A report from the Santa Fe New Mexican. "'So, what do you make of this housing bubble?' I am occasionally asked. In 2007, I obtained a 'no doc' loan. Then came the crash of October 2008. Almost overnight, the value of the home dropped $150,000 less than what I paid the year before, meaning a $200,000 drop in the illusion of equity. The bubble holding me up definitely popped. I was underwater and sinking fast. I’d bought high and sold low."

"Eventually, rising prices will decrease the pool of eligible buyers. Strong market demand will continue to stimulate supply. Credit rules might ease. National down payment assistance programs are contemplated. A market equilibrium could be on the horizon. But it’s a far horizon. It’s unlikely we’ll hear a pop like the deafening bang of 2008. More likely, it’ll be a long, flatulent sound of air being let out of a big party balloon."

From Business Insider. "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued new rules to facilitate a smooth transition once the ban on foreclosures expires. Two weeks ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced new calculations to determine mortgage assistance that would make it easier for people with student debt to buy a home - especially people of color. 'For people of color, especially Black people, homeownership is wealth,' HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said. 'It's not only wealth to us, but it's generational wealth.'"

The Review Journal in Nevada. "Locally and nationally, the heated housing market has shown some signs of cooling down during the normally busy spring buying season. In Southern Nevada, sales have fallen in the past few months, customer traffic to homebuilders’ subdivisions has dropped, and the tally of available listings has climbed."

"Some 30 miles northwest of the Strip, a cluster of homes sit in the middle of the desert off U.S. Highway 95 with hardly anything around them. But that hasn’t stopped the pint-sized community off Corn Creek Road from cashing in on the housing craze. Advertised as being off the grid, a nearly 2-acre property there — featuring a two-story house, a private well, a 500-gallon propane tank, and electrical power supplied by 32 solar panels and a 24-battery bank — was put up for sale May 17 at $365,000."

"It went under contract with a buyer just several days later, May 23. The sale closed this week at $400,000 — a full $35,000 over the asking price, its listing history shows."

From Fox Business. "'Buyers found that they could purchase with very low-interest rates and lock in these rates for a long term,' Kristin Ehrgott, founding broker of the Live Here Property Group at Compass, New Jersey, told FOX Business. 'This means that their budget can stretch higher on the purchase price of the home while still keeping their mortgage payments low for up to 30 years.'"

"Ehrgott cautioned that even when the price declines in the near future, homeowners benefitting from low mortgage payments for the long term 'will likely wait out the market and not sell until they gain equity back.'"

The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. "A 10-room Gold Coast mansion — one of just seven mansions remaining on North Lake Shore Drive — sold Friday for $4.25 million, almost six years after it was listed for $17 million. The sale brings to a close the International College of Surgeons’ long effort to sell the four-story mansion at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive, which it purchased in 1947 for $85,000 and which it long had used as office and meeting space."

"The group previously tried to develop the mansion and an adjacent property it owns in the 1990s, but was stymied by the mansion’s landmark status. It then placed the mansion on the market for $17 million in 2015, eventually cutting the asking price to $6 million in 2019. The group made its final price reduction to $5.75 million in April, striking a deal in June."

The Real Deal on New York. "Kevin Clayton paid $11.5 million for a condo unit at Extell Development’s Central Park Tower on Billionaires’ Row. Clayton and his wife bought the 2,500-square-foot unit at the world’s tallest residential tower at 217 57th Street. Property records show the couple got a 15% discount from the last listed price. A glut of luxury condos in the city has driven down the price of units lingering on the market. Extell’s Gary Barnett has said he expects to lose money on half of his current projects."

From Bisnow Los Angeles in California. "The SEC this week announced it has filed charges against a Santa Clarita man and five entities he owns and controls, alleging that between 2015 and 2020, he orchestrated four unregistered and fraudulent real estate investment offerings, raising more than $9M from more than 100 investors. Matthew J. Skinner, who marketed himself as a successful real estate investor and 'dealmaker,' offered tips on a number of online platforms about real estate investing."

"Skinner and Bayside Equity LP raised $3.1M from investors who were told they would receive an interest in two to-be-developed waterfront residences in Newport Beach. Skinner and entities he controls 'misrepresented the extent of Skinner’s interest in this project, inflated the projected returns, and sent only $2M to the project, spending the remaining $1.1M on unrelated things, including substantial personal expenses,' such as vacations and payments on a Maserati, the SEC wrote in the complaint."

"Through Simple Growth LLC, Skinner raised more than $1.3M, 'telling investors he would invest their money in multifamily real estate and guaranteeing double-digit returns ‘no matter what.’ Instead, the money went to payroll, personal expenses and 'Ponzi-like payments,' the SEC charges."

