It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Betsy Ronel, a licensed real estate salesperson with Compass in Westchester County, New York, said she believes the market will be in recovery mode for the foreseeable future. ‘It’s a national issue, so things are stalled everywhere in some way,’ she said. Jason Gelios, a realtor in Southeast Michigan, said he’s starting to notice a bit of a difference in the market. ‘There is a slight change happening in the current housing market where buyer demand has actually decreased,’ he said.”
“July housing inventory levels finally offered some hopeful signs of a cooling market. The number of homes for sale has been steadily increasing since it’s January low, when only 260 were listed in Ada County and 160 in Canyon County. There were 1,055 available Ada homes and 676 Canyon homes in July — the healthiest inventory numbers since March 2020. Ada inventory is up 50.3% from June and 116.3% from July 2020. In Canyon, home prices actually fell by 2.1% for a median of $414,750 compared with June’s $424,000, marking the county’s first decrease in more than a year.”
“‘Existing inventory was higher than the previous month and year for the second month in a row, something not seen since March of 2020 just before the pandemic hit the market,’ Pete Clark, director of communications for Boise Regional Realtors.”
“Economist Matthew Gardner says housing prices can only go so high. ‘There must always be a relationship between home prices and incomes. That is just a fact of life,’ he said. ‘We are getting certainly very close to that affordability ceiling, and what’s going to happen — and we are already starting to see it — is a bit of softening in list prices. In King County, for example, year over year, the average list price is actually down by 2%.’”
“‘[Condo] sale prices in Dorchester and South Boston are actually down 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively,’ versus a year ago, said agent Kiernan Middleman. ‘Even in the South End, one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city, year-over-year closed sale prices are down 4.8 percent.’”
“In the Rochester region, we’re seeing an extremely busy 2021 season for new home construction. It’s also a hot market for buying existing homes. Jeremias Manerio with Re/Max says buyers have been taking a bit of a temporary break, and the market could turn in their favor and balance out. ‘It will be more affordable for buyers depending on what happens with interest rates in the future,’ he says. He adds that you might see a brief decline in the high-tempo bidding we’ve seen on houses. ‘You might get a property for full asking, or maybe even just a bit under,’ says Manerio.”
“The final deal terms have been approved to sell one of the Bay Area properties a bankrupt developer managed to finish before his real estate empire collapsed — and more sales are in view. The pending property purchases arise from a federal court proceeding linked to a securities fraud case that’s been brought against bankrupt developer Sanjeev Acharya and his company, Silicon Sage Builders.”
“A big apartment complex in downtown San Jose developed by Acharya is poised to be bought — although at a price cut from the purchase value that was initially proposed, according to federal court documents. Plus, a court-appointed receiver has hired a real estate broker to sell three more properties, two in Santa Clara and one in Sunnyvale. ‘Even with the reduction, the proposed sale is still the best offer that the receiver obtained,’ the receiver asserted in the court filing regarding the Balbach apartment complex.”
“A Massachusetts investor is charging a New Hampshire firm for ‘luring’ it into a multi-million Ponzi scheme in order to get a piece of the action. The properties were near Birmingham, Al., and Overland Park, KS. But the suit charges that the values of the property were artificially inflated – the Birmingham project wasn’t even started yet – and that the rents paid were not from a successful commercial operation but from other investors. After some of that initial rent, both filed for bankruptcy.”
“‘The Noah event centers were, collectively, an unprofitable enterprise sustained only through infusions of new investor funds,’ alleged the SEC. ‘None of these accusations are accurate,’ John D. Hamrick told NH Business Review. ‘They purchased the real estate, and the owner and the tenant went bankrupt, and now they are trying to blame everybody else.’ He added, ‘They still own the real estate. They just aren’t getting any rent.’”
“Metro Vancouver home sales and prices are beginning to cool from their pandemic-fuelled highs. ‘Detached properties fail in the latest attempt to surpass the two-million (dollar) price barrier,’ was how Dane Eitel, a Vancouver real estate analyst and agent, described the scenario as the average sale price for all homes in the region reached a peak at $1.982 million in June and then slid $67,000 to $1.915 million in July.”
“Asking prices for apartments across London fell 2% since February 2020. Central London ‘is a buyer’s market,’ Simon Aldous, valuations director at Savills Plc, said in the RICS survey.”
“The worries of China’s most indebted real estate developers are not over yet. China Evergrande’s inventory has lost nearly 80% since July last year. The bonds are traded at a distressed level: some of them are worth less than half their face value.”
“A group of apartment buyers is pleading with the NSW government to help break their contracts after purchasing off-the-plan units in a Parramatta development where defects were recently discovered. Cynthia Huang paid tens of thousands of dollars in 2016 for a deposit on her dream apartment in the twin-towers development and said she was devastated when she first heard there were problems with the buildings.”
“‘I saved for a long time for this and for my future home,’ she said. ‘Those defects are about structural problems that can cause safety hazards and I can’t imagine how this could happen to me.’ Ben Xue also bought off the plan and said he was worried to be locked into a contract ‘forever.’ ‘My solicitor said if they register the strata plan, I won’t get out,’ he said. ‘It’s very hard for us to find another purchaser.’”
“Greens MP David Shoebridge met with around 10 Imperial Towers buyers and said the purchase had been significant. ‘For many of them, this was their first home, this was their first home in Australia as well, and they felt absolutely trapped,’ he said.”