It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Extell Development has sold a sponsor unit at One57 for $16.8 million, 15.4 percent below its last asking price. Extell first listed the condo at about $24 million in July 2020, before it was chopped to $20 million in January. Fast forward to January 2021, and One57 set new records: A unit sold for more than 50 percent below its previous purchase price, a record resale loss at the tower. It followed a string of resale losses at the building, which Extell Chairman Gary Barnett has previously said do not represent a 'real-world price.' The latest resale was sold by an estate and another three were tied to HNA Group, a once high-flying Chinese conglomerate that sold its real estate holdings in a fire sale."

"Condominium prices in Boston continued to fall precipitously to start the year. The average price per SF of a downtown Boston condo fell 22% year-over-year to $991 per SF while inventory rose 44% in the same period, according to Miller Samuel/Douglas Elliman figures. 'Sales are surging, but you have prices declining,' Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller said."

"While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes. There are 365 days per year (unless it’s a leap year, of course). And, for this week’s Just Reduced column, we have $365,000 in price reductions to share! Add ’em all up and that’s what you’ll be saving off the collective original list price, folks."

"But, as a friendly reminder, these preliminary savings can be only the beginning. From the Just Reduced price and if you have a polished team on your side, you can negotiate even lower. And, if the home you’ve been eyeing hasn’t been reduced just yet, your team can help you negotiate on that front, too."

"The city once considered the butt of Bay Area jokes is apparently getting the last laugh. The national phenomenon of a sellers’ market has reached Vallejo — big-time. Todd Willis, real estate agent in Benicia compared the home-buying activity to the 'toilet paper buying frenzy' at the start of COVID-19."

"Real estate agent with Royal LePage Ladysmith, Susan Perrey, said the market is ‘crazy all around’. 'I had a mobile yesterday in a mobile home park that had six offers on it, going for substantially more than the asking price,' she said. 'It’s craziness.' When the craziness stops, Perrey said that the market on the Island will remain steady, but some buyers who have purchased more than they can afford could be at risk of foreclosure. 'Right now we’re seeing an extraordinary amount of demand to live here on the Island, but if it does burst, there will still be people looking for foreclosures that come up.'"

"Developers in Dubai are getting quite active with Ramadan promotions, offering straight out discounts of up to 20 per cent. On top of the decline property values have seen in the last two years, that 10-20 per cent discount comes to quite a decent saving for a buyer. Investor interest in offplan sales had dropped over the last 12-24 months on concerns about oversupply and the added pressure this will have on Dubai rents. With the promotions and discounts, developers are trying to convince investors all over again. 'As developers, we need to clear offplan inventory at the first available opportunity,' said a top official at one of Dubai’s biggest builders."

"The resurging COVID-19 pandemic has posed many questions for NRIs who own properties in India or plan to buy one. These properties have been sold for prices that are almost 25% lower than pre-demonetisation levels. 'Rental yield is just about 1.5 percent per annum. This barely takes care of inflation levels and depreciation of the Indian rupee. Since the last eight-nine years, both the property prices and currency have depreciated. This is prompting NRIs to consolidate real estate assets in India,' said Amit Goyal, CEO, India Sotheby's International Realty."

"China’s financial regulator said operations at China Huarong Asset Management Co. are normal and the company has ample liquidity, marking the first official comments aimed at easing investor concerns over the financial health of the nation’s largest bad-debt manager. Huarong, which owes $42 billion to local and offshore bondholders, jolted Asian credit markets after failing to meet a March deadline for releasing its 2020 earnings. The company was already under a shadow after its former chairman, Lai Xiaomin, was executed earlier this year after being found guilty of bribery."

"Hu Jianzhong, chief supervisor at Huarong, said at an event in Beijing on Friday that China will see more difficulties in bad-asset disposal market over the next three to five years as the volume rises and prices fall. The nation’s distressed loan managers are facing mounting pressure as the pandemic has made it harder to dispose of assets, according to a closely watched survey by China Orient Asset Management Co. released on Friday."

