A report from BoiseDev in Idaho. “April Florczyk, the founder of 208 Market Real Estate, told BoiseDev that dynamics are shifting – especially in Ada County. ‘The average active price is almost $150,000 higher than the sold price,’ she said. ‘Inventory levels between the month of April to the month of May more than doubled on existing homes in Ada County,’ she said. ‘We had under 500 homes as of the end of April. At the end of May, we had 1,015 homes on the market.’”
“Her data tracking shows there hasn’t been this many existing homes for sale in quite some time. ‘The last time we had this many active existing homes on the market was in 2017,’ she said. ‘Our inventory has been so low for so long, we have not in the last ten years seen it double in a 30-day period.’”
From WKRN in Tennessee. “We’re seeing big changes in our real estate market due to rising interest rates, with housing inventory reaching its highest level since late 2020. Residential single family home inventory grew 47% over the last month, as the combination of higher prices and those skyrocketing interest rates limit what buyers can afford. The median price for a residential single-family home was $498,785, and for a condominium, it was $340,506, according to Greater Nashville Realtors. This compares with last year’s median residential and condominium prices of $400,000 and $277,900 respectively. Inventory at the end of May was 5,836, up from 4,308 in May 2021.”
The Review Journal. “Southern Nevada homebuyers paid record-high prices yet again last month, but the market overall ‘may be starting to calm down a bit’ as sales tumble and inventory climbs, a new report shows. The tally of available homes shot higher, as 3,570 single-family homes were on the market without offers at the end of May, up 46.3 percent from April and 75.8 percent year over year, according to Las Vegas Realtors. Similar to the resale market, homebuilders have also seen their sales activity tumble recently in Southern Nevada.”
“Builders logged 911 net sales — new purchase contracts minus cancellations — in Southern Nevada in April, down nearly 30 percent from March, Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research reported. All told, ‘this trend may continue as mortgage rates continue to rise,’ Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith wrote.”
From 425 Business in Washington. “The Northwest Multiple Listing Service’s May report showed a significant increase in active listings compared to a year ago, a slowdown in sales, and prices still rising, according to a recent news release analyzing the 26-county NWMLS region. NWMLS members added 13,075 new listings to inventory during May, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier and the highest monthly number since June 2021, the release said. At the end of May, buyers could choose from 8,798 active listings systemwide, up 59 percent from a year ago when there were only 5,533 properties in the database. That is the largest selection since September 2020.”
“Snohomish County was among two counties that more than doubled their number of active listings from a year ago. Snohomish County jumped from 500 to 1,182 listings, up 136.4 percent. Total active listing rose 35.7 percent in King County, but they were up 116.6 percent on the county’s Eastside. ‘The only constant is change,’ said Gary O’Leyar, another broker with decades of experience. ‘Although we have been through a long run-up in the market, history tells us that the real estate market never remains static. There is a definite shift in buyers’ patterns.’”
The Sacramento Bee in California. “The dynamic is starting to shift, as rising mortgage rates, flattening prices and increased inventory have allowed homebuyers to be a little more patient. That’s also giving buyers a lot more leverage. The interactive map below shows the difference between the sale price and the listing price for homes sold in every Sacramento region ZIP code in April. The data, compiled for Redfin, shows there are some communities, especially in Yuba and Sutter counties, where buyers had pretty good leverage in April.”
The Houston Business Journal in Texas. “Houston’s housing market remained fairly strong in May, but things might finally be calming down enough to increase inventory, the Houston Association of Realtors reported June 8. Single-family home sales fell just 0.9% year over year to 9,627 units sold in May, the market’s second consecutive monthly year-over-year decline. ‘Conditions appear to be calming a bit across the Houston housing market, so we are not seeing the frenetic pace of buying we did a couple of months ago with dozens of competing offers on new listings,’ said HAR Chair Jennifer Wauhob.”
From West Hawaii Today. “Home sales on the Big Island are already slowing down. ‘It’s hard to tell, but I think it has slowed down a bit,’ said Lori McNeel, real estate agent with First Island Realty in Kailua-Kona. ‘We’re not getting 30 offers on the same property anymore, we’ll get more like five.’ The average sales price — $945,362 in May — has dropped from last year, when it was $1.06 million.”
“Dana Kenny, principal broker for Savio Realty in Hilo, said he expects the full impacts of the rate hikes will not be felt until later this summer. Although McNeel and Kenny both noted that mortgages aren’t being handed out willy-nilly like they were during the subprime mortgage crisis that caused the 2008 Great Recession, Kenny added that the situation could lead to a feedback loop that drives home prices down. ‘I’ve been a broker for 35 years, so I’ve seen this five times before,’ Kenny said. ‘I think we always recover…but this is the first time I’ve looked at it and thought it’s getting a bit scary.’”
The Steamboat Pilot in Colorado. “With a unanimous 6-0 vote on Tuesday, June 7, the Steamboat Springs City Council approved ordinances that will implement regulations on short-term rentals. ‘With one smack of the gavel, you will have destroyed our financial portfolio,’ said Ulrich Salzgeber, who is the managing broker at the Steamboat Springs Board of Realtors. ‘Apparently Steamboat is ready for the Salzgebers to leave.’”
