A report from the Bulletin in Connecticut. “Andrea Kazantzis, owner of Kazantzis Real Estate of Brooklyn, said there are still plenty of out-of-state buyers coming from New York, Massachusetts, and elsewhere to purchase homes for themselves or as investments. Kazantzis said part of this demand will also be spurred on by foreclosures, as pandemic related protections had prevented them in the past. ‘I think there’s going to be a flood of them on the market,’ Kazantzis said.”
From WESA in Pennsylvania. “The cost to buy a home in the Pittsburgh region has increased by at least 20% since 2016, according to a new analysis. Some neighborhoods, such as the East End, Lawrenceville and parts of the North Side, saw home prices nearly double. The County may turn its focus toward offering more homeownership programs in the next few years, according to Lance Chimka, director of the Allegheny County Economic Development agency. ‘This is a way to create wealth in families and we should be supporting that as a public entity,’ Chimka said.”
“While the city has pockets of overheated markets, Chimka notes the county has far more transitional markets with a glut of housing supply and depressed housing values.”
The Kansas City Star. “Doug Shafer took all the classes. He passed the test. And every two years, he must show proof of continuing education and request that Missouri renew his license to sell homes. Yet many of the people who knock on doors, send postcards and hang up signs looking to buy houses in Kansas City face none of those requirements. Shafer and other agents say the city and state should do more to regulate real estate wholesalers, who often target poorer neighborhoods as they hunt for properties they can flip for a profit.”
“Real estate isn’t unique in having middlemen like wholesalers, said Daniel Reedy, a local real estate broker who works with investors. Reedy isn’t against new licensure requirements for wholesaling. But he’s not convinced it will filter out all the bad actors in the industry either. ‘It’s like Chicago outlawing guns. Well, how many guns are in Chicago? A bajillion,’ he said. There will ‘still be somebody getting screwed by somebody somewhere. But hopefully not as bad.’”
The Daily Mail. “Californians are moving out of the Golden State faster than new people are coming in with crime-plagued San Francisco is getting hit especially hard by the exodus. All 58 counties observed a slump in newcomers, the nonpartisan thinktank California Policy Lab revealed. The number of people moving to the Democratic state dropped 38 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic while the amount leaving California spiked by 12 percent.”
“The most significant plunge happened in Northern California, where 45 percent fewer out-of-staters moved into the Bay Area in September than in early 2020. Declines in San Francisco County hit 53 percent; in San Clara Clara County 52 percent; and in San Mateo Count 48 percent. ‘Domestic entrances are down across the state, but the Bay Area has seen the biggest drop,’ report co-author Evan White said. ‘San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties have all lost population to migration for the first time since at least 2016 because of these new patterns.’”
“Report authors did not speculate why the San Francisco area was disproportionately represented in the exodus trend. But it’s been widely reported that residents there are increasingly tired of the growing crime rate and sense of lawlessness among some taking advantage of the city’s lax shoplifting laws.”
“While state exits are up ‘slightly’ compared to pre-pandemic times, they’re not much higher than researchers studying long-term trends expected, said report co-author Natalie Holmes. ‘There’s been a slow, steady increase in the number of people leaving California for other US states over the past decade,’ Holmes told DailyMail.com. ‘What surprised me more was the drop in new entrances to California from other US states.’”
From Business Insider Australia. “Nearly one five sellers in Sydney’s premium suburbs slashed their prices by around 7.4%, or $203,315, according to Domain. It comes as property listings soared ahead of demand. Nicola Powell, chief of research and economics at Domain said more vendors were likely to cut their asking prices to get a sale in coming weeks. Data showed that more than one in seven vendors in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have reduced their asking prices by around 7.6% on average — or $273,600 off the median price — and a similar proportion in the inner west sliced asking prices by around 5.2%.”
“In North Sydney and Hornsby, and in Melbourne’s inner south asking prices were similarly revised down by up to 6.1%. The number of property listings under 30 days had jumped 76% in the northern beaches and by 74% in the eastern suburbs since August, data from SQM Research shows. Meanwhile, stock levels had more than doubled in the inner-west and leapt 158% in the inner south-west during the same period.”
“‘These premium markets in Sydney and Melbourne have led the upswing and seen exceptional growth through the housing boom, and they are much further along the price cycle,’ Powell said. ‘So this is a real indication of where we are in the price cycle because the premium end is now slowing.’”
“Powell said more vendors were likely to cut their asking prices to get a sale in coming weeks. More than one in 10 vendors in Sydney’s Ryde, inner south-west and Sutherland have reduced their asking prices and a similar proportion of vendors in Melbourne’s outer east have also lowered their expectations. ‘Listings have gone up substantially in recent weeks, which means buyers can now take their time as they have more options and no longer have to battle it out,’ Powell said. ‘It made buyers more wary about overpaying, so I think sellers have to be more realistic to meet that expectation on pricing.’”