It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Several units at the high-end The Lauren Residences condominiums have been sold in a foreclosure auction and the developers of the Bethesda property are facing a pair of separate lawsuits claiming they misrepresented the quality of the units and failed to pay for marketing services. The Lauren, promoted as some of the most luxurious – and expensive – condominiums in the Washington region, opened in 2016."

"'The business plan for the development of the Lauren was predicated upon a significant recovery of the Potomac and Bethesda upper end housing market with strong buyer demand for urban, close-in luxury condominium residences which hasn’t occurred in the time frame expected,' a publicist for Lauren developers said. 'The Potomac and Bethesda residential markets have underperformed over the past several years and maintain extremely depressed pricing relative to where housing prices were prior to the last recession resulting in limited absorption for all new condominium projects in these markets.'"

"Now the outsize, out-of-place One Manhattan Square luxury condo tower has hit the trifecta: sales are so sluggish on the 815 units that the developer, Extell Development, is offering to waive one decade worth of common charges, the Real Deal reports. Yes, one decade. That’s how tough it has become to sell new condos in Manhattan, where new inventory continues to pile up amid shrinking demand."

"According to the offering plan, projected monthly common charges are $746 for a one-bedroom unit; $1,452 for a low-floor two-bedroom and between $2,300 and $3,300 for three beds, depending on the floor. You do the math. If someone isn’t paying those common charges, someone else is taking a bath. 'I’ve seen some pretty insane incentives before but that tops it by far,' says real estate attorney Petro Zinkovetsky. 'Those incentives are going to cost them money; someone has to cover the operations of the building.'"

"Last month’s median price was up 2.9% over February, but a 6.9% drop from the $685,000 median a year ago, according to The Press Democrat’s March housing report compiled by Rick Laws of Compass real estate brokerage in Santa Rosa. 'Sellers have two choices, chase the market as it adjusts their prices to be more competitive or adjust to where the market is and get their home sold,' said Ross Liscum, a Santa Rosa real estate broker."

"The Kitsap County market acts as somewhat of an anomaly, with prices continuing to rise despite growing inventory — with Dick Beeson, principal managing broker at RE/MAX Northwest Realtors in Gig Harbor, saying that in certain higher price ranges he's observed buyers and sellers on 'almost equal footing.'"

"Beeson even goes as far to suggest that the area could become a buyer's market in the South Sound. 'Multiple offers are less frequent in this market, and, unlike six to 12 months ago, sellers are now agreeing to do repairs and pay buyer's closing costs,' according to Beeson. 'Some type of negotiation is once again prevalent in almost every sale.'"

"Condo sales in the core of the Greater Toronto Area have been gradually losing steam after being the hottest segment in the market for a couple of years. Sellers became so accustomed to outlandish bidding wars and high prices that they are not willing to budge on price now. 'The last two years, the numbers were mind-blowing,' says real estate agent Erica Smith. 'Sellers are very stubborn right now. I think that people are stuck on those numbers. Before, they flipped everything very quickly. Investors don’t want to let go now.'"

"The market for single-family homes outside of the core is heavy with inventory, Ms. Smith says. 'The detached market is really slow. There aren’t just one or two $2-million homes – there are a lot of them,' she adds."

"The 4-storey Prince Consort building off St Thomas’ Street in Ryde is back on the market following a drop in the guide price. Built as the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in 1847 at the request of Queen Victoria, the seafront property has a freehold guide price of £450,000-500,000, a drop of £200,000."

"The Dutch housing market is becoming more balanced but there is still a shortage of properties for sale, the Dutch real estate agency association NVM said. The average price paid for a house in the first three months of 2019 fell €5,000 to €294,000 compared with the final quarter of 2018, the NVM said."

"At the same time, the number of houses available per potential buyer rose slightly to 3.9. Despite this, 'the market does not have enough supply and sellers are still able to make the rules,' chairman Ger Jaarsma said. 'All these developments indicate that we are heading for calmer waters, even though the demand for property remains large. In addition, a lot of buyers are maxed out – they have reached the maximum that they will pay. There is a new sense of realism.'"

"The area that has seen the steepest decline on Hong Kong Island over the six-month period is Shek Tong Tsui, with a 15.11 per cent drop. Other areas where property prices have fallen include Repulse Bay (12.62 per cent), North Point (11.74 per cent), Quarry Bay (7.24 per cent) and Happy Valley (5.35 per cent)."

"'These are places where investors have gone into the market and bought up a large amount of property gambling on it being gentrified. The fall in price in these areas is probably a correction of this ­– they were overpriced to begin with,' said Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Spacious."

"Auckland house prices have hit a psychological tipping point, one analyst says. CoreLogic has released new data showing the fall in prices across the city. Coastal parts of the North Shore have seen prices fall 4.1 per cent, while the North Harbour region is down 3.2 per cent. Andrew Duncan, of real estate firm Relatable, said many owners' expectations were built on rateable values that were too high to start with."

"'It's a hard situation for many owners because once you have a piece of paper with a figure on it, from a reputable source you naturally feel hard done by if you sell for anything less. So in many cases, it's not so much that the market value has dropped, but the perceived value was heightened so much when new valuations came out that it now feels like a drop for some owners,' he said."

"The pending increase in the supply of Sydney apartments is 'sowing the seeds' of further property price declines, the Reserve Bank has warned in its semi-annual health check of the financial system. The Reserve Bank also noted that 30 per cent of loans had little or no buffer, suggesting there were vulnerabilities."

"The switch of borrowers from interest only to principal and interest loans, remains a 'potential source of stress' the Reserve Bank said, noting that $120 billion of interest only loans are due to change status in 2019. Many of these loans were originated in 2015 when lending standards were weaker 'suggesting that some borrowers might face difficulties meeting the step up repayments.'"

"The head of a Sherman Oaks firm accused of bilking thousands of investors in a $1.3-billion Ponzi scheme was arrested Thursday along with two associates on federal criminal charges.
Robert Shapiro, 61, the owner of the Woodbridge Group of Cos., and two other company executives were accused of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other violations of federal law in an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of Florida."

"Prosecutors said a Ponzi scheme was orchestrated from Woodbridge’s offices throughout the United States, including in Sherman Oaks, where it is headquartered, and in Boca Raton, Fla., where it was previously headquartered. The indictment alleged that the wrongdoing caused most of the Woodbridge companies to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which prosecutors said caused investors to suffer substantial losses on their $1 billion in principal. At least 2,600 victims invested their retirement savings, totaling about $400 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said."

"The case has drawn attention because of some of the luxury properties owned by Woodbridge. A document filed by Woodbridge in its 2017 bankruptcy case said the company, through limited liability companies, owned 138 properties ranging in value from $50,000 to $150 million. A Woodbridge representative said at the time that about 50 of those properties are in the Los Angeles area, and most of the rest in Colorado."

"One property that was known to be among Woodbridge’s holdings is the historic Owlwood estate in Holmby Hills. Woodbridge acquired the property for $90 million and listed it in 2017 at twice that as a development opportunity. The home returned to the market in September 2018 at a reduced $115 million."