From WKBW. “Erie County Clerk Michael Kerns is out with a renewed warning about an issue that thousands of homeowners are facing across Western New York.’We have been talking about this as a possible crisis. I believe we are in crisis today,’ said Kerns. Numbers provided by Belmont Housing Resources show 4,530 homeowners in Erie County have received a pre-foreclosure notice in the last nine months. About a third of those have come just since March. The zip codes with the greatest concentration of notices are 14215, 14225, and 14150.”
“‘What we have been seeing is basically every quarter, the numbers are doubling in the amount of people that are behind on their mortgages,’ said Sandy Becker, Senior Housing Programs Director of Belmont Housing Resources.”
The Toronto Star in Canada. “Toronto’s west lakeshore and midtown neighbourhoods saw drastic home price losses in May. West Toronto Lakeshore, which includes Roncesvalle-High Park-Swansea area, saw a significant decrease of 21.36 per cent in the average home price from $1.7 million in April to more than $1.3 million in May.”
“West Midtown — from St. Clair Avenue West to Eglinton Avenue West, and Dufferin Street to Yonge Street — saw an even bigger drop by 31.15 per cent for the average home price from $2.6 million in April to just over $1.77 million in May. The main factor for the decrease in these neighbourhoods is that homebuyers are more reliant on institutional money, said Danielle Demerino, a Toronto-based real estate agent.”
“‘They’re more affordable neighbourhoods than Rosedale or Forest Hill. You get the same kind of caché without spending $4 million on a home,’ she said. ‘But as mortgage rates rise, the cost goes up, it’s less affordable and prices fall to accommodate it.’ Prices in the area also rose by almost 20 per cent from the fall of 2021 to February 2022. The home prices weren’t sustainable and quickly came down from the peak, she added.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Borrowers getting a mortgage this month best prepare for more sticker shock. We’re about to see another wave of fixed-rate hikes. CIBC economist Benjamin Tal has data going back to 1990 on the interest-rate sensitivity of Canada’s economy. And comparing 1990 with today, ‘we are 93 per cent more sensitive’ to rate hikes, Mr. Tal told me.”
“The way this is all playing out, the Bank of Canada may have no choice but to break housing’s back by taking its key rate at least 13 times higher than it was on March 1. In other words, to 3.25 per cent or above. If the bank really wants to head off this inflationary spiral, however, there’s one sure way to do it: shock and awe. I’m not in the home-price prediction business but perhaps we get a quick V-shaped bottom like the past few housing market sell-offs. But know this. Given record-high leverage – if stress test rates end up in the high 7-per-cent or 8-per-cent range, all bets are off.”
From One Roof in New Zealand. “The prices on almost 5000 listings have been slashed in the past three months as more owners get realistic about their property’s worth in the current market.The owners of a property on Stanley Road in Glenfield, in Auckland, are so committed to selling their house that they are slashing the price by $50,000 a week until it is sold. The price has already dropped by $350,000 since it was listed for $1.949 million at the end of April.”
“And it is not the only house price being marked down – almost five times more real estate listings have had their price altered by an average 3.95% in the three months ending May 31, 2022 compared to the same period last year. Real estate agents made changes to 15% of all residential listings on OneRoof during the same three-month period with almost 50% of those corrections relating to Auckland properties, OneRoof analysis shows.”
“Across the country – including all parts of Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury – listings can be found with significant price reductions while others are being marketed as ‘below CV.’ Agents often credit ‘motivated vendors’ as the reason for the price drop. Wallace Stratton agent Stefan Powney, who is marketing the Stanley Road property, said the owners were really committed to selling so the price would keep dropping by $50,000 increments until it either sold or until further notice. The property was first listed at the end of January, and relisted on April 21 at $1.949m. The price for the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 1328sqm is already down to $1.599m.”
“Lodge managing director Jeremy O’Rourke said there was about four months stock sitting on the market which made it a ‘little bit more competitive.’ ‘Vendors are getting more realistic and understanding that you’ve got to be in the range of negotiable acceptance rather than flying a kite in terms of their pricing otherwise it will just get overlooked.’”
From Domain News on Australia. “It’s music to the ears of every Brisbane house-hunter who has spent the past two years watching prices go only one way – and that’s up – as new data reveals the pockets of the city where sellers are dropping their prices. The average reduction in the asking price of Brisbane houses is on the rise overall, according to Domain data, spiking to its highest rate since July 2020. The most significant spike in discounting over the past year was recorded in the Nundah and Carindale regions, which includes suburbs such as Northgate, Banyo, Carina and parts of Camp Hill and Cannon Hill. Discounting has risen by more than 90 per cent in both regions since May last year.”
“‘The dynamics of the market are shifting and they’re shifting quickly,’ said James Kirkland of Upside Realty. ‘It’s no longer feasible to look back on a similar property that sold three months ago and use that as a benchmark for what something will sell for now. The market has changed.’”
“Steve Grimbas of Place Estate Agents Nundah said some vendor expectations were having to be lowered as the market shifted. ‘It’s definitely slowed a little bit; there’s not that frenzy anymore,’ he said. ‘And we were never going to keep that up. There’s less competition in our area now. That’s having an impact.’”