A report from ABC News in Australia. “Doc Davey purchased his home in a booming West Australian mining town for $560,000 in 2009, but today the same home is close to worthless after ongoing vandalism by local youths. ‘I’ve rebuilt the back fence six times, and they’ve knocked it down within two days, because they use it as a thoroughfare,’ Mr Davey said.”
“The median house price for Newman has fallen from $805,000 in 2013, to just $210,000 today, according to the Real Estate Institute of WA.”
The South China Morning Post. “The Chinese government is unlikely to ease its controls over the domestic property market, so developers should consider branching out into other industries, according to billionaire real estate tycoon Sun Hongbin.”
“‘Moving the economy away from relying too much on real estate is highly political and it is the country’s choice for a long-term strategy. We must understand this adjustment,’ said Sun. ‘Many people think that the pressure [on the housing market] is so big now, when will they ease? I say it is unlikely [that they will do so],’ he added.”
The Daily Mail on the UK. “A property developer has sparked fury after being given the green light to demolish five brand new homes worth £6.5million and replace them with flats. Alex Collier applied to bulldoze the luxury properties in Poole – worth £1.3million each – to make way for 30 £450,000 flats, claiming Brexit had put off potential buyers.”
“The council has now given his plan the go-ahead, despite more than 100 objections from residents slamming the ‘wasteful, obnoxious and ludicrous.’ Locals claimed the homes were overpriced for the residential area in Dorset and have accused officials of helping the developer ‘get out of a hole’ and subjecting them to months of noisy and unnecessary building work.”
“Adrian Wardlow, chairman of the Branksome Park Residents Association, said: ‘Only the developer and the planning committee seem to think its appropriate. It’s an incredible decision, we can’t make sense of it all. The Brexit excuse is laughable and treating us with absolute contempt. The original homes were obnoxious and overpriced. It is quite clear from viewing the existing properties that they would never sell at the asking prices.’”
The Estevan Mercury in Canada. “As of Oct. 31, Estevan has experienced the largest decrease in housing prices of anywhere in the southern part of Saskatchewan. Lynn Chipley, who is owner/broker with Century 21 Border Real Estate Service said that over 10 years, they are exactly where they were when they started.”
“‘We knew that the market in Estevan was sweeping, and we knew that the prices were falling, and we knew that our numbers were down. We knew all that, but we weren’t sure how much though. So this confirmed my own rough calculations,’ said Chipley.”
“Over the last five years, the real estate in Estevan went down 23.65 per cent with Weyburn being second at -19.36 per cent. On top of that, Estevan now is seeing an alarming number of repossessed properties coming onto the market.”
“‘That’s not because those were bad people who bought them that just don’t care. I think there were a lot of good people that came to Estevan to work and they didn’t really have a choice if they were coming to work, except to buy into our market at that time,’ said Chipley.”
“‘And now, if they no longer have work in Estevan, they have to relocate for whatever reason and they bought during boom times. If the prices are 25 per cent less than what they purchased, they simply can’t sell them, because they can’t afford to clear their mortgages. So they have no other option except to walk away,’ she said.”
“Chipley said they are seeing at least a couple of repossessed homes a week coming onto the market. ‘No one else in the province has seen something like what has happened to us,’ said Chipley.