A report from Bisnow on Illinois. "High property taxes are a hot-button issue across the state, with many commercial owners already crying foul. 'When I used to give presentations on the state budget situation, I’d joke that we should make sure to lock the windows on our 51st-floor office because by the end someone might want to jump out the window,' said CoStar Group Director of Market Analytics Brandon Svec."

The News Trace on New York. "Scarlett Johansson hopes to skinny her appreciable bi-coastal property portfolio with the sale of a jewel field penthouse alongside an expensive if not-particularly charming block on the border between Midtown Manhattan’s swanky Sutton Place and Turtle Bay neighborhoods. Initially listed at $2.5 million and now priced at $2.3 million. Extensively renovated because it was acquired in 2008 for $2.1 million, and fully cleared of private belongings — itemizing images present the rental nearly staged with generic furnishings, the almost 1,300-square-foot aerie has two average-sized bedrooms and two pint-sized bogs."

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "The pandemic hasn’t stopped new luxury apartment buildings from opening. A recent complex touted its convenient location in the city’s newest neighborhood, 'Van Mission.' Excuse me? I hate it when the real estate industry tries to rebrand existing neighborhoods as part of a sales pitch, so I let out a string of obscenities at the mention of this alleged 'Van Mission.' Obviously, there’s nothing new about this neighborhood: It’s not like several city blocks just emerged out of the earth or the real estate fairy waved a wand and sandwiched the new development between Van Ness Avenue and the Mission District."

"I called my best friend, another San Francisco native, and asked her if she’d ever heard of Van Mission. 'Who’s he?' she asked. When I explained that Van Mission wasn’t a who, but a where, she responded, 'There is no such place.' In the past 20 years, I have watched attempts to rebrand swaths of San Francisco so often it’s no longer surprising, but it’s still infuriating and at times laughable."

From KPIX in California. "Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, San Francisco rents have plummeted more than any other major city in the country. The average rent in one San Francisco neighborhood is now to $1,600. The mass exodus in San Francisco during the pandemic resulted in more housing supply and less demand. At $2,700 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, the city tops New York and Los Angeles. Neighboring cities San Jose and Oakland round out the top five."

"These rent prices have fallen to levels that haven’t been seen since the last recession — drops of more than 20 percent compared to last year in many neighborhoods. South of Market, the average price of rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $2,800 per month. Rents are lower closer to downtown where homelessness is more evident. The Tenderloin is the only neighborhood near the city center where the average price drops below $2,000. Closer to the water you’ll find apartment rentals hovering around $2,900 in Russian Hill and the Marina."

"Presidio Heights has the highest median price for one-bedroom apartments at $3,050 a month. The southern part of the city is where you can find a wider selection of more-affordable residences. Visitacion Valley has the lowest median price in the city at $1,600 a month. Whether you agree that San Francisco has become a renter’s market, the truth is renters now have more leverage — especially with apartments that have been sitting vacant for a while. Renters can ask for a free first month, perhaps a free parking spot or even negotiate on price."

The Vancouver Sun in Canada. "The lack of connection between soaring housing prices and tepid local wages in Metro Vancouver is caused in large part by hidden foreign ownership, says a peer-reviewed study from Simon Fraser University that is being welcomed by the B.C. minister responsible for housing. Based on data Statistics Canada has been collecting only recently, SFU public policy specialist Joshua Gordon’s paper shows the 'decoupling' of housing prices from incomes in Metro Vancouver has been caused by 'significant sums of foreign capital that have been excluded from official statistics.'"

"Gordon’s research set out to solve a puzzle in Greater Vancouver and, to a lesser extent, Toronto. How can tens of thousands of owners who tell Revenue Canada they are low income (earning less than $44,000 a year) consistently afford homes valued in the $2- to $10-million range?"

