A report from the Houston Chronicle in Texas. “‘For buyers now, you’re not really buying at the peak because that was more about six months ago to a year ago when we had multiple offers,’ said Jennifer Wauhob, HAR’s chair. ‘People were bidding over asking price, buyers had to waive all the contingencies. Those days are gone now. There’s more inventory out there, they’re not having to compete and they can actually make an offer that’s below asking price and have a chance of getting their offer accepted.’”
The Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico. “The Albuquerque metro area’s hot housing market is cooling during the holiday season, as closed sales, single-family detached homes going under contract and the median sales price all dropped in November. According to the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors, the median sales price for a single-family detached home was $328,000 in November – a drop off of $7,000 from October. In January, the median sales price was $310,000 and this year saw a high of $340,500 in May. November’s median sales price is the fourth lowest this year.”
KOIN in Oregon. “The Portland housing market was vastly different in November 2022 compared to the year before. In just one year, pending sales and closed sales have both plummeted by more than 40%. The report said the median sale price of homes in the Portland metro area in November 2022 was $525,900. That’s down $11,100 from October 2022. Josh Lehner, a state economist with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, said these changes to the housing market aren’t exclusive to Portland; the entire state is experiencing them.”
The Commercial Appeal in Tennessee. “Home sales in the Memphis area housing market continue to drop though inventory is slowly rising, according to new data. The median home sales price in the Memphis area declined 4.4% from November 2021 to November 2022. In November 2021, the median home sales price was $225,000. In November 2022, that figure dropped to $215,000.”
From Bisnow. “Deals are hard to come by and close, and uncertainty and inactivity are permeating every facet of the industry. ‘There’s definitely a lot of financial stress on brokers,’ said New York City retail broker Michelle Abramov. ‘You definitely see a lot of brokers who have left the industry and, quite frankly, continue to leave the industry because of the difficulties at hand.’ Even brokers with job security, many of whom work for commissions rather than salaries, are grappling with a tough new set of realities. Brokerage firms reported that transaction volumes in investment sales and mortgages fell between 11% and 37% in the third quarter. In Manhattan, the nation’s largest office market, leasing activity fell 50% in November, historically a busy month.”
Bloomberg on New York. “A group of apartments at Mercedes House, a luxury residential and retail complex on Manhattan’s West Side, is in contract to sell for a little more than $100 million. Empire Capital Holdings, which specializes in acquiring discounted commercial and apartment properties, is buying the 162 rental units, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The seller is Invesco Ltd., which acquired the units years ago for $170 million. Prices for New York-area rental buildings are down almost 16% from the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Green Street.”
From NBC News. “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and members of his Federal Reserve Board might not be cruel and heartless people, but they are in the process of killing the American dream of home ownership for millions of families. Homeowners are finding they can’t sell their homes for what they were worth just a few months ago. This is particularly troublesome for couples approaching retirement, such as neighbors of mine who are looking to downsize.”
“Three months ago, a home very comparable to theirs sold in our neighborhood for the impressive price of more than $1.3 million. But the couple recognize they are now selling into a declining market, so they listed their home for just under $1 million. It’s as if a chunk of their nest egg has suddenly been snatched from underneath them.”
Los Angeles Magazine in California. “With the city’s real estate off 20 percent since its peak last spring, sellers are slashing prices. Here are some properties that lost thousands and millions in value. Reached via a winding private drive, this three-bedroom, three-bath, 2,988-square-foot traditional canyon home on five acres dates to the 1930s. Value Since it was listed in June, the property has been reduced in price three times in roughly $1 million increments; the latest reduction was made in September. Price $6,995,000 ⁄ Today $3,499,999.”
“Recently renovated, this 5,691-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bath mid-century modern adds an eat-in chef’s kitchen and infinity pool with cabana. Value The price was lowered by $1 million after listing last spring, casual evidence that even a Beverly Hills location isn’t immune to current market pressures. Price $7,950,000 ⁄ Today $6,799,000.”