"In Melbourne and Sydney, it’s a renters market and lending for investment housing is taking off as the epicentre of credit stress in banking. Rents in Melbourne, the worst hit market, are down as much as 16 per cent since the pandemic and the long lockdown hit the city hard. The quality and the value for money (for now) in new and near-new complexes in prime position in a few cases is a bit of an eye opener."

"For example, the asking price on a compact Docklands pad in a flash recent tower with lap pool, massive gym, library and tennis court, or another in the Grand Hotel travesty on Spencer Street are the same as a 1960's redbrick speccie with no amenity on Murray Road in Preston. And it's the nominally high-end apartments in the city and inner ring that feature in the 'down, down' advisories this week."

"Bouncy readings on consumer sentiment and the all too typical huzzah for the housing price bubble are dubious indicators. Great swathes of the mass market cannot pay the rent."

"Owners of Sydney’s beleaguered Mascot Towers will thrash out their options on Thursday night to try to resolve the long-running stand-off over the empty apartment building, including the possibility of selling the tower. Apartment owner Brian Tucker, who is renting a unit in Arncliffe, said residents had suffered significant emotional and financial pain over the past two years. 'It is a big asset that is basically worthless at the moment. It is disheartening – we have a nice unit that has been vacant for two years,' he said. 'The whole situation is very stressful.'"

"Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was in favour of a collective sale because it would bring closure to the two-year debacle. The owner said the situation had caused the breakdown of his marriage and would likely see him lose his job due to depression and anxiety. 'I am just not functioning,' the owner said. 'I am not an uncommon situation. Lots of Mascot Tower owners are in similar situations: separated or divorced or suicidal. I’ve lost my entire life savings and my future lifetime to debt.'"

"A Living Hell: Apartment Disasters spills the tea on who is responsible for designing and building such shitty housing in Aotearoa (spoilers: it’s a lot of companies). One of the leaky buildings featured is the St Luke’s Garden Apartments in Auckland. The sprawling 285 unit complex was built between 2003 and 2011, making it a relatively new building to be affected by weather-tightness issues. The problems facing residents there are vast. Bevan Tse bought an apartment there in 2013; by the time he realised his mistake it was too late. He and his family have gone into debt to cover their share of the costs of remediation, estimated to be in excess of $100 million."

"Remember FOMO? The 'fear of missing out' is a big deal in the world of house sales. But things have changed. As a result of the Government's housing policy, there's growing uncertainty over prices, fuelling hesitancy with buyers fearful of paying too much for property. Hence, FOMO has now been replaced by FOOP - the fear of overpaying. Before the changes announced three weeks ago, home buyers and investors were rushing into the market, fuelled by FOMO."

"At the time Adrian Orr, the Reserve Bank Governor, said FOMO in the housing market was creating a frenzy that could create 'irrational behaviour,' and warned Kiwis not to get swept up in it. Now, there's a new fear buyers are getting caught up in. 'The fear of missing out has taken a pause, and now people are definitely worried about overpaying for property,' said mortgage advisor Michael Anastasiadis."

"The Government’s new housing policies mark a turning point in New Zealand’s speculation-driven housing markets. All recent homebuyers, investors and owner-occupants alike, and their lenders innately share an underlying hope that the property they just paid too much for will be even more over-valued in the future. Of these, investors will be the first to regret they gambled on the continuation of the housing Ponzi."

"It is important to note that the vast majority of leveraged rental property purchases in overheated markets like Auckland are loss-making endeavors that can hardly be categorised as a ‘business’. These speculative plays on future capital gains are now merely deeper in the red courtesy of higher tax bills."

"Although investor greed seems to be the primary target of the new housing policies, there is an even larger, greedier actor behind the housing Ponzi: banks. Without the eagerness of banks to lend increasing amounts of debt onto the shoulders of owner-occupiers and residential investors, the current obscene prices would not be possible."