. This summer, in a changed market, he braced himself for a more drawn-out affair for its attached neighbour – this slightly larger, four-bedroom house at the end of the row. ‘I sold the house next door in a faster, COVID 2021 market, and it sold for a very high price and very quickly with multiple offers,’ said Mr. Silver, ‘but it’s different now.’ This seller wanted to wait as long as necessary for the right buyer, but was fortunate that an offer came through in three weeks. ‘We were quite active, when a lot on the market was not, because of pricing,’ said Mr. Silver. ‘A lot of sellers are still expecting 2021 prices.’”

“Spring has sprung, but green shoots of growth remain scarce across New Zealand Aotearoa’s housing market – for the time being. QV operations manager James Wilson said high levels of stock for sale on the market today were also having a dampening effect on prices. ‘Generally speaking, those who are in a position to purchase still have a raft of different options to choose from right now, especially within the main centres. So there isn’t so much pressure on prices currently, with more than enough houses for sale to meet the current level of demand. The cost of borrowing still remains relatively high, the cost of living is restrictive, and there are significant worries about job security – especially in Wellington.’”

“Employees of failed builder Imagine Building Concepts are angry and shocked by the company going into voluntary administration and disappointed at the absence of owners Tim and Sarah Staines. One staff member with a mortgage and planning a wedding said the news came as a kick in the guts. ‘We didn’t even find out from the owner but a third party, which was pretty, pretty shit,’ he said. ‘A few of the workers have families, and some of them just recently had their second child. I just feel for all the subcontractors working on our sites, and then they’re just not going to see any of that cash.’ The staff member was optimistic that with the high demand for skilled labour in the Canberra building industry, he and his colleagues should be able to find new jobs.”

“The Chinese government’s flurry of stimulus measures has upended the country’s stock markets. It has also brought potential home buyers back into the marketplace. Still, conversations with prospective home buyers suggest that uncertainty over Beijing’s policy direction has left many otherwise keen buyers with a sense of hesitancy, a reflection of the scar tissue that has built up after three years of falling prices and developer defaults. Price controls have also kept home prices from correcting to a level that would bring in potential buyers, economists say, prolonging the sluggishness in the market.”

“‘The minimum down payment and interest rates are indeed lower than before, but home prices are still too high,’ said a house hunter surnamed Zhang, who visited a property showroom with her husband in southwestern Beijing during the long holiday. Zhang, who works in Beijing’s Daxing district, was weighing an apartment unit by state-owned China Resources Land priced at around 50,000 yuan a square meter, equivalent to roughly $650 a square foot—more than 10 times the going rate in her hometown in the central Chinese province of Henan. ‘We’re not rushing into buying right now. After all, it would drain the savings of both our families,’ Zhang said. ‘I hope the government can eventually guide home prices down further.’”