A report from the Buffalo News in New York. "In a victory for the former owner of Monarch 716, a state judge in Buffalo has ruled that the lender who foreclosed on the West Side student housing property is not entitled to go after the Rochester-based developer for more money because its appraiser and his valuation weren't credible. That means Acres Capital, which took possession of Monarch 716 in a foreclosure sale last April, must settle for whatever it can recoup from reselling the property to cover the $47.67 million loan balance that it was owed at the time."

"DHD borrowed $36.38 million from Acres, which represented three insurance companies, but ran into trouble with the project as soon as it opened in August 2017. The project's completion had been delayed, the management company struggled to fully lease it, and there were multiple complaints about leases and even safety. As a result, occupancy and revenues declined, and DHD – after trying unsuccessfully to sell it – defaulted on the loans."

From Crain's New York Business. "Faced with a moribund sales market in which high-priced apartments can linger unsold for months or even years, an increasing number of condo developers are becoming landlords and leasing units. 'There’s two different ways of looking at it,' said Jordan Brill, a managing partner at Magnum. 'There’s ‘Oh my God, you can’t sell and now you have to rent.’ And the other is that, look, the market is in a state of paralysis, and if you have a good product that can hold its value long term, you can take the risk and do this.'"

"A growing inventory of ultra-high-priced rentals could exhaust demand in that segment of the market, experts say. The deluge isn’t just from developers seeking to convert condos into rentals. Many recent buyers, instead of living in the units, are also putting them up for rent. An analysis by StreetEasy found there are 357 homes in the city with a monthly rent of $15,000 or more currently available."

"'There’s always a limited universe of well-heeled, super-rich people, and of course the high-end rental market could become saturated too,' said Donna Olshan, president of residential brokerage firm Olshan Realty. 'Developers are doing this because … they need cash flow, but in the meantime the market could fall further. Most developers just need to cut prices. Generally, waiting on the market doesn't get you anything.'"

From WKBN in Ohio. "One of the major pieces in the development of Youngstown State over the past five years has been a series of new apartment buildings. In a five-block stretch of Rayen Avenue between Wick and Fifth, five new apartment buildings have opened or will have opened in five years. Eddie Howard, vice president of student affairs, said the campus is not oversaturated with housing — but is it time to stop building for a while? 'My thought process is that we’re at a place where I feel like we have an appropriate number of beds in and around campus,' he said."

The Idaho Statesman. "Guerdon Modular Buildings billed itself as 'the leading manufacturer of large-scale, commercial modular construction projects in the Western U.S. and Canada.' The Boise company’s website said Guerdon completed over 70% of the hotels built with modular technology between 2015 and 2019. By 2018, it had built more than 1,500 hotel and apartment units at its Southeast Boise factory for installation in the Bay Area alone. Guerdon was also a major supplier of modular housing for the natural-gas industry in North Dakota and Canada."

"But the company could not keep up with its financial obligations. In late January, Guerdon was sold for an undisclosed price at a foreclosure auction forced by its senior lender, Main Street Capital Corp. It’s unclear what caused Guerdon’s financial problems. The company did not file for bankruptcy, and a search of state court records in Idaho and federal courts throughout the United States revealed only one lawsuit, a California case filed last fall by a construction company that claims Guerdon supplied substandard modular units for a six-story, 118-unit apartment complex in Sacramento. Guerdon denies the allegations and has filed a countersuit. It claims it was not liable for any damage caused after the housing units were delivered to the site in Sacramento."

From Pro Builder. "Despite iBuyers’ overall small share in the housing market, their fast growth in 2019 is turning heads in the housing industry. iBuyers are buying more homes, expanding into new markets, and turning around houses 15 days sooner than they did the year prior in the 21 largest iBuying markets. But the question of profitability is still up in the air as companies race to grow their business and push through any growing pains, which in Zillow Offer’s case are substantial: In 2019, they lost an average of $6,400 on each home sold."

The Orange County Register in California. "As the California Association of Realtors urges the housing industry take a cautious response to the coronavirus outbreak, its national group canceled two Southern California events due to health concerns. This follows an advisory from California Realtors that said its economists are 'not revising its current 2020 housing market forecast, but will continue to monitor the market for negative macroeconomic impacts on the demand for housing as well as the supply chain impacts that could adversely affect the cost of new home construction in the coming months and quarters.'"

"The California group notes that the coronavirus fallout includes downgraded economic forecasts, potential homebuyer discouragement due to the uncertainty, supply shortage slowing new-home construction, financial market volatility that could hit hard the luxury home market and a loss of some foreign buyers."

"And the group noted one major positive: far cheaper mortgages. 'It’s clear that the coronavirus will have an impact on the economy and the housing market in 2020, but it is also clear that it is not time to panic,' the advisory said."

The Los Angeles Times. "Julia Roberts is spending big in San Francisco. A trust tied to the Oscar-winning actress has paid $8.3 million for a century-old Victorian Revival-style home in the city’s Presidio Heights neighborhood, records show. The property first listed last summer for $10.25 million before a September price cut brought the tag down to $9.65 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service."