A report from NBC Miami in Florida. “The 40-year recertification of Commodore Plaza has been overdue for 13 years. The city of Aventura has been issuing violations and now the 654 property owners fear an upcoming Miami-Dade County unsafe structures hearing could mean they have to leave their units. NBC6 Investigates spoke with several condo owners at Commodore Plaza. ‘It makes me cry, really,’ Nora Mullen said. ‘At my age, I don’t think that I should go through something like this.’ The new condo law passed following the tragic collapse in Surfside. It requires condos to maintain reserve funds for important structural repairs and maintenance. ‘The going to full reserves is going to put a lot of people on the streets,’ said Johnna Alvarez.”
From KCBD. “Home prices in Texas rose by 40 percent between 2019 and 2023, according to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. ‘We’ve seen price increases in Lubbock. There was a spike in 2021 that we did see nationally, and Lubbock saw a 13 percent increase which is unheard of,’ said Michael Hutton, president of Lubbock Association of Realtors. In 2022, the median home price in Texas peaked at $340,000 and has since hovered in that range according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center. LAR reports a significant difference here in Lubbock with a median price of $230,000. ‘Many sellers are willing to come down on their price, give some assistance to the buyer, but there are also builders who are giving a lot of incentives as well,’ Hutton said.”
From Skift. “Local Law 18 hasn’t yet led to a significant amount of additional long-term housing in NYC and hotels are thriving. But small-time hosts have lost a key source of income. Malaika nearly wiped out her retirement savings a decade ago to make a downpayment on a two-family home in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill neighborhood. Skittish about taking on long-term renters who might turn into hard-to-evict squatters, Malaika (not her real name) put the apartment on Airbnb. She quit her job in 2022 as a healthcare administrator to focus on real estate investing. ‘I did that with the idea that my two-family home would support me in doing so,’ Malaika says. ‘Little did I know that on the horizon, New York City, the Office of Special Enforcement, and the mayor had a very different plan for me.’”
“Everything changed one year ago – on September 5, 2023 – when New York City began enforcing Local Law 18. Malaika says she has lost about $2,400 in monthly income, nearly a 30% drop. Gia Sharp, a homeowner and co-founder of RHOAR, which seeks a pause in enforcement and an exemption from the registration law for one- and two-family homeowners, says some members of the group are doing even worse. Regarding her own 110-year-old two-family home in Brooklyn, Sharp says since Local Law 18 kicked in, she’s had a few month-long stays in her upstairs unit, and one reservation was for a few months. ‘There’s definitely a few mortgage payments for income that I’m doing without, which is insane. I definitely can’t afford to replace my windows, which is thousands of dollars.’”
Hawaii Real Estate Dreams. “July brought us even more condo inventory, both in Kona and in Kohala. The association fees and higher property taxes are driving owners to sell. Since January our condo available inventory has increased over 50% to 145 as of this writing today. Now for buyers that will bode well, since an abundance of supply makes sellers’ prices more ‘flexible.’ But we are still struggling with higher fees, an election year, and interest rates that need to get down into territory we haven’t seen in a few years, like high 5%’s. Hopefully the associations’ 2025 budgets will begin to be released and that will give us some indication of how much they are raising fees, and interest rates will drop, and condo inventory will stop piling up on the market!”
From 12 News. “A popular Valley home inspector known for his videos exposing problems he finds during inspections will not face discipline after one of the country’s largest home building companies complained to regulators about his popular videos. Cy Porter of CyFy Home Inspections specializes in inspecting new construction homes in Arizona and his videos oftentimes expose flaws he finds. Taylor Morrison filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration, which regulates Porter’s industry and his license. In the complaint, it alleged Porter’s posts are ‘harassing, falsified, and bullying.’ This week, the board held a hearing to discuss the complaint. The investigator assigned to the case stated after interviewing witnesses and homeowners who worked with Porter, and reviewing his posts, there was no evidence to show Porter lied in any of his videos.Ultimately, the board did not discipline Porter after finding no violation of board statutes or rules.”
Fox Business on California. “Nestled within the heart of Pacific Palisades, an equestrian estate fit for Hollywood royalty lies across 3.3 acres of land. The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home just sold for $14.04 million, a significant price drop from when it was last listed in 2021. At the time, it hit the market for $19.99 million before dropping to $17.99 million months later. The home was taken off the market in June 2021.”
Bisnow Washington DC. “D.C.-based developer Neighborhood Development Co. is shutting down after 25 years of building affordable housing, attributing the move to today’s difficult market conditions. ‘Our project production had been robust throughout most of our 25 years; however, the last three years have unleashed a perfect storm on the local real estate market, particularly for the type of projects we focus on, making today’s operating environment untenable for us,’ NDC CEO and Founder Adrian Washington said in the announcement.”
“The developer has completed over 1.1M SF of projects totaling over 1,900 housing units and had 860K SF in its pipeline, its website said earlier this month. The website now only features the closing announcement. NDC received a noticed of foreclosure last month from lender Forbright Bank for its 36-unit Arbor at Takoma project that completed this spring. An auction is scheduled Thursday for the property, one of a series of new D.C. multifamily buildings to face distress as high interest rates have upended the market.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “20 Edgecliffe Golfway, No. 606, Toronto. Asking price: $599,900 (June, 2024). Previous asking prices: $629,900 (May, 2024); $649,900 (April, 2024). Selling price: $595,000 (June 2024). This three-bedroom suite is in a high-rise building overlooking the Flemingdon Park Golf Club and the Don River, but there were numerous competing units in the building for sale this spring and all had trouble finding interested buyers. This suite started off priced just under $650,000 but failed to spark any interest and a drop to $629,900 after Victoria Day also did little to change the situation.”
