It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Househunting is shaping up to be easier in 2022. Inventory is bouncing back, demand is cooling, and prices are even falling for the most popular homes. Prices have fallen more dramatically on a seasonal basis. The price of the most common US home slid to $337,000 last week from $340,000. The latest average is now $26,000 below the 2021 peak of $363,000, the largest seasonal gap in data going back to 2012, housing economist Ralph McLaughlin wrote.”
“US housing starts leaped to an annualized rate of 1.68 million in November, according to Census Bureau data. Adding multifamily units into the mix makes for an even rosier outlook. There were nearly 1.5 million single family and multifamily units under construction in November, according to government data. That combined figure is the highest its been since 1973. The pickup isn’t likely to be a one-month boom, either.”
“November was another one of those months for new home sales when the topline numbers look terrific. And then you take a second look. The strong monthly gain arises from two straight months of significant downgrades to the prior period’s estimate. On a non-adjusted basis there were 53,000 newly constructed homes sold during the month compared to 51,000 in October. With one month remaining, 2021 sales total 709,000 compared to 758,000, a 6.5 percent decline.”
“At the end of the reporting period there were 402,000 new homes available for sale.”
“D-FW builders have never started as many single-family homes as they did in 2021. ‘We are at 58,000 starts,’ said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. ‘We’ve grown starts over 60% in the last two years.’ Homebuilders have ramped up construction to meet unprecedented demand – surpassing previous building booms. ‘We were a little over 51,000 starts at the peak of the last cycle in 2006,’ Wilson said. ‘We thought builders would tap the brakes a bit.’”
“After four years, George Strait has finally sold his nearly 8,000-square-foot adobe home in San Antonio. Mansion Global could not determine the closing price of the ranch. The ranch was first listed in November 2017 for $10 million. The listing was removed in August 2018 and was on and off the market with sporadic drops in the price until October, when the price was cut to $6.9 million, a 31% reduction from the original ask.”
“Scarlett Johansson is having a tough time selling her New York City penthouse after a year and a half on the market without any offers, The Post has learned. The price has now been cut to $1.86 million after initially listing the two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence back in July 2020 for $2.3 million. Johansson had purchased the home in 2008 for $2.1 million, which means she is likely to get a significant loss on the home after also taking into account extensive renovations.”
“In Los Angeles and Orange counties, November home prices hovered below the record levels reached, respectively, in September and October. The market is still ultra-competitive despite a slight slowdown that began to set in several months ago. This slight acceleration of year-over-year price increases the last two months could indicate a pickup in price appreciation is underway, but Selma Hepp, an economist at CoreLogic said she doesn’t believe that’s the case. The pickup is probably due to more luxury homes selling, therefore pushing the median value slightly higher, rather than a true price acceleration, she said.”
“A fact that many don’t know is that Access Bank Plc which acquired Diamond Bank some years ago takes no prisoners. It is a strict, law abiding, disciplined organisation and top-draw industry player that will deploy all requisite legal means to recover what is due to it. It is highly unconscionable to borrow depositors’ money from a bank, to ostensibly enhance business growth but only to conceive strategies to evade repayment on the terms agreed.”
“What is really in the DNA of folks or organisations which draw loans only to deliberately default in repayment? A new industry study suggests that borrowers who default on loan repayment terms may actually have no reputation to protect in the first instance. It’s then not surprising that with gloves off, the no-nonsense managers of Access Bank Plc, led by its proactive CEO/Group Managing Director Hubert Wigwe, last week, went after the properties of late Chief Sunny Odogwu, over a judgement debt of over N50 billion.”
“Because of her emphasis on the long term, Access Bank Group, one of Africa’s largest retail banks by retail customer base with proven risk management and capital management capabilities have deployed both organisational cultural transformation to be ahead of completion. This is why dodgy debtors must steer clear of accessing facilities from ACCESS Bank!”
“As regulatory uncertainty persists, investors are seeking gains in sectors that enjoy policy tailwinds. Fidelity International favours sectors that align with China’s next phase of economic development, such as high-end manufacturing, renewable energy, electric vehicles, software and next-generation health care. ‘China appears determined to move to an economic model geared to the real economy, rolling back debt and addressing inequalities, rather than reacting to any downside in financial assets,’ said Victoria Mio, director of Asian equities at Fidelity.”
“In 2020, real estate activity and prices exploded across the globe. And while experts aren’t currently forecasting anything resembling a bubble burst, few buyers like to feel that they’re buying at the absolute top of a hot market or at prices that aren’t sustainable. ‘In many [places] you have to be aware that markets are overheated in a sense,’ said Matthias Holzhey, the lead author of the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index 2021. ‘You get into a situation where there’s artificial scarcity, and there’s a risk that you overpay.’”
“‘The best advice I would give to a buyer is that if you want a great deal, go where inventory is highest,’ said Greg Heym, chief economist for Brown Harris Stevens / Luxury Portfolio International. ‘It’s simple, yes, but buyers won’t feel the urgency to buy there, and those sellers will feel the urgency to sell.’”