It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “For frontline workers and others struggling during this pandemic, University of San Diego professor Norm Miller said a lot of foreclosures are coming with mortgage and rent relief running out. ‘I think we’re going to have the bottom say 20% of the housing tier on price see a fair amount of distress, probably triple what we have right now in terms of foreclosure sales,’ Miller said. ‘There will be some people, who won’t survive this without losing their homes.’”
“A Times Square Alliance study found foot traffic in the neighborhood’s busiest block on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues was down 70% from the previous year. The lack of visitors has coincided with the permanent closure of hotels. ‘We’ve definitely seen in the residential market, rents have dropped 10-15% this year in Manhattan,’ said Douglas Hercher, managing director at a private real estate investment bank. ‘That’s probably a little bit of the canary in the coal mine.’”
“In Austin, the condo market is currently in a pandemic-related lull. ‘Condos are a good buy right now in comparison to the rest of the market, I know people who are considering buying them as investments, because we do expect that market to go back up,’ said Dara Allen, a Compass agent based in Austin. ‘That was a huge part of the Austin market for a while, and after Covid hit, [condos] went down. There are some great purchases because there is a lot of inventory in the downtown market, and more to come.’”
“Hundreds of landlords are needed in order to match housing insecure families with the 19,000 vacant properties in New Orleans. ‘It is really unbelievable that we got people who can’t find landlords who are willing to rent to them,’ Andreanecia Morris the Executive Director of Housing NOLA said.”
“There are a few prevailing theories as to why many of Canada’s urban condo markets have struggled during the pandemic. All of these theories revolve around the ways COVID-19 has changed life in cities. The collapse of the short-term rental market is one likely culprit. ‘People had these investment properties that they were renting out as ghost hotels on Airbnb,’ says Scott Ingram, a Toronto real estate agent. ‘And then all of sudden the pandemic happens and their revenue goes to zero. Then you get a flood of long-term rentals.’”
“Estate agents across Sevenoaks say it has been a bumpy year for the district’s housing market and they expect more of the same in 2021. Associate partner Jemima Goodson said like much else it ‘had been a very odd year’ for the housing market in the town. ‘As we came out of lockdown in the spring it was very quiet but then we saw some manic times in between that and the autumn,’ she said. ‘Prices were going crazy but then as we got to the end of the year prices started coming down again and achieved the levels they were earlier in the year before they became inflated.’”
“Fellow Sevenoaks estate agent, Christian Bigwood of Hamptons said demand had been ‘unprecedented’ at times throughout 2020 and some overvalued individual homes may have seen their asking price drop once it became clear they would not sell.”
“The value of many residential properties in the city of Lahti are stagnant or dwindling and the situation has signalled to homeowners that their investments will not pay off like they have in the past. The value of houses and apartments located in the remote areas and small towns of Finland have been falling for some time in general, according to Raija Paananen-Laine, the director of regional bank OP Päijät-Häme.”
“‘It was once thought that owning your own home is sensible and a good investment. It’s quite a big leap to consider that [now] you may not get back what you paid for from your beloved home,’ she said. ‘If you bought a flat five or ten years ago, it was not at all clear that its value would rise, nor even be able to get the price you paid for it.’”
“Hong Kong looks likely to record its first annual drop in home prices for 12 years. ‘When people are cautious about the general economic outlook, and investment demand is weak, the luxury market’s residential prices and volumes are likely to be more affected and see higher volatility in the near term,’ said Stephanie Lau, senior analyst of Moody’s Investors Service. ‘Wider discounts are already observed.’”
“Another hospitality outfit hit hard by the lockdown was Rukus Café and Catering in Newport, with its co-owner Shaun Pereira revealing it had lost $40,000 worth of cancelled events.With the lockdown also being implemented with little warning on December 19, Mr Pereira said he also lost around $4000 worth of food that he had been preparing to use at a wedding the next day. ‘I have credit cards maxed out and loans from family just to survive the year we had. Something as small as a two-week lockdown means we have missed our busy season and have no chance of catching up.’”
“Roz Ingram, who owns the Gym Factory in Warriewood along with her husband, said she fears the business won’t survive as it lost $300,000 in the lockdown earlier in the year. All their savings have been exhausted and the couple were also forced to sell their cars, she added.”
“‘The 12 weeks we were out of operation from March — we are still trying to get out of that one as people still haven’t come back to the gym or cancelled their memberships as they don’t feel so comfortable,’ she told news.com.au. ‘This could be the knock-out round, unfortunately. We aren’t a franchise. We are a family-owned gym trying to get by. I don’t want to lose my house because of this. I feel like my hands are tied and it feels like I’m drowning. I don’t know if I can take any more mentally.’