From Realtor.com on California. "On the market in 2016 for $195 million, the legendary Beverly Hills property now known as the Hearst Estate is once again cutting its price. It’s now available for a still stratospheric $69,950,000. The longtime owner purchased the place in the 1970s. After making massive improvements to the estate in the 1990s, and living there for 40 years, he faced mounting debt on the home. He eventually put the property into bankruptcy and the saga of attempted sales efforts commenced."

"After the initial, aspirational asking price, the mansion bounced back onto the market in 2018 for $135 million. About a year ago, the property had another $10 million slashed from the price.No takers came forward, and in April, with new listing agents, and a new name, the residence came on the market for a significantly lower, yet still hefty price of $89.75 million. This week, the price has been cut by an additional 22%. 'It’s just cool to see Hollywood at its heyday,' agent Anthony Marguleas says. 'That’s the experience you have. It’s really, really special.'"

"Now, it’s even more specially priced."

From Blog TO in Canada. "The City of Toronto has been mulling over the idea of a vacant home tax to help free up hoarded housing supply for years, and now such a tax on tens of thousands of empty condos and houses could be in place by as soon as Jan. 1, 2022. Even if it doesn't nudge all wealthy investors into action, council believes it acts as a signal of sorts that 'housing stock and supply is important for people as homes, and not primarily as a buy-hold speculative commodity without any public regulation.'"

"Preliminary surveys already suggest that such a change will inspire a good proportion of investors — more than two thirds — to sell. Such buyers account for approximately 20 per cent of residential purchases across the country, moreso in urban centres such as Toronto than elsewhere."

From Unilad. "A Vatican criminal tribunal charged Cardinal Angelo Becciu along with five former Vatican officials and a number of Italian businessmen with crimes including embezzlement, extortion, fraud and abuse of office. The indictments were made following an investigation in the use of Church funds to purchase a €350 million apartment block in Chelsea, west London, in 2018."

"Over the past two years, investigators have explored how the Vatican’s Secretariat of State managed the Church’s asset portfolio, with the defendants accused of defrauding the Church of millions of dollars, much of which was donated to the Vatican to ostensibly be used for charity work. One of the defendants was charged with embezzling funds intended to pay ransoms for Catholic priests and nuns being held hostage in Africa, instead allegedly using the money to buy luxury goods."

The New Zealand Herald. "A woman convicted of 'fraud' is serving home detention in a luxury $10 million Remuera mansion owned by a Singapore-based businessman linked to Jack Ma's behemoth Alibaba e-commerce website. The businessman, Yifei Sheng, bought the sprawling property and neighbouring tennis court in September last year for $10.25m without ever stepping foot inside. Sheng, who intends to bowl the 440sq m four-bedroom house, has spent at least $22m buying Auckland properties in the past three years."

"The Herald can reveal the Remuera property is not the only luxury mansion linking the pair. Property records show Chen, 51, and her separated husband Andrew Shiu sold their former clifftop home on Glendowie's blue chip Riddell Rd to Sheng in 2019 for $9m - reported as one of the year's biggest property deals. Just 15 months later Sheng on-sold the home - again for $9m - to Yongming Wu. Both sales were off-market, meaning no licensed real estate agents were involved, and neither deal appears to have required a mortgage. And despite the Glendowie property being bought by both Sheng and Wu for $9m, neither man appears to have taken possession."

"A former owner who sold the Remuera property to Sheng confirmed the wealthy mansion lover had never personally viewed the house before agreeing to pay $10.25m. She thought it was odd that someone would pay so much money for a house without stepping foot inside. She recalled a representative telling her Sheng 'hasn't seen the place because he can't get a visa.'"

"Chen was charged with obtaining by deceit after telling buyers in a Pokeno property development scheme they needed to pay $100,000 in cash, on top of the purchase price, as commission fees to ensure the deals went through. But a judge found she had illegally pocketed the money, saying her offending was motivated by greed. 'Your motivation, in effect was to defraud for your own benefit two persons whom you knew socially through the Chinese community in Auckland and that, of course, was not only unfair, it was morally and legally wrong,' Judge Peter Rollo said."

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. "NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler said the most concerning finding from the survey by Fair Trading and the peak body for strata managers was that fewer than a fifth of the buildings with serious defects had been reported to the regulator. 'What that is telling us is that a large number of body corporates are sitting on known defects and not reporting them,' he said."

"Mr Chandler cited a building of about 200 apartments on Sydney’s lower north shore which has defects he describes as 'scandalous.' He was alerted to it by a whistleblower, and the building will now be subject to an audit which is expected to lead to public orders for defects to be fixed. 'My concern is that there are still properties transacting in that building, where there are owners selling and purchasers buying,' he said."

"Mr Chandler said he believed the main reason they stayed silent was due to fears that reporting defects to authorities would lower the value of apartments and make them harder to sell. Chris Duggan, the NSW president of the peak body for strata managers, said there was often a challenge with overseas owners who 'don’t see and feel' the benefits of spending on maintenance. 'They only see the additional costs rather than the improvements and the amenity,' he said."