The Timmins Press in Canada. “It’s no secret that the last two years have been a boon to the real estate market in Northern Ontario. Sudbury Real Estate Board and Canadian Real Estate Association data are reporting that it’s taking longer to sell homes and prices are starting to decline slightly. In May, the median home price for Espanola and the area (including Massey, McKerrow, Nairn Centre, Webbwood, Walford and Spanish) was $374,000. For November, that had dropped to around $280,000. Though buyers from the south still find the area attractive, gridlock has ensued as the southern Ontario market has seen prices plummet up to 40% in some areas.”
The Penticton Herald in Canada. “Don’t let rising interest rates scare you away from the housing market, says a Penticton mortgage broker amid a fresh data release showing continued softening of home prices. ‘There are tremendous opportunities now compared to a year ago. The increased mortgage costs have basically been offset with the decline in prices,’ said Rene Carloni. ‘Personally, I’d rather pay less for a home today at a higher interest rate compared to what we had a year ago, with low rates and higher prices. Market prices peaked nearly everywhere in the province in early 2022 around February. Prices locally since then are down 10% to 15%.’”
Business Daily on Kenya. “Coast developers uproot bungalows for skyscraper apartments. But while rental charges have been on the uptick, the selling prices of apartments in the posh estates have stagnated due to oversupply. ‘The high-end apartment market in Nairobi is grappling with static unit sales prices performance, attributable to an excess supply of apartments in Kilimani, Lavington, Parklands and Kileleshwa, which is placing downward pressure on values,’ the report says.”
The Malay Mail. “The property sector would remain challenging moving into 2023, with a lot of market correction needed to be put in place, due to a clear oversupply of properties in certain sectors and locations in the country, said developers. Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd managing director Mohd Imran Mohamad Salim said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the property market was very obvious, including inflation, interest rates hikes, productivity lag, labour shortages as well as issues in the supply chain which either drive up cost or reduce productivity. ‘We have a challenging few years ahead (and) what is very important to note now is that we see industry players who are really looking into their business fundamentals.’”
The Vietnam Express. “Only 213 were sold in HCMC and neighboring Binh Duong Province, and none in other southern localities, according to DKRA Vietnam. The sales numbers plummeted by 89% partly because supply, especially in new projects, decreased sharply, it explained. Tightened credit conditions also played a part by making it difficult for people to borrow to buy housing. According to the real estate consultancy, in November many developers offered discounts of 40-50% for apartments in the primary market while prices decreased by 3-5% in the secondary market from October. Most transactions last month were by sellers who urgently needed money to repay banks after loan interest rates surged.”
“Nguyen Mac Hoai Nam, general director of Nam Phat Consulting Service Company, told VnExpress the apartment market is in a prolonged slump, with liquidity and demand falling even in HCMC and Binh Duong. Many experts expect the situation to continue into 2023, with apartment prices in the primary market remaining high and people selling at discounts in the secondary market to cut losses.”
From Reuters. “For more than a decade, Chinese developers’ debt-fuelled construction boom enriched the country’s shadow banks, who were eager to capitalise on the needs of an industry desperate for credit and too risky for traditional lenders. Now, in the wake of a government clampdown on real estate firms’ debt binge, that credit demand has collapsed – and so too has the single biggest revenue stream for shadow banks, also known as trust firms.”
“It is also shrinking, with once-well-paid employees leaving for other jobs after scavenging for new deals. ‘Everyone was eating a mouthful of rice, surviving another day,’ said Jason Hao, who left his job this year at a Shanghai trust firm after his pay plunged from as much as 4 million yuan ($570,000) a year to about 240,000 yuan ($34,000).”
From Fox Business. “FTX spokesperson Kevin O’Leary testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, discussing the collapse of the cryptocurrency trading platform, and he recalled a conversation he had with former CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried right after things went south. ‘After my accounts were stripped of all of their assets and all of the accounting and trade information, I couldn’t get answers from any of the executives in the firm, so I simply called Sam Bankman-Fried and said, ‘Where is the money, Sam?’ O’Leary told the committee in response to a question regarding why he believes the company failed.”
“He said Bankman-Fried’s response began with him claiming he did not know because he no longer had access to the company servers. ‘I said, okay, let’s step back. This is a simple case in my mind of where did the money go?’ O’Leary continued. ‘And I said, ‘Sam, walk me back 24 months. Tell me the use proceeds of the assets of your company. Where did you spend it?’”