"The new data revealed Richmond, West Vancouver, the city of Vancouver and Burnaby were epicentres of the foreign-ownership phenomenon: They have the highest housing prices, low average declared incomes and the largest proportions of non-resident owners. An earlier Statistics Canada study found the median value of a detached Vancouver home bought by immigrants who arrived via the investor program was $2.55 million, but the same group 'declared an average of only around $20,000 in income in the first 10 years after landing.'"

"In the debate over the cause of high housing prices in Canada, Gordon says the conventional explanation, promoted by developers, is that not enough housing supply is being built. But, as Gordon emphasizes, in Canada 'there has not been a single peer-reviewed article' exploring the supply theory."

From Delano Magazine. "Luxembourg has recorded a 50% increase in house prices since 2015, and still prices continue to grow. Director of the systemic risk centre and professor of finance at the London School of Economics Jean-Pierre Zigrand gave an enlightening talk to examine the 'bubbliness' of Luxembourg housing. To understand the market, you have to understand what drives it. Zigrand explained prices are high not because rental is high and we value housing, but because we treat the house as an asset. This formula is the fundamental theorem of asset pricing, which says the fundamental price of the property is what the market expects."

"The price of property is equal to E what you expect in future rentals. Bt is the bubble component. 'If there is one, the price is bigger than the fundamental value. You pay more than what it’s worth because you expect to sell it for even more to someone else later on,' he said."

"Some property in Luxembourg is bought using international capital, which means that cycles in other parts of the world will find their way through rates and buying into the Luxembourg market. 'This makes it a bit vulnerable because that money can be pulled out again. The cycle is global and Luxembourg is no different from all the others.'"

"Zigrand says: 'When prices go up, you also perceive there to be less risks, because everyone is happy and you have money, volatilities are coming down […] The real risk is the one you cannot see, it’s in green. When you think there is no risk, then people take very risky positions.'"

"Zigrand compared the propagation of a crisis to the Millennium Bridge in London, which was wobbly, engineers later learned, when 166 or more people walked on it. 'Financial markets are the same. We don’t know what will happen. But something is building somewhere if something goes wrong there will be a feedback loop of everyone doing the same thing. We don’t know how vulnerable we are. 166 is an unknown unknown. This is a typical feedback loop. Once too much credit has been given, we see if then something happens like a shock on the top left, if all these effects will happen, people will lose money, there will be funding and liquidity problems,' he said, adding : 'It’s all possible. We don’t know how close to 166 we are.'"

"Another issue specific to the grand duchy is that 85% of wealth in Luxembourg is tied up in housing. 'No other country comes close to that. If house prices go down, the wealth of the nation will go down.'"

From Caixing Global. "The hashtag #More than 1,000 real estate companies have switched to raising pigs is trending on Chinese social media after state-owned CCTV Finance released a video introducing the latest booming industry. A continuous boom in pork prices has seen pig farmers profit as other industries look on in envy. Perhaps surprisingly, those who have turned to pig breeding include China’s real estate conglomerates."

"According to the chairman of New Hope Group, a leading pig breeder, real estate companies across the country have entered the market. Experts believe they may be motivated by a desire to diversify operations away from a single industry to reduce risk. China’s bout with African swine fever has sent pork prices skyrocketing for much of the last two years, leading companies in China’s sector to see big gains in their turnover. Producer Muyuan Food said in its third quarter report that profit per pig rose to more than 1,700 yuan ($260)."

"Since September 2020, the price of pork has started to drop and some experts explain that income volatility in the industry is inevitable. Investors need to be aware of the risks and cannot pursue a successful transformation in a short time. The news seems to please most people, as they are concerned about pork prices. 'If too many companies enter the pork industry, they may face the risk of oversupply of pork, and the price of pork will come down,' one comment read."

"However, some people are worried that the craze will fade, as real estate companies often leave projects incomplete. 'When new demand appears, everyone swarms in. Then when the craze has passed, everyone drifts away, and the waste of resources becomes obvious to all,' another comment read."