A report from the Jackson Hole News and Guide in Wyoming. “‘We do feel the feeding frenzy is over, said David Viehman, an associate broker at Engel&Volkers. ‘And though we have some new inventory, we think a lot of the new inventory is overpriced. We’re just seeing things slow down. … We’re not seeing panic buying anymore.’”
“Viehman said he and his colleagues saw houses sold two times in a year at twice the price the second time around. During the height of the pandemic property rush, said Katie Brady at Compass real estate, ‘you could put any price on something and people were willing to pay it. ‘Now we’re starting to see some price reductions. … There’s some pushback,’ Brady said.”
The Denver Post in Colorado. “Metro Denver’s housing market slowed in July, with closings down from June and the inventory of available homes remaining tight but rising at a record rate, according to the monthly report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. A typical year in metro Denver sees a 3.1% gain in active listings between June and July. But this year’s monthly increase of 29.9% is the largest ever recorded for July, according to the report. Buyers closed on 5,820 homes and condos in metro Denver last month, down 12.3% from June’s count and 21.3% from July 2020. The inventory of residential properties available for sale at the end of July was 4,056, a nearly 30% increase from June.”
“‘As the trends shift away from a hot summer market, the question at the forefront of everyone’s mind is ‘Are prices going to come crashing down?’ Andrew Abrams, chairman of the association’s market trends committee, said in comments accompanying the report.”
The Tribune Live. “As the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education finalizes the details of a historic consolidation, officials on the campuses of eight of its 14 universities are struggling to deal with another consequence of declining enrollments: entire wings and floors of dorms sitting empty. That prompted system Chancellor Dan Greenstein to propose allocating $12.5 million this year to help pay the debt on the buildings. The schools, Greenstein told the board, ‘have debt on residence halls that is not easily repaid with the number of residents in those halls.’”
“The newer dorms — suite-style residence halls featuring private bathrooms and kitchenettes — replaced traditional residence halls where students typically lived two to a room and shared communal bathrooms. They were part of a building boom financed with bond debt. University leaders said the schools needed to upgrade facilities and that the stunning new ‘green’ buildings would be a boon to enrollment.”
“By last fall, enrollment statewide had declined by 25,800 students — down 22% from that high point a decade earlier. Systemwide, about one in five beds were empty. Privately, some say officials simply ignored population trends and overbuilt. Several faculty members at IUP recalled rosy chatter a decade ago that predicted enrollment would grow by another 10,000 students. There are few models for alternative uses that might help pay for such facilities.”
The Oxford Eagle. “Nelson Brothers Taylor Bend 2, LLC. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy through the Mississippi Northern Bankruptcy Court Wednesday, the same day the property was scheduled for public auction due to foreclosure. The sale quickly closed with no bidders on the property. Since, the property owners filed for bankruptcy prior to the sale, the auction was annulled and the sale did not go through.”
“The bankruptcy filing does little to ease concerns among complex residents, whose water and internet services were disconnected by utility providers in July due to lack of payment by the complex owners. Although water service has been restored, residents have told city officials they are dealing with a litany of ongoing management issues, including broken air conditioning units, moldy washing machines, low-quality water and uncut grass.”
The Commercial Observer on New York. “Rights to a 100 percent ownership stake in a Brooklyn apartment development is headed for a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) foreclosure sale, according to an auction notice shared with Commercial Observer today. The foreclosure action was initiated against the borrower, Hello Living, by the company’s lender, 1580 Nostrand Avenue LLC — a shell corporation of Madison Realty Capital — following the Brooklyn-based developer’s default on a $3 million mezzanine loan last year. Hello Living is a multifamily landlord led by Eli Karp, who has developed a number of properties throughout Brooklyn. When completed, the project in Brooklyn’s Prospect Gardens neighborhood will feature 210 residential units. Ninety-five of the apartments are 99 percent complete, according to offering documents.”
“The Corbin Group specializes in bankruptcies, restructurings, foreclosures, stalled construction projects and loan sales. The team has been busy during the COVID-19 pandemic selling 19 buildings in Chapter 11 last year, and is in the rocess of executing bankruptcy transactions for 17 other properties besides 150 Nostrand Avenue. Corbin’s group closed $92 million in bankruptcy deals during the third quarter of 2020, which included a stalled Upper East Side condo conversion project for $51 million.”
From USA Today. “In June, when real estate agent Nitin Gupta took two clients to see a new housing development in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a sales representative for the builder told him all the units were gone. The builder had planned to sell 100 homes to investors, out of roughly 1,500 he was planning to build. Investors had come to the site the day before, the rep told Gupta, and another agent had pitched the homes to a group of buyers in China over Zoom.”
“‘He said, ‘The people were saying, I want one, I want two, I want three. Boom, boom, boom,’ Gupta recalls. ‘The agent sold about 50 to 60 homes and the builder had sold 130 homes the first day.’”
“Chinese clients have been the top buyers of U.S. residential homes by sales-dollar-volume for a decade, and continue to rank No. 1 even as sales from April 2020 through March 2021 plunged 70% from the same period a year earlier. The downward trend was reflected across international buyers of all nationalities (China is followed by Canada, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom) who purchased 3%, or $54.4 billion, worth of U.S. existing homes from April 2020 through March 2021, a 27% decrease from the previous 12-month period.”
“Gupta, in Texas, says he’s been fielding five calls a day about homes. His state is a popular destination for buyers from India. One of the biggest attractions of the area has been affordability. But the prices have shot up. Less than two years ago, Gupta says, new construction homes could be purchased for $250,000. Now the price of entry is closer to $400,000. ‘Texas is the new California,’ he says.”
The New York Post on California. “Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan took a $75,000 loss on their $6 million Beverly Hills home last month, accepting a $5.925 million offer on July 7. Tatum, 41, and Dewan, 40, paid $6 million in 2015.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Toronto’s housing market extended its slowdown in July with the fourth straight month of declining sales and flattening prices, as the province reopened more widely and the desperation to find bigger properties eased. ‘The motivation to sell or buy has gone down quite a bit. The urgency is not there,’ said Katie Steinfeld, realtor with On The Block Realty Inc., who works in the Toronto region. ‘If it is going to be a bidding war, they are shying away and not wanting to compete. Buyers are coming in with lower offers.’”