A report from the Daily Interlake in Montana. “‘The median home price in Kalispell is at $525,000, which is down from what it was a couple of months ago when it was in the six hundreds,’ says Erica Wirtala, Public Affairs Director for Northwest Montana Realtors Association. ‘I think Whitefish has fallen a bit, they were at a median home price of over a million. Now they’re at about $840,000 — and that’s for a two bedroom two bath — that’s just your average median house.’”
“In resort towns like Bigfork and Whitefish, the price jump is more significant. In June of 2020, the median home in Bigfork sold for $363,000, that price nearly tripled at its peak in April of this year at around $1.1 million. In Whitefish, the median price was $425,000 in June of 2020 and peaked in August of this year at just over $1 million. These high prices have started to fall since their peak— now most places sit with a median home sale price of between $500,000 to $800,000.”
“David Boye, a broker with Black Diamond Mortgage in Whitefish, said people who had a hard time getting a loan might have a better chance of finding someone who will work with them. ‘If you had credit challenges, you might not have been able to find a loan officer that was willing to help you get a loan in 2021,’ he said. But as the market changes that may be beneficial for those prospective homeowners who had a harder time obtaining a loan. ‘Obviously, everything is probably a little bit worse (than before the boom) but the desire to work together is there for me to work with them and desire for them to put the work in,’ Boye said.”
From New Jersey.com. “‘When you look at the inventory that’s out there, a lot of it is new home starts,’ said Robert White, president of New Jersey Realtors and a broker with Coldwell Banker Spring Lake. He said a new adult community in Howell, where properties were listed at $849,000, this month were being offered for $720,000 if the buyer can close by Oct. 31. ‘I think you’re going to start seeing that in a lot of these communities,’ White said. ‘When they build in phases, as they sell homes, they typically raise prices by a certain percent. Now, they’re forced to reduce prices back to Phase 1 if they’re in Phase 3.’”
“The New Jersey town with the highest months supply of homes is Alpine, in Bergen County, where the median price of a home is $4.04 million and they sell in about 150 days, according to Redfin data. ‘Alpine doesn’t have a lot of homes to begin with, so when you do percentages its always going to feel like it’s more,’ said Michael Kolsky of Coldwell Banker, adding that there are between 800 and 900 homes total in Alpine. ‘Some of it is the houses are not priced right. Some of it is location,’ Kolsky said. ‘A lot of homes in Alpine that are on the market have received offers that were not accepted. They just weren’t satisfactory to the owner.’”
Bangor Daily News. “Profits for home sellers are falling in Maine and nationally at the fastest rate in three years. In the hot Portland and South Portland real estate market, the median sales profit on a single-family home or condo declined 3.9 percent from the second to the third quarters of this year. Home sales decreased by 11.7 percent for the three-month period ending Aug. 31. And in August the median sales price of $340,000 was down 9.9 percent from July.”
The Herald Mail. “‘We are seeing a market slow down right now,’ Heather Weeks, President of Pen-Mar Realtors, wrote. ‘Some of that is seasonal, as we head into the winter months. However, there are also a lot of potential buyers who can’t afford the cost of higher mortgages. The local market is beginning to feel the pinch of higher interest rates. The looming threat of more rate hikes is causing anxiety within the housing industry. We’re heading into uncharted territory,’ Weeks wrote.”
The Real Deal on Florida. “Single-family home sales fell 59 percent in the town of Palm Beach to nine closings. Nearly a year of supply was left at the end of the third quarter, more than double that of the same period of last year. The median price actually fell 4 percent to $8.4 million.”
From USA Today. “What once seemed like it was as hot as lava, the U.S. housing market now seems to be cooling down pretty quickly. But why? Host James Brown sat down with veteran observers of the housing market and USA TODAY journalists Swapna Venugopal and Terry Collins to talk about the housing market and if what we are seeing is a buyer’s, seller’s or a weird neverland of in between.”
“Swapna Venugopal: So it’s sort of a calculation that people have to make. How long do I wait? Will the home prices actually stabilize? Will they reach a point in the near future where it’s not really going up year over year? And if that’s the case, once they buy, what happens when home values decline? Suddenly they have no equity in a year or so where people who bought two years ago would’ve built up so much equity. So that’s another thing they have to struggle with. Will they be wiped out by buying at the peak while the mortgage rates are so high? So it’s too many decisions to make and none of them easy, really.”
“Terry Collins: Yeah, yeah. And what if you’re a seller and just say you have a crisis or maybe you lost your job and you’re forced to sell your house and you have to sell it, you might have to do a short sale. You’re not going to get the value of what you thought the home was worth, but you need the money to survive or to just make ends.”
From KTLA TV. “Houses in California tend to be expensive, but one city is seeing a significant decline in home prices, according to a study from Realtor.com. Stockton, located in San Joaquin County in Northern California, was ranked as the 8th city to experience notable home price reductions. According to the website, the median home price in Stockton is $581,725, a 7.7% decrease from home prices in June.”
“Many home buyers from California, most notably in San Francisco, sold their houses during the pandemic and used that money for cheaper real estate in neighboring areas, the study found. The influx of people in those surrounding areas caused home prices to increase significantly. Adrian Rosas, a real estate agent in Stockton, told Realtor.com that a house sale of $400,000 fell through twice. The sellers took off an additional $20,000 to make the price seem more attractive for potential buyers, after initially lowering the price by $10,000.”
