It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “The Spokane Association of Realtors’ December snapshot shows sales down 7.2% compared to this time last year. So, why are some houses sitting on the market longer than usual? ‘A lot of times when they are sitting on the market, they are priced too high,’ explained Real Estate agent Perry Domini. ‘And then you’ll start seeing a couple of price drops. And now the buyer is kind of in the driver’s seat because the sellers got to get rid of it.’”
“The red-hot housing market is starting to cool off in the Jacksonville area. The median price of a single-family home actually fell in January, and more homes were listed for sale, the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors reported. ‘The frenzied pace of demand seems to be returning to normal season levels’ — with closed sales down 9.4% and pending sales down 6.3% from last year, said Mark Rosener, president of the local Realtors association.”
“Dallas-Fort Worth led the country in single-family home starts last year. ‘Starts climbed by over 20% in 2021, hitting a new record level of over 58,000 units,’ said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. ‘But sales closings have not been able to keep pace and have climbed by only 7.7% during the year to just shy of 46,000 units.’”
“The U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved the sale of Barclay Tower, a recently constructed 23-unit residential building in Flushing, according to A&G Real Estate Partners. Sunlight Barclay Tower LLC, a newly formed entity, was the winning bidder in A&G’s bankruptcy auction, acquiring the seven-story structure for $10.15 million.”
“Everything is more expensive these days. A lot of people are in the same boat and most of them are trying to stay afloat. ‘You know, we’re at the point now where I’m like, ‘Well, maybe I just won’t eat lunch today,’ shrugged Marci Prag while standing in front of her Cortez Hill condo tower. ‘Everything’s going up,’ said Jan Paul Sanchez in front of his Chula Vista home. ‘I’m not using the AC. I don’t use the heat,’ he said. ‘So, you got to start making adjustments. Start not doing some of the things you used to.’”
“‘We don’t eat a lot of hot meals right now because you don’t want to turn on your power,’ said Prag. ‘I’m angry but I can’t spend my time being angry about things because it’s not going to solve the problem. And then I’m making 25% less right now for the past two years because my company’s desperately trying to stay in business,’ sighed Prag.”
“Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp has taken to Twitter to hit back at claims that she’s a ‘rich b***h’ following comments she made in an interview which came out over the weekend. Speaking about the housing crisis, the TV star, 50, claimed that young people can get on the property ladder if they cancel their Netflix and gym subscriptions and forgo takeaway coffees.”
“She also suggested that they’d be able to save for a deposit if they moved in with their parents for three years or decided to look elsewhere for cheaper homes. Kirstie added that it required ‘enormous sacrifices’ but said that she often becomes ‘enraged’ when young people say they can’t afford to buy. Either you think I’m an out of touch rich b***h who doesn’t get how hard it is to buy a home in many parts of the UK or you don’t.’”
“The good news is the housing market has turned and we are now officially in a buyer’s market. Barfoot and Thompson put out some data yesterday showing that of the 135 houses that went to auction in the week leading up to 4 February, less than a third of them sold; only 27% of those properties. The reason this is good news is because it should finally put a brake on those runaway house prices we’ve seen for the last couple of years. If you don’t’ have crazy levels of buying, it should cool prices.”
“The bad news is that it’s turned because first home buyers are struggling to get mortgages. Tony Alexander puts out an excellent survey which last week showed that a net 65% of real estate agents reported an exodus of first home buyers from the market last month. So, when we say it’s a buyer’s market it’s an anyone-but-first-home-buyer’s market. And the reason for that is because the thing that has finally accelerated the housing slowdown is the new you-can’t-have-netflix-if-you-want-a-mortgage lending rules that kicked in on December 1.”
“According to Le Duy Minh, director of the HCMC Tax Department, Binh Minh sent a document to related agencies on February 8, proposing canceling the deal to buy the land lot that covers over 5,000 square meters in Thu Thiem. The land lot was successfully auctioned at VND5.026 trillion, or 6.9 times higher than the reserve price.”
“Prior to Binh Minh’s proposed withdrawal, Tan Hoang Minh Group, whose subsidiary Viet Star Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd won the auction for the land lot coded 3-12 in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, officially canceled a contract to buy the land lot late last month and lost its deposit of nearly VND600 billion. Real estate developer Binh Minh Investment and Trading Company Limited has rejected the purchase of land at Thu Thiem New Urban Area, Thu Duc City, despite initially winning the bid for it at auction. The move comes after Tan Hoang Minh Group earlier also did not go through with a planned purchase.”
“Le Duy Minh, director of the City Tax Department, said the first phase of payment, in which winners have to pay 50 per cent for the land, ‘ had expired for 30 days, but none of them paid.”
“Zhenro Properties Group Ltd.’s shares and dollar bonds plunged Friday, with traders citing concern that the Chinese builder won’t redeem a $200 million bond next month as planned. The 10.25% perpetual note in question slumped to 35 cents on the dollar from 93 cents Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and some other dollar bonds were on pace for record lows after falling at least 10 cents. Shares ended down a record 66% in Hong Kong and an onshore bond maturing in 2024 fell 23%, the most in over a month.”
“Zillow said it’s winding down its home-flipping business, selling houses ‘faster than we anticipated at better unit economics than we projected.’ The stock has lost three-quarters of its value since reaching a record almost a year ago. The company lost $261 million in the fourth quarter and $528 million for the year, with the entire deficit attributable to the homes business. But, Zillow said it sold 8,353 homes in the period, beating its outlook for approximately 5,000 sales, and ended the quarter with about 10,000 homes in inventory.”
“‘We feel even more confident today that exiting iBuying and eliminating the housing market balance sheet risk to our company and our shareholders was the right decision,’ Zillow CEO Rich Barton wrote. At the time of the announcement in November, Zillow also said it was cutting about 25% of its workforce. ‘We want to acknowledge the past few months have been challenging for us all — Zillow leadership, employees, and investors,’ Barton wrote. ‘But innovation is a bumpy road.’”