It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Founded in 2017 by CEO Yifan Zhang and cofounder Adam Stelle after she realized she could cover her mortgage by renting a room in her Seattle house on Airbnb, Loftium was expanding rapidly in the months before the pandemic. It leased roughly 700 rental units — mostly in Seattle, but also in Atlanta, the Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland and San Diego. But as the pandemic worsened, sending Airbnb bookings plunging by 50% or more in some cities — with nightly rates following suit — the company acted fast to cut costs. It laid off 60% of its employees in late March, and slashed the number of homes it leased to just 465 by terminating early-stage contracts, Zhang said.”
“For the business to try to take advantage of protections for households feels like ‘a free lunch on the shoulders of the landlord,’ said Rosario Bevilacqua, who rents a four-bedroom home in West Seattle’s Highland Park neighborhood to Loftium. ‘Loftium is a business that profits from my home,’ he said. Bevilacqua, an insurance agent, said he makes less than minimum wage; his wife owns a coworking space that’s been closed since the state closed nonessential businesses in late March. The rental income from the Highland Park property covered the mortgage, property tax and insurance and paid for things like swim lessons for Bevilacqua’s four children, he said.”
“Now that the tourism industry is flat on its back, local residents with their $1,200 government checks are looking like acceptable occupants of various rattan-and-Ross bedspread rooms and cottages across Hawaii. Who can blame folks for trying to survive the economic destruction, right? Hustlers gotta hustle. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a bit of delight in the irony, though. The rental ads for the empty transient vacation rental units stick out in the ‘home for rent’ listings like dog-show dogs at a poi dog convention.”
“It may seem like a ton of tourists are flying in and staying in illegal vacation rentals right now (all vacation rentals are illegal right now as they have been deemed nonessential, whether permitted or not) with the express intention of breaking curfew, but clearly, many are sitting empty, Ross bedspreads untouched, French presses not pressing, fake starfish all sad and lonely.”
“D-FW area median home sales list prices were down 2.8% last week from where they were at the same time in 2019. And more than 29% of homes sold by real estate agents had price reductions, according to Realtor.com. Looking at other major metro areas, home asking prices are also down in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Miami and Seattle.”
“Looking for a deal? The prices have been trimmed for these homes in the $300,000 range in Riverside, Hemet and Idyllwild. RIVERSIDE: It could use a remodel, but this single-story home with yards in front and back recently got a price cut of nearly 10%.”
“Apple co-founder Mike Markkula’s 14,000-acre California ranch has returned to the market for $37.5 million. The largest landholding in the Carmel Valley, known as Rana Creek Ranch, was first listed in 2013 for $59.95 million and again in 2016 for $45 million. Now, it’s back on the market for $22 million less than the original asking price. The ranch is massive, its land largely untouched and pristine. To get an idea of the size, consider that at 22 square miles, it’s only a little under half the size of the city of San Francisco.”
“As the pandemic hit New York City, many would-be home sellers avoided the market altogether, likely opting to wait for buyer demand to return. However, the 2.1% of sellers that were making price cuts in April were determined to make a sale. The median price cut in Manhattan was a record high 5.9% off the asking price, or a median of $100,241. ‘There are still highly motivated sellers on the market right now. Those that bought a new home just prior to the pandemic, or need to move for employment opportunities or growing families, are doing whatever they can to get their existing homes off the market – including offering higher discounts,’ says StreetEasy Economist Nancy Wu.”
“Malahide, north Dublin’s chichi-est coastal town, has its own ecosystem. The Brambles is a detached four-bed on the outskirts of the village that first came to market in 2018 seeking €1.75 million. The price dropped to €1.6 million last year and, having had a change of selling agent, is now back on the market seeking €1.495 million.”
“Chen Lirong, 32, who rents out eight rooms near Tokyo’s Asakusa tourist area through Airbnb, which lists private properties where guests can stay, said the occupancy rate has recently hovered at under 10 percent, down from nearly 100 percent before the pandemic. Taking out a loan to purchase relatively new apartments, she started her rental business in 2016, eventually becoming an Airbnb ‘superhost.’. But since the coronavirus outbreak her family is now barely breaking even, even with the income that her husband earns from his office job, she said.”
“Where bidding wars and long lineups greeted renters looking for a new home, more options and sinking rates are now the norm — with some landlords and property managers offering hefty incentives for tenants to sign leases. The website for the posh Vancouver House encourages prospective tenants to ‘ask about moving bonus!’ ‘It seems these Airbnb hosts who were making a lot of money before and of course now aren’t making any are just trying to fill those gaps in and they just want to have their cake and eat it, too,’ realtor and licensed property manager David Hutchinson, who credits the collapse of the short-term rental market with much of the surge in rental supply.”
“Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation boss doesn’t mince his words when it comes to hitting back at realtors who’ve been critical of the national housing agency’s dire real estate market forecast. ‘Some vocal real estate advisors have labelled us ‘panic-inducing and irresponsible,’ saying essentially that house prices don’t go down,’ Evan Siddall said as the agency released its latest market outlook. ‘They’re whistling past the graveyard and offering no analysis. Here’s ours.’”
“CMHC’s Housing Market Outlook for Spring 2020 sees the home prices shrinking by up to 18%. ‘Please question the motivation of anyone who wants you to believe prices will go up (yes, up) with our economy in slow motion, oil being given away, millions of Canadians on income support and a greater % of mortgages not being paid than we’ve seen since the Great Depression,’ Siddall said.”
“Houses in one Australian town typically sell less than $42,000 following a 70 per cent price slump in just one year. In Cobar, a home with a backyard was typically worth $41,957 in April 2020, after a 70.3 per cent annual price fall in a town almost 700km north-west of Sydney. In the neighbouring Central Darling Shire, which takes in the town of Wilcannia, median house prices stand at just $43,839, following a 26.3 per cent annual slump. Bourke, also in the NSW north-west, saw its median house prices dive by 15.8 per cent to $93,900.”
“The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of workers across the country unemployed, with many businesses temporarily or even permanently shut down. Abilene real estate, however, is one industry that’s bucking the national trend, said Ken Hogan, association executive with the Abilene Association of Realtors. According to the association’s housing reports, home sales in April were up more than 10 percent in Taylor County over the previous year, with a median price up 3 percent.”
“Shay Senter, Senter Realtors vice president, said the price increase was a case of ‘typical supply and demand,’ but also noted the local market had shifted more toward higher-priced homes. In February, more than 17 percent of the homes sold in Taylor County were priced at less than $100,000 but by April, that had fallen to below 8 percent. In contrast, the share of homes between $100,000 and $200,000 rose from about 44 percent in February to more than 52 percent in April.”
“‘I think it’s a reasonable assumption to say that higher income earners are less impacted by some of the effects of the pandemic than lower income earners,’ Senter said, ‘Which would allow them to still purchase some of those more expensive homes.’”