Part two of the weekend topic, starting with Intellinews on Russia. "Almost as soon as the double whammy of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and a concurrent collapse in oil prices hit Russia’s economy last March, the government reacted by introducing a mortgage subsidy programme that cut the effective rate for would-be homeowners buying newly built residential housing to 6.5%. The programme has been a resounding success; in fact maybe a little too successful, as the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is worried that a housing bubble may be forming as demand for new apartments has ballooned."

"The Kremlin’s long-term goal of increasing homeownership got a boost too, as it acts as 'social cement' and improves the average quality of life. Owning property, so the argument goes, makes people less likely to protest, as well as more subordinate to the state thanks to the dependence on state services and their personal investment into bricks and mortar. Russians jumped at the deal."

"Since the mortgage market appeared in about 2003 – the first mortgages were offered by Delta Bank, a USAID funded initiative, as growth of mortgage use is equated with promoting democracy by the US government for many of the same reasons that appeals to the Kremlin – the market really only took off in around 2008 and has been growing very strongly ever since."

From Dmarge on Australia. "There’s precious little in the world more helpless than a Sydneysider in the depths of housing market FOMO… especially when the chips are stacked against them. Speaking to James Whelan – Investment Manager at VFS Group in Sydney – DMARGE recently learned there is a big difference between how financial advisors and real estate agents are regulated."

"The property advisory market, 'Is not subjected to the same level of education or stringent requirements you need to advise people and yet they are advising mums and dads and young people on the biggest investment of their entire life.'"

"This is particularly risky in a climate where more and more Australians want to get in on property market action. Take, for instance, the phrase, ‘I think you should buy.’ Mr Whelan tells us: 'I can’t say that to most people regarding a $5,000 trade on BHP and yet a 5 million dollar place in Bondi – they’ve got no problem…But if you took that away the market would probably collapse.'"

"'The trend of skipping building and pest inspections to get property will be taken advantage of by a barely regulated group of unethical sharks,' Mr Whelan posted to Twitter in April, promoting comments from other Twitter users like: 'Looking forward to the ‘I bought a house riddled with termites, agent didn’t tell me, what recourse do I have?' posts on the Facebook groups."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "As home prices have set new records this year, increased scrutiny on the impact of bidding wars on affordability has raised questions about the loose regulations that govern them. Bidding wars in Canadian real estate typically involve a blind-bidding process where only the seller knows what the competing offers are. They have been criticized for driving prices higher by economists at The Bank of Montreal, among others."

"Regulators and real estate lobbyist are also operating in a data vacuum, reliant on buyer and seller anecdotes as there is no way to know how often bidding wars even happen, or what the average price per bid is. The only data Ontario realtors are required to collect under the regulations is a record of how many registered bids there were, nothing about the price or conditions in those bids."

"'The part I hate is the second round [of a blind offer day], where you are told you are ‘close’ and you don’t know what close is,' said Scott Ingram, with Century 21 Regal Realty Inc. A buyer who doesn’t know they had the highest offer may resubmit and go higher still. 'You may be bidding against yourself. Even if 90 per cent of agents are on the straight and narrow, and wouldn’t let you bid against yourself, why allow the bad actors to operate?'"

"Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), notes that the last time the government re-wrote real estate regulations the process took almost five years across two governments. 'I’ve been in that chair and doing the regulatory process … particularly around something as sacred to Canadians and as expensive as your home you need to make judicious decisions,' he said. OREA lobbied the government to change the bidding rules in 2019. One white paper from his organization was firm: 'Bidding blind can create suspicion and mistrust. … In the end, the winning buyer may feel they ‘overpaid’ because they were the successful offer.'"

The Calgary Herald in Canada. "After years of stagnation, Calgary’s housing market is suddenly and unexpectedly on fire. Realtors and buyers tell stories of show home lineups stretching down the block, of houses selling within hours of being listed, of frenzied bidding wars, unconditional offers and emotion-filled pleas."

"'There are lots of letters being written. I’ve never seen so many family photos of kids and dogs, talking about the wonderful life they’re going to live in the home,' said Rachel Vanderveen, a Realtor with eXp Realty. 'We’re seeing lots of just plain begging.'"

