A report from Newsday. “After offering protection for homeowners for nearly two years, New York state’s moratorium on foreclosures is set to expire Saturday, and data show 14,500 Long Island borrowers are seriously behind on their mortgages. Nick Sakalis, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker American Homes in Syosset, said while there might be some homeowners in a position to pay off their debt through a sale, others who pulled money out of their homes through refinancing and home equity lines of credit may not have that option. ‘This market is not going to help them,’ he said.”
“There are federal funds available for homeowners behind on their payments, but they won’t be enough to help all those in need. The $539 million Homeowner Assistance Fund, a federal program administered by the state, can help people at risk of default or foreclosure because of financial hardship related to the pandemic. The aid is ‘a big drop, but it’s a drop in the bucket,’ said Kirstin Keefe, a senior staff attorney at the Empire Justice Center in Albany.”
From KTVB in Idaho. “Local builders and city leaders worry about nationals hurting local builders who don’t have the same buying power. ‘[They] kind of squeeze out some of the other local builders that have been around in some capacity and maybe inflate prices a little bit in the interim when they come,’ Alturas Homes owner Rod Givens told KTVB. Givens and Eagle Mayor Pierce say the nationals outbid local builders for land across the valley and then hold on to plots without moving dirt for years as part of their long-term plan. ‘I know a lot of different homebuilders throughout that have gone out of business,’ Pierce added.”
The Mitchell Republic in South Dakota. “The former Kelley house just got a lot cheaper. After sitting on the market for a little over a year, the multimillion-dollar house that the city of Mitchell owns has yet to attract a buyer. But Mayor Bob Everson said he’s hopeful the steep price drop to $2.4 million will get the property sold soon. ‘It’s a heck of a deal,’ Everson said, noting costs to construct the home hovered around $12 million.”
From Mortgage Professional America. “Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) dropped 0.5 points to a reading of 74.2 last month – a sign that the housing market may start to soften in the coming year, according to Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan. Consumers’ views of homebuying fell five percentage points month over month to a record low of 26%, while home-selling expectations rose six percentage points to 76%. Duncan noted that the ‘good time to buy’ sentiment among homeowners declined 30% over the past year to its current level of 30%, while renters’ homebuying outlook was down from 37% to 21%.”
“‘Even though demand remains strong, a majority of consumers clearly have reservations about purchasing a home at current prices,’ Duncan said.”
The Jamaica Observer. “Changes in the real estate industry in Jamaica for the year ended were sometimes as obvious as the changing skyline as new buildings climbed upwards across the island and more units were placed on the market. Edwin Wint: CEO, Better Homes and Gardens Jamaica: ‘Both the residential and commercial property market remained relatively strong in 2021. The residential rental market has been experiencing some downward correction (10 per cent to 20 per cent) in some market segments of the middle- to upper-income end of the market in the Kingston Metropolitan Area, with newer units out-competing older units at prevailing market rental rates.’”
The Daily Mail UK. “Robbie Williams has finally sold his countryside mansion for £6.75 million after he was forced to drop the asking price. The singer bought the seven-bedroom Wiltshire abode for £8.1 million in 2009 and in the years that followed, put it on the market three times. A source said: ‘It really is stunning, but it is just not being offered on. The price may be too high for the current climate of buyers, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to come down from what it has been valued at. It is causing all sorts of headaches. Online, the house is doing so well, everyone is clicking on it and wants to take a look around, but the reality is, it has been sat there six months now and it needs looking at, because it’s not moving.’”
“Williams is said to have carried out further improvements, adding a cinema room, football pitch and a quad bike track. The singer once described the house as an ‘impulse’ buy, saying he thought it was an ideal place to bring up his family.”
From Newshub. “Looking at the average asking prices in comparison to November, some regions saw drops, with the largest being in Gisborne, down 18 percent to $593,480. Auckland was down 3.6 percent month-on-month, while Wellington fell 2.5 percent to $982,824. While prices have gone up over the year, so has the national housing stock. Realestate.co.nz reports it has jumped 29.7 percent since December 2020, an increase of about 4000 properties. The housing stock is the total number of homes available for Kiwis to purchase in New Zealand.”
“The largest increase year-on-year was Wellington, which saw stock jump a massive 206.6 percent. Stock also more than doubled in Hawke’s Bay (up 107.4 percent), Wairarapa (up 111.8 percent) and Manawatu / Whanganui (up 133.7 percent). In Auckland, the stock increase nearly mirrored that nationally with a jump of 30.7 percent.”
The South China Morning Post. “China’s crushing ‘three red lines’ policy against home developers continues to claim new victims as Yuzhou Group turned to creditors for forbearance on more than US$5 billion of debt from years of unrestrained offshore borrowing. Yuzhou is also seeking approval from creditors to weaken the covenants on a dozen other offshore debts worth about US$4.92 billion, it added. Coupon payments totalling US$110 million on five other notes due within the next seven weeks are likely to be delayed, the company said.”
“The debacle adds to a string of defaults and distress among its mainland Chinese peers, including a handful in its base in southern Guangdong province, such as China Evergrande, Kaisa Group and R&F Properties. China introduced leverage caps on highly indebted developers in August 2020 to stem systemic risk, shutting many of them out of the funding market.”
Two reports from Bloomberg. “China’s largest developer is feeling the pain of dwindling investor confidence as a debt crisis sweeps across the country’s real estate sector. Country Garden Holdings Co. securities tumbled after it emerged the real estate firm on Wednesday failed to generate sufficient investor demand for a potential $300 million convertible bond. Shares fell 7.8% Thursday, the most in nearly four months, while its dollar bond due 2031 dropped 2.7 cents on the dollar to 72, on pace for a record low, Bloomberg-compiled prices show.”
“Country Garden, whose contracted sales have topped all Chinese peers each of the past five years, is becoming a bellwether of contagion risks. One of the country’s higher-quality builders, with investment-grade ratings at two of the major international risk assessors, the firm has long been considered relatively immune to the credit crunch hitting the real estate sector.”
“Several of China’s largest banks have become more selective about funding real estate projects by local government financing vehicles, concerned that some are taking on too much risk after they replaced private developers as key buyers of land, people familiar with the matter said. At least five state-run banks have imposed new restrictions this year on loans to weaker LGFVs seeking to buy land and develop new real estate projects, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Banks are being more stringent in assessing the financial strength of the local economy and the sales prospects of the projects, the people said.”
“LGFVs are a tool for local governments to borrow money without it appearing on their balance sheets. Instead of selling land to cash-strapped developers, local governments are being forced to rely more on purchases by these financing vehicles, effectively selling to themselves, Tianfeng Securities Co. analysts including Sun Binbin wrote in a note Wednesday.”
“LGFVs have stepped up purchases of land parcels as cash-strapped developers like China Evergrande Group hoard cash, supporting a slumping market. A major drop in land sales would bode ill for the world’s second-largest economy, which slowed in the third quarter as the property and construction sectors shrank.”