“Austin, Texas was ranked as the number one city experiencing declines in home prices. The median home price in the city is $558,275, which is 10.3% lower than where it was in June. Phoenix, Arizona ranked second on the list. Spokane, Washington was ranked 10th in the study. The median home price in the area is $449,900. The area saw a 7.4% price decrease since June.”
The Orange County Register. “Mortgage rates have risen at the fastest pace in decades. Buyers either are moving to the sidelines or are priced out altogether, causing price drops in expensive markets like California. ‘We’re in the midst of a housing resetting,’ said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for the Bright MLS, one of the nation’s largest multiple listing services. ‘Sellers are definitely resetting their price expectations. Slowly. They’re going through the five stages of grief. They’re understanding that market conditions are changing. But many times, sellers are still trying to overreach on price.’”
“Where will price drops most likely occur? ‘California will be a prime target for price declines,’ said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. ‘Whether it’s going to be a 5% or 10% price decline (is uncertain). But I think it’s most assured the California market, expensive areas will undergo some price adjustment.’ Yun noted that housing affordability — a measure of how many households earn enough to afford a home purchase — is at the lowest level since 2006. ‘We all remember what happened after (2006),’ Yun said. ‘(There was a) huge plunge in prices. Thirty percent across the board. … We are in a similar condition in terms of affordability.’”
Global News in Canada. “The real estate market in New Brunswick has started to show signs of cooling after two years of frequent record-setting. Sales statistics for September showed significant sales declines in each of the three large markets. In Saint John, home sales declined by 24.3 per cent compared to September of last year. For Greater Moncton and the Fredericton area, declines reached 34.5 per cent and 35.9 per cent, respectively.”
“‘Our folks and friends in Ontario who were selling their homes and basically coming to Atlantic Canada, Saint John no different, have not sold their homes, and basically, if they’re not selling their homes in Ontario, they’re typically not coming to buy here,’ said John McAloney, a long-time real estate agent in southeastern New Brunswick.”
From The Guardian. “Sydney’s property prices have fallen by more than 10% since their mid-February peak, shedding almost $450 a day in value on an average home, and leading other major markets lower, CoreLogic said. The 10.1% decline for home values in the harbour city so far comes as documents from the Reserve Bank of Australia indicate average property values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their recent highs by the end of 2024. That decline would be the steepest since the 1980s if realised. ‘A key risk is that housing prices fall by more than we expect,’ the RBA notes show.”
“Other cities reporting falling home values include Melbourne, where prices are down about 6.4% after beginning their retreat in mid-January. Brisbane’s falls are 6.1% from their mid-June zenith, while Adelaide and Perth have begun edging lower, easing about 1% from their August highs, CoreLogic said.”
The Daily Monitor on Uganda. “Businesses collapse and individuals lose homes to creditors as ravages of Covid-19 and associated lockdowns stir rising loan defaults, leading to properties advertised for auction in the first half of this year doubling numbers of similar pre-pandemic period. For instance, auctioneers between January and June 2022 advertised 2,076 properties in Daily Monitor for sale, nearly twice the 1,102 properties they advertised during first half of 2019.”
“The 2022 statistics translates to 346 properties being placed for sale a month, or 12 of them a day, this year. The imminent forfeitures, based on our analysis, show individual borrowers losing big and small assets, among them family homes, usually an acquisition using life-time savings. Mr Ismail Ssempijja, is a resident of Masaka, whose residential house and rental units are on verge of being sold. He sees no way out of the predicament.”
“A former textile dealer, Mr Ssempijja told this newspaper that ‘my family house and some of my rental houses were advertised…I have not been able to save them, I am stranded. I do not know what is going to happen, it is God to decide because the situation is too tough on my side,’ he said.”
“Mr Ssempijja acquired the loan at the beginning of 2020, hoping to boost his business. He was to pay back within two years. Then Covid happened. Months after taking the loan, the country went into lockdown to stem the spread of Coronavirus. Businesses were smothered, livelihoods extinguished. ‘My businesses collapsed. There is no money. I am engaging the bank, but all they want is the money. I would have paid if Covid had not disrupted us, this was not the first time I acquired a loan. I have always paid back promptly,’ he said.”
“While some debtors willingly shared their predicaments, majority we contacted were either outright hostile or simply turned down our requests for interview. ‘Why are you asking me why I defaulted on a loan? Is it any of your business?’ one angry defaulter said on the phone before dropping the call. Another responded, ‘Go and look for news elsewhere and leave me alone. I lost my home [after defaulting on a loan] and you are now asking me what went wrong. Really? So that you do what?’ Others declined to share their experiences that they characterised as ‘too painful’ as it had caused them ‘enough emotional distress.’”
“Mr Moses Waiswa, the managing director of Fairway Auctioneers, warned potential borrowers to scrutinise mortgage arrangements carefully if they do not want to fall into a trap and lose high-value assets. ‘Banks do not own money. Once you sign a mortgage agreement, know you have been trapped. Just read the adverts in your newspaper (Daily Monitor) and see the rate at which banks are disposing of property,’ he said.”
“Waiswa said he is stuck with properties given to him by banks to be auctioned, and the assets belong mostly to individuals and businesses that borrowed before the Covid lockdown. ‘Usually banks are not cooperative on the time limit, they do not give you time to settle your debt. They have put houses on the market but, unfortunately, there are no people buying the property because there is no money,’ he said.”