A report from the Chicago Tribune in Illinois. "Former Chicago Bulls forward Jabari Parker has become a motivated seller of his three-bedroom town home in the Fulton River District, cutting his asking price by $210,000 — nearly 10% — to $1.99 million, which he first listed in March 2019 for $2.55 million. Parker clearly expects a loss on the Kinzie Park town home, which he bought for $2.2 million in September 2018."

From Bisnow National. "Renters are less able to pay rent than before the coronavirus pandemic, but that isn't the only factor now bedeviling apartment landlords. Evictions are difficult or impossible for now, banks are less willing to finance multifamily deals and rents — even those that are being paid — are dropping. Altogether, that means Americans owe a total of $57.3B to their landlords, large and small, as of January. In New York City alone, tenants owe an estimated $1B in back rent."

"Banks are warier of the multifamily industry as well. At the beginning of the pandemic, about 4.6% of apartment debt held by banks was considered high risk, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Trepp data. As of December, that total was 16.9%. 'A lot of this was driven by people being in stress,' Trepp Vice President Russell Hughes told the WSJ."

"A longer-term challenge for apartment landlords is declining rents. In 2020, according to RENTCafé, apartment rents decreased in each of the 10 most expensive cities as the number of renters declined. In the most expensive market in the country, San Francisco, rents were down 17.3% year-over-year, but even in relatively less expensive places such as Austin, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, rents dropped 4.9% and 3.2%, respectively."

From Bloomberg. "New York’s apartment investors are suddenly waist-deep in distress. By December, they were behind on $395 million of debt backed by mortgage bonds, almost 150 times the level a year earlier, according to Trepp data on commercial mortgage-backed securities. Tenants in rent-stabilized units owe at least $1 billion in rent and wealthier ones are fleeing the city, leaving behind vacancies and pushing newly-built luxury towers into foreclosure."

"Across the boroughs, rents are on a downward spiral, as landlords try to fill empty apartments with ever-sweeter tenant concessions -- only to see the number of vacant listings surge further. The trouble will filter from highly-leveraged investors who expanded quickly to lenders with the most aggressive underwriting, says Barry Hersh, a professor of real estate at New York University. 'There will be banks that go under,' said Hersh. 'The people who specialize in mortgage workouts are the busiest people in New York real estate.'"

The Bay Area Newsgroup in California. "Sanjeev Acharya, a South Bay developer who faces fraud allegations and the implosion of his Bay Area real estate empire, has filed for bankruptcy, hoping to reorganize his company’s finances. In the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Acharya stated he had incurred at least $100 million and as much as $500 million in debts, according to documents on file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The value of his assets ranged from $1 million to $10 million, the court papers show."

"An estimated 250 people who paid about $119 million to invest in real estate projects launched by Acharya and Silicon Sage Builders face the prospect that they were defrauded through a financial web woven by the real estate developer, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fraudulent activity allegedly orchestrated by Acharya and Silicon Sage Builders began around August 2016, according to a complaint that the SEC filed on Dec. 21 in the U.S. District Court for Northern California."

"Silicon Sage and Acharya painted an overly rosy picture of the outlook, prospects, and financial strength of the company’s array of projects, according to the SEC’s allegations. 'Since at least August 24, 2016, Silicon Sage Builders and all but one of its real estate development projects have not been profitable,' the SEC complaint alleges."

"In meetings with investors around August 2020, Acharya appeared to acknowledge that he had made some errors over the years, according to the SEC documents. Acharya said he should have been more transparent with investors, the SEC’s complaint stated. 'I should have done it,' Acharya said at an investment meeting. 'Back then, maybe my thinking was that everybody’s returns will come. So … I really didn’t bother to get into details, but what I was not thinking, what my mistake was that I wasn’t thinking a downside scenario.'"

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Looking at the condo market south of Bloor Street, Davelle Morrison, a broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., found 1,277 for sale in the month to Jan. 22 and 519 had sold firm. In the same period in 2020, there were 286 condos available in the area and 211, sold, she says. At the current pace, 41 per cent of those available have sold, compared with just over 73 per cent that had sold at the same time last year."

"'The sales have skyrocketed but not as much as inventory,' she points out. 'We’re not able to absorb the inventory at the rate it’s coming out.'"

"The rental market remains in the doldrums, adds Christopher Bibby, a real estate agent with Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group Realty Ltd. 'Rents aren’t necessarily supporting the purchase prices,' he says. 'You really have to have a long-term outlook.' He expects it will take some time to absorb the current listings for rent and for sale. 'The amount of supply we had completely suffocated the condo market,' he says."

"Mr. Bibby adds that new supply is arriving on the market as well: People are still leaving town, splitting up with partners, or deciding to get out of the rental market after losing a tenant. Mr. Bibby says that wrangling a deal usually takes a few days of negotiating. Buyers’ agents often submit a low-ball bid, accompanied by a letter explaining why the seller should accept the discount to the asking price."

"'They want you to be aware – like we don’t know already – the condo market has shifted,' he says."

"New supply will be coming into the market this year as projects reach completion. Mr. Bibby has already heard from investors who purchased units pre-construction. Now that rents have fallen and tenants are scarce, they’re worried about their ability to carry the unit. 'Some may have to sell,' he says."