It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Jewell Handy has a steady income as a teacher, money for a down payment and even a history of successful homeownership. But when she decided to buy a house for herself and her mother in Houston this summer, she discovered that she couldn’t get a conventional mortgage. The reason: a credit score in the mid-600s because of an old issue with a student loan.”
“With a week left before the sale is scheduled to close, she is still fielding paperwork requests from her lender, and she isn’t sure the loan will go through. ‘They’re somehow not confident in my finances, but I don’t really understand why,’ she said.”
“Fugitive businessman Jho Low, accused of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar fraud of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, has agreed to forfeit over $100 million worth of luxury real estate as part of a wide-ranging settlement with U.S. prosecutors. That includes two posh London apartments, two New York City condos and a contemporary mansion in Los Angeles, all of which U.S. prosecutors accused Mr. Low of buying with stolen money from a multibillion-dollar heist.”
“One of them, a lavish penthouse atop the Mandarin Oriental Residences by Central Park South, went into contract earlier this month, asking $30 million—approximately $500,000 less than Mr. Low bought it for in 2011. Mr. Low’s other New York City property is asking $9.2 million—several million less than the $13.8 million Mr. Low purchased it for back in 2014. The Los Angeles house is on the market for $24 million—less than two-thirds of the $39 million the businessman paid in 2012.”
“Developers selling the copper-clad pinnacle of the Woolworth Building are trying to drum up a buyer with a $31 million price cut. ‘We realize that the market has fallen a bit, and we’re realistic,’ real-estate developer Ken Horn said, adding that his company, Alchemy Properties, has lowered asking prices in the building by roughly 10%. ‘You would think that with pricing lower and interest rates lower, your buyer pool would be bigger. But people tend to buy in an inflated market as opposed to a market where they should be buying.’”
“The developers of the Woolworth Building aren’t the only ones slashing prices. Real-estate agent Stan Ponte who is helping to market the property said it is ‘a solid buyer’s market.’ ‘Everyone knows it,’ he said. ‘The buyers and the sellers.’”
“The quirky nature of this fall’s Toronto-area real estate market has buyers, sellers and their agents inventing new strategies. Real estate agent Patrick Rocca points to one house on a prime street in Leaside that arrived on the market in early October with an asking price of $2.9-million. It received one bid on offer night and sold, then that deal fell apart. It was relisted and, after a couple of weeks, it drew two offers and sold below asking.”
“Owners of up to 500,000 flats face being unable to sell or get a new mortgage because of uncertainty over government advice on towers clad with flammable materials. Helen Brierley, a property solicitor, tried to sell but found no buyer so she is letting her flat while living with her parents. ‘I am now in a situation where I am having to give up my flat, potentially go bankrupt and, as I then won’t be allowed to practise, potentially lose my career too,’ she said.”
“Gulf News spoke to tenants living in Sharjah to understand how their rents have changed in the last one year and what they expect the payout to be going forward. All the tenants we spoke to unanimously said their rents have slid. Salam P said he is currently living in a three-bedroom villa paying an annual rent of Dh100,000. ‘Last year I paid Dh125,000. This year people are saying we can negotiate harder for a rental drop and that is what I am going to do,’ he said.”
“Malaysia will be seen as a deserted land if the issue of unsold surplus houses and properties now estimated to reach almost RM100 billion is not promptly addressed, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin. ‘I was horrified to hear almost RM100 billion of houses were not sold, if these houses are without occupants, Malaysia will look like a deserted country,’ Kamaruddin said.”
“Thailand currently has 220,000 residential units waiting to be sold, some sitting unoccupied for a considerable length of time, an official of the Government Housing Bank said at a seminar. Vichai Viratkapan expressed concern about the substantial supply remaining unsold from 2014 to early 2019, such as the 1,140 units waiting for buyers in Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani. ‘The most worrying issue, though, is condos for sale at Bt2 million-Bt3 million that are being purchased at a lower rate than the average in the past,’ Vichai said.”
“With home sales crashing, real estate agent Zhang Yonggang is tightening his belt. Zhang, who works in the central city of Taiyuan, said his office sold no apartments last month after Beijing tightened lending controls in July to rein in housing costs and debt. Zhang, 42 and married with a teenage son, said his income has fallen by half from a year ago. ‘I have no money to buy a home and no plans to change cars’ Zhang said. ‘It is definitely the toughest time I’ve ever seen.’”
“The Western Australia housing market took a turn for the worse over the last quarter with broad-based downgrades, according to Moody’s Analytics. ‘Median rental values in Western Australia fell more than 20% peak to trough from November 2013 to September 2016, a sign of continued excess supply,’ said Katrina Ell, Economist at Moody’s Analytics.”
Slow sales of Christchurch‘s 900-home east frame development have aroused concern from Treasury and look likely to trigger changes in the project. Out of 172 apartments, terraced houses and townhouses being built just one-fifth are either under contract to would-be buyers or sold. Real estate agent Brendan Chase said ‘But something there is obviously not working. It could be a sales force problem, or they don’t know what they’re doing in terms of what the market wants, or their pricing is wrong.’”