A report from the Buffalo News in New York. “The median sales price in the Buffalo Niagara area has topped $200,000 for three straight months – the first time that has ever happened – and hit a record $225,000 in July, according to the Realtors group. Those increases are virtually unheard of in Western New York over the last 21 years. The last time the Buffalo Niagara area broke the century mark for the median price – in summer 2005 – it took another five years before that measure topped $125,000.”
“Sanity returning? Agents say the pace of activity may be slowing down, with fewer offers hitting the table then during the peak a few months ago. Supply has also increased. Sellers are again listing homes at a steady pace, consistent with prior years. ‘I’m seeing less outrageous multiple offers, because pricing has begun to adjust to the market,’ said Jerry Thompson, broker-owner of Century 21 Gold Standard in East Aurora.”
From AZ Big Media. “August housing data shows early signs of sellers beginning to compete for buyers, according to Realtor.com. Many of the metros where price growth was highest in August also saw a rise in listing price adjustments, including Austin, at a 4.1% increase in the share of price drops over last year.”
“With Austin median home price ($544,000) up by over one-third of last year’s levels in August, 23.8% of sellers in the metro made a price reduction, potentially to help compete with higher numbers of new sellers than last year (+19.6%). Additionally, as Austin first-time buyers pursued new inventory of relatively affordable entry-level homes, entry-level home prices ($404,000) posted a significant gain of 47.9% year-over-year in August.”
The Denver Post in Colorado. “Increasingly, it seems likely that the super-hot metro Denver housing market of 2021 may have hit its peak in June and is now moving lower. The median price of a home or condo sold in metro Denver fell for a second month in August, and prices are now back to levels seen in April. The median price of a single-family home sold in metro Denver in August was $581,000, which is down 3.15% from July and off by $19,000 from the record high price of $600,000 reached in June. The median price of condos and townhomes that sold in August was $375,000, down 1.3%.”
The Denver Gazette. “‘It feels like things have slowed more than maybe the numbers reflect,’ said Libby Levinson-Katz, a 15-year broker with Kentwood Cherry Creek specializing in the luxury market. As far as some luxury market insights (homes costing more than $1 million), Levinson-Katz said there’s more of them to be had as homes that were maybe listed at $900,000 were getting bid up to more than $1 million. ‘As prices started to escalate, more and more homes were finding their way to the luxury market,’ she said.”
The Philadelphia Business Journal in Pennsylvania. “Philadelphia-area home sellers are dropping their prices as the number of new listings grows, a sign that the overheated pandemic housing market is inching back to normal. The latest monthly housing report from Realtor.com shows that the median listing price in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area was $321,000 in August — a decrease of 6.4% year over year and down about 1% from July — and total new listings increased 13% year over year.”
“About 20% of homes listed in the Philadelphia metro reduced their asking prices in August, according to Realtor.com. Philadelphia is ‘migrating toward normalization’ along with other major markets, indicating a return to pre-pandemic sales patterns, said George Ratiu, a senior economist with Realtor.com.”
From Yahoo Finance on California. “For more than a year now, Bruce Karsh has been trying to unload his three-acre 90210 spread with no takers. Located in the mountains above Beverly Hills, in the Benedict Canyon area, the 1930s English Tudor-style estate took a brief absence from the open market but has now returned. The billionaire investor and his wife are asking a substantially reduced $50 million for the place, a whopping $10 million less than the original list price.”
The Edmonton Journal in Canada. “The buying frenzy seen this past spring is like so yesterday (maybe), according to a survey examining buyer enthusiasm. ‘We’ve really seen a sea change,’ says Penelope Graham, managing editor of content with Zoocasa, an online realty firm that conducted the recent poll of 1,400 Canadians, a follow-up from a previous poll from earlier this year. ‘Based on what we’ve seen in previous months, it really does look like March and April were the peak of the pandemic market, and we’ve been seeing consecutive months of market softening for sales activity and price growth on a national scale.’”
“While the study did not include a breakdown of data regionally, the Edmonton market has showed signs of slowing after setting record sales for previous months, including June. Sales in July were up modestly from the same month last year at about two per cent, yet down almost 19 per cent from June this year. Prices also softened month over month in July by about two per cent.”
From ABC News in Australia. “A group of apartment owners in Sydney’s north has had to find millions of dollars to rectify defects in their complex which emerged since it was completed 10 years ago. The developer behind the project — 82-84 Belmore Street Pty Ltd — was liquidated two years after the apartments were built. It is the latest apartment complex in Greater Sydney revealed to have left owners out of pocket due to defects within the first few years of settlement. The owners estimate it has cost them several million dollars to rectify the defects over the past decade.”
“NSW Shadow Minister for Better Regulation Courtney Houssos said more still needed to be done to protect apartment buyers across the state. ‘You have more protection buying a $100 appliance than a $1 million dollar property in Sydney,’ she said. ‘Buying an apartment in Sydney should bring joy and financial security, not heartbreak and financial ruin.’”