“‘It was the slowest time we’ve had in real estate so far, said agent Jenelle Cameron. ‘There were a number of units … that weren’t moving, all around $639,000 to $649,000. I thought we’d need to come in under that.’ In June, a cut in the asking price to $599,900 finally managed to entice two buyers to make offers. Further negotiations culminated in the seller agreeing to another $4,900 drop in the price to secure a deal with an August 15 close. ‘I ended up getting two offers at the same time, but it still went under,’ said Ms. Cameron. ‘A lot of sellers won’t budge on their prices, so they don’t sell. I’m not sure the point of that. No one’s finding this fun.’ The unit comes with a storage locker and parking. Monthly fees of $822 pay for utilities and use of a gym and pool in an adjacent building.”
Kent Online in the UK. “Mystery surrounds the lack of progress on a huge seafront development site that has sat abandoned for months. Bosses behind the controversial Leas Pavilion scheme in Folkestone said in April how rumours it will not be completed were ‘completely untrue’ and confirmed construction was ‘due to recommence.’ But four months on, work is yet to restart and residents are again questioning whether the luxury 91-flat project will ever be completed. Since demolition of the pavilion in 2022, only groundworks and the erection of two towering stair cores have been completed by developer Gustavia as part of the project on the clifftop promenade. Visitors to the town say they are shocked by the current state of the plot.”
“Jean Hill, 78, from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, regularly visits Folkestone and says the site is in quite a state. ‘It was a bit of a shock to me at first,’ she said. ‘I think they should be building more affordable housing and accommodation for everyday people at an affordable price to rent.’ Friend Kathleen Hargreaves, 75, believes residents are right to be concerned over the lack of work. ‘It worries me greatly that work has stopped,’ she said. ‘We have a similar situation in Wakefield at the moment. They’ve built loads of new houses and then built the framework for a new supermarket in 2020, but it’s still just a metal frame.’”
Radio New Zealand. “It is being marketed as the ‘very best lifestyle imaginable’ by Sotheby’s real estate, an architectural masterpiece due for completion by ‘Q2 2024.’ But that date has come and gone and the Seascape tower in downtown Auckland sits unfinished after work was shut down last month over a dispute between the developer and the builder. The empty building site on Customs Street East is closed off and guarded by security workers, with no word on when work will restart. There is no mention of that on either Sotheby’s or on Seascape’s own website promoting the country’s tallest residential building, with 221 apartments priced between $990,000 for a studio to up to $22 million for a penthouse. That price varies widely depending on which story you read.”
“The New Zealand Herald’s property editor Anne Gibson says the dispute between the builder, China Construction and Shundi Customs is over the finish date and a payment issue. ‘China Construction wants $33 million from Shundi Customs. It claims it has reached a point in the contract where it is owed that and Shundi Customs is withholding money,’ she says. The Building Disputes Tribunal has ruled in favour of China Construction, but Shundi Customs is refusing to pay. ‘It was not forthcoming, which is why in late August China Construction wrote to all the subcontractors suspending work, telling them to leave the job.’”
“In the early stages the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment ruled that the fire safety plans did not comply, forcing the developer to apply for a new building consent with modified fire safety aspects. More recently, the five-level basement, said to be the deepest in Auckland, ran into problems after defects were picked up in the diaphragm construction. Gibson says the suspension of work means the project will not be finished by the end of the year as expected, leaving dozens of construction workers and the buyers of the apartments in limbo.”
News.com.au in Australia. “A major Victorian builder has collapsed with up to 108 projects now in limbo leaving customers ‘devastated.’ A previous news.com.au investigation revealed that some customers from Grandeur Homes were facing a ‘nightmare’ as building on their dream homes had stalled and they were left with an agonising lack of information on when they will be complete. Ten customers shared their story and when news.com.au reached out to the construction company for comment, it engaged a high profile defamation lawyer to respond to questions.”
“One devastated customer is Karishma Seechurn. She has been trying to build her dream home for four years. She originally chose to build with Snowdon Developments in 2020 before the company collapsed and went on to sign on with Grandeur Homes in 2023. The 32-year-old said the stress is ‘next level’ given Grandeur Homes is the second builder she has worked with to go under. ‘I’m really worried about the situation of the house as I just have scaffolding all around and the top is frames. They don’t look good anymore, they have been weathered badly,’ she said.”
“‘Ms Seechum said she was particularly worried financially as she got her mortgage two years ago and the house still isn’t finished. ‘There’s the finance situation and interest rates and everything that comes along as even though they have gone under I still have to pay my mortgage,’ she added. ‘I’ve got electricity and water bills and my monthly land mortgage repayments and construction interest rates are way higher. I’m stuck with the bank with super high interest rates and then daily expenses on top of that.’”
“Another customer, Abhishek Marpally, said his wife and he were ‘devastated.’ He said the family had paid almost $340,000 to Grandeur Homes after construction commenced in June 2023. The house was due to be delivered in September this year. He said the family also found it hard to get information on when their build would be complete. ‘The new home excitement is not left at all now. I am just working full time and driving Uber to catch up with ongoing expenses,’ he said. He added with interest rate rises their monthly repayments had skyrocketed and they were paying rates, bills for construction property, land tax, rent, gas, water and electricity.