A report from the Bozeman Chronicle in Montana. “Marc Parent, a broker with Bozeman Brokers Real Estate who has been in the real estate industry for nearly two decades, said his year started off hot. But when reached last week, Parent said he is about half as busy as he was last year. ‘The faucet has shut off for me,’ Parent said. ‘I feel the biggest thing, the word I would use, is probably urgency. I feel like the sense of urgency has totally stopped.’”
“In a market where the median price of a single-family home went from $459,000 in July of 2019 to $745,000 in July 2022, any sign of a slowdown is notable. ‘That million dollar property which would have, three months ago, had six or seven offers may only have one (offer) in a couple of weeks, and it might not be full price,’ said Arison Antonucci-Burns with Aspire Realty.”
From NBC 26. “‘I had never seen or experienced a real estate market like 2020, 2021 and going into 2022,’ broker Mark Olejniczak said. But recently, Green Bay area brokers like Olejniczak say the market’s been cooling down a bit in Northeast Wisconsin and across the country. ‘Let’s say that a house that came on the market — and we knew we were gonna sell it in that first week — well, maybe now it might take two or three weeks,’ the president of Mark Olejniczak Realty said.”
Arlington Now in Virginia. “This resilience in Arlington is nothing new, it played out in 2008 and has for many decades, but the market is not irrational either. Most of the exuberance we witnessed over the past two years had to slow at some point, and the market does continue to slow now. Open houses are slow, private agent showings are dwindling and sellers continue to make price adjustments to find the current market. Price growth trajectory is predicted to slow significantly for the next 6-9 months and possibly beyond.”
The Denver Post in Colorado. “Home sellers in metro Denver are starting to get squeezed in ways they haven’t felt in a long time, from their listings taking longer to sell, discounts replacing premiums and from buyers making more demands. ‘All of the major statistical categories are pointing to the market slowing down,’ said Andrew Abrahams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee. Abrams said it is the first time a discount had shown up in the metro Denver market since July 2020.”
Fromm Summit Daily in Colorado. “Real estate transaction percentages have declined from 2021 to 2022, creating a buyer’s market for the first time since 2019. Leah Canfield, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties, said a consequence of high interest rates are less second home purchases because many second-home owners in Summit County are unable to afford their homes without short-term renting them, she added. Canfield reported seeing plenty of interested buyers turn away from Summit County once the possibility of a short-term rental license looked to be out of the question.”
“So what are the effects of these changes in the market? Canfield said, this summer, active sales have increased from last summer, while pending sales have been almost cut in half. ‘So what that means is that people are listing their properties, and they’re sitting on the market,’ Canfield said. The housing stock that is available is not providing more options for the local workforce who may need something more affordable. ‘Because when a house, on average, is $2 million and the homeowner has to rent it for, you know, 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars a month in order to cover their expenses and their mortgage, then it’s not affordable to a local anyways,’ Canfield said. “
From Fortune. “Benchmark home prices in Toronto have fallen for five straight months—the largest decline in five years—by a total of 16% since March. In August alone, the benchmark price for a Toronto home dropped 2.8% to C$1.12 million (around $856,000), according to new data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. ‘The pandemic may not be over, but the pandemic-era housing boom certainly is,’ wrote Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist at RBC. Canada’s housing correction ‘now runs far and wide. In Toronto and Vancouver, the decline in activity is quickly becoming one of the deepest of the past half a century. Prices are sliding fast, and the exuberance that permeated…is being replaced by fear,’ he wrote.”
“‘The frenzy that took Toronto’s market to unprecedented heights this winter is completely gone. Activity has quieted down to its slowest pace in [over] 13 years, [excluding] the April 2020 lockdown,’ Hogue said.”
From News.com.au in Australia. “A disgruntled tradie who pointed out the shocking state of newly built apartments in Sydney has sparked a pile on of buyers and renters sharing their new build horror stories. Fed-up tiler and TikToker @monkey8u on Wednesday morning exposed shoddy workmanship in a new Sydney apartment complex, something which he and other industry insiders agreed was prevalent. Some social media users duped by off-plan apartment purchases and other dodgy home builds wasted no time making their feelings known.”
“‘It’s been five years since we moved into our duplex, free standing tub has rotted underneath, no grout/silicone, carpets 1cm away from the wall,’ one wrote. ‘ … carpets not tucked under baseboards, dust and debris fall from behind the walls into the gaps and cockroaches come. kitchen sink can’t fit a pot to wash.’ ‘This looks like my place,’ another responded. ‘I live in a brand new build, I took off a 3M hook and it ripped a hole in the gyprock, the walls are like paper – it’s a joke.’”
The Australian Financial Review. “Dah Sing Banking Group’s credit impairment losses rose 161 per cent to $HK305 million ($57 million) in the first half. It cited concerns over the real estate sector in mainland China. HSBC increased its allowance for expected credit losses on loans tied to mainland property by 62 per cent to $US990 million ($1.45 billion) in the six months to June. Hong Kong lenders’ move into mainland China, which started in the 1990s, has accelerated rapidly in the past six years as growth in the city slowed. The strategy gained momentum as Hong Kong’s outlook darkened following the 2019 outbreak of political unrest in the city.”
“An 80-fold increase in these bad loans over a six-month period to June at Postal Savings Bank of China, one of the country’s largest lenders, offers one warning. The rapidly spreading home-owner boycotts on mortgage payments is another. Its share price has dropped 30 per cent since peaking in February.”
The Daily Mail. “The man who jumped to his death from the 18th floor of the famous ‘Jenga’ tower in lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood Friday has been identified as a Bed Bath & Beyond executive. Gustavo Arnal, 52, was the Chief Financial Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond, a company that has been going through struggles of late due to high inflation and a sagging economy. The company announced plans to close 150 stores, of its roughly 900, and lay off 20 percent of staff just two days before Arnal’s death. He reportedly sold over 42,000 shares in the company, oft-identified as a ‘meme stock’, for $1million just over two weeks ago.”
“The retailer also announced a plan to raise money by issuing new shares and said it had secured $500 million in new financing — but investors took a dim view of the strategic plan, and shares fell as much as 25 percent in morning trading. Traders on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets, who have cheered the stock in recent weeks, reacted with a mixture of stoicism and despair. ‘I just wanted make money without any effort. why I have to suffer like this? why?’ wrote one user on the forum.”