"What is happening in Calgary is not an isolated phenomenon. Across Canada, the national average home selling price soared 31.6 per cent year-over-year in March, hitting a new high as sales also climbed to a new all-time record, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. Home sales are also surging in the U.S."

"'We’re seeing a higher number of offers fall apart,' said eXp Realty’s Vanderveen. 'I think one reason is people are being forced to make an emotional decision. They’ll view a home and then they’ll have maybe two hours to make a half-million-dollar decision. And they wake up the next morning with buyers’ remorse and cancel the deal.'"

The Oklahoman. "Jake and Kristin Fisher started out their marriage by buying a house — because they didn’t know any better. 'We felt like that was what we were supposed to do,' Jake Fisher said. 'That's what a married couple did.' Now they rent an apartment — by choice. Others may feel 'stuck' in an apartment while home prices spike across the Oklahoma City area. In the past year, prices jumped 15%, according to the Metro Association of Realtors. But apartment rents have risen here no more than usual."

"The government wants the Fishers — and you — to own a home, not rent an apartment, especially since the national homeownership rate hasn’t recovered from the housing crash and Great Recession of 2007-2009. The mortgage interest tax deduction is just one of many policies at all levels of government promoting home ownership. Entire agencies, federal and state, support it, although they also aid in the development of rental property, because homeownership lends stability to neighborhoods — by extension, to society in general."

"Proponents say homeownership is the main way many people accumulate wealth, building up equity over the years, partly paying themselves each month rather than a landlord. John Arnhart has been there, done that, and is done with it. Arnhart, 50, owned a home for 20 years, rented an apartment the past five years, and has no intention of buying again. 'It was my wife and I. When we split, I didn't want another one,' said Arnhart."

"But the downside to owning, to Arnhart, is what many people consider the main upside to homeownership: growing wealth. Whatever equity accumulates is hard to access, he said, and it doesn't add up as much as people think considering the expenses of owning and maintaining a house over time. 'I save liquid money instead of giving it to the bank,' he said, meaning a mortgage lender. 'Actually, I'm saving money, but it's in the bank,' he said, meaning his own bank account."

"Chad Straub has been on all sides of housing because of different dynamics: He was a homeowner, then an apartment renter and now rents a house. He bought his first house in 2009, a three-bedroom house built in 1954 in Oklahoma City. 'Oh, it's the American dream! I needed to get my piece of the American dream,' he remembers thinking. In 2015, he sold the old house and used his equity and credit to buy a new one. Then came a nightmare."

"Straub was working in banking regulatory compliance. He quit his job and started a business — but it failed. He had to sell his house to get by. With his job went his credit, so he couldn't even borrow against the suddenly illiquid wealth in his own property. 'All my nest egg I had left was tied up in the equity I had in my house. I really had no choice,' he said."

"He moved into an apartment. Now, he's renting a house to get away from the noise of apartment neighbors, and for its fenced back yard for Sophie, his 11-year-old long-haired Dachshund. As a renter, Straub is living an irony: He works selling houses as a real estate agent."

From Stuff New Zealand. "It will be cheaper to build on Mars than buy in New Zealand by 2040 if recent house price increases continue, according to a piece of tongue-in-cheek research conducted by a data consultancy owned by Stats NZ. Data Ventures executive director Drew Broadly said the team conducted the analysis, in part, to stop arguments between home-owners and renters in the office about the sustainability of the market."

"The research was part of a monthly training exercise in out-of-the-box thinking done by Data Ventures to develop staff’s ability to find new ways of attacking complex problems."

"'It’s becoming so bad moving to Mars should be something you should seriously consider,' Broadly said. Comparing house price trajectory to the predicted cost of building on Mars also allowed a 'light-hearted approach' to analysing the market, rather than the 'deeper, more anger-type arguments' that could spring up, Broadly said. 'Kind of our underlying joke is that’s how bad we think it is, that rather than saying renters vs. homeowners let’s take it to a whole different argument that doesn’t bring that political lens to it. You can see this isn’t sustainable for anyone.'"