It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "U.S. existing-home prices posted their biggest year-over-year decline in more than 11 years last month. The national median existing-home price fell 3.1% in May from a year earlier to $396,100, the largest drop since December 2011, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. May sales fell 20.4% from a year earlier. Median home-sale prices fell the most in May from a year earlier in Austin, Texas, down 15.1%, followed by Boise, Idaho, down 14.3%, and Oakland, Calif., down 11.2%, according to Redfin."

"Nicole and Alexander Dreher started looking to buy their first home in Denver at the start of 2022, but they lost out on seven offers to buyers who could pay cash or pay far above listing price. 'This year was a much easier process,' Alexander Dreher said. The Drehers put in an offer at under the listing price in May on a four-bedroom house that had been sitting on the market since February, and it was accepted. 'There was no competition, which gave us a lot of leverage,' Dreher said."

"There was a surprise in the latest sales of existing single-family homes in the Bradenton area during May, when the median price fell 6.4% to $515,000, compared to $550,000 in the same month a year ago. 'In the ever-changing real estate landscape of Sarasota and Manatee, we are seeing a balance between slight upward and downward trends across most of the metrics we measure, leading to what many would call a stable market,' said Brian Tresidder, Realtor Association president."

"The Salt Lake City metro area continues to be among the top housing markets in the U.S. to see the most dramatic yearly declines in home sales. Compared to October 2022, the Salt Lake City metro saw the No. 1 biggest decline in home sales with a 48.3% year-over-year drop in closed transactions, according to RE/MAX’s report. In April, the median price for all housing types in Salt Lake County dropped to $495,000, a 10.8% decline year over year, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. The median price for a single-family home was $577,000, down almost 9% from $633,000 in April 2022. For multi-family homes including condominiums, townhomes and twin homes, the median price was $423,750, a 5.8% year-over-year drop."

"Average home sale prices are lower than they were a year ago in four Onondaga County towns, according to new data. The towns include Marcellus, LaFayette, Otisco and Fabius. The biggest decline is in the town of Marcellus. The average price for a home in the town is now $261,300, down over 10% from a year ago, according to Central New York Information Service Inc. The Syracuse area’s residential real estate market has cooled from the breakneck pace it saw during after the Covid-19 pandemic first hit."

"Mostly gone are the days real estate agents could list a home on Monday and expect a sale, or at least serious lookers, by the weekend. Agents whose sales are reflected in the Waco Multiple Listing Service completed 322 transactions in May, a 13% dip from the 370 homes changing hands in May last year. Homes sold locally in May carried an average sales price of $323,229, 5% below the $340,476 average a year before, according to Ashton Gustafson, a local agent. 'The market at this point is still very good,' said Trammell Kelly, residential specialist at Kelly Realtors. 'Maybe a little sluggish, but compared to years past, still good. I would describe conditions as ‘wait and see.’ People ask me, ‘What is the market like?’ and I say, ‘Depends on what day it is.’ I put a property on the market, and literally thought it would sell over the weekend or within a week. I got no lookers, no offers. So much for my prediction.'"

"Home prices in Marin County are continuing a slow crawl back to prior levels but remain more than 10% off their peak last year. The median price for a detached home in the county was $1.79 million in May, according to the latest data from the assessor's office. The market is still below the $2 million threshold it broke last spring. For condos and townhomes, the median price in Marin was $785,000 last month, compared to $865,697 the prior May. In the Bay Area, the median was $1.3 million, an increase of 4% from April but a 11.3% decline from the prior May, according to the association. Sales declined 23.8% year over year. Statewide, the median price for a detached home was $836,110 last month, the California Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. The figure was a 3% increase from April and a 6.4% decrease from May 2022. Sales declined 23.6% on a year-over-year basis."

"Beset by rising crime and fewer shoppers on once-busy city streets, major retailers are leaving their broken hearts in downtown San Francisco. At least 22 big-name businesses have closed or announced plans to flee the area around San Francisco’s Union Square since January 2022. Since 2019, 47% of businesses in the area have closed, according to the San Francisco Standard. Some seasoned analysts predict the city’s ongoing commercial chaos could be just beginning. Ken Woods, chairman of Asset Preservation Advisors, said his team of municipal bond managers are backing off San Francisco. 'We’re seeing an emperor without clothes to a certain degree,' Woods told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday."

"Listings for houses for sale are trickling into Toronto-area neighbourhoods as real estate prices recover, but an air of restraint is settling over the market. Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., has noticed a hesitation among buyers since the Bank of Canada raised a key interest rate in early June. On the day the policy makers were scheduled to meet, no buyers scheduled appointments to view his new listing for a detached house in Bedford Park until late afternoon. 'All of a sudden, there’s a change,' he says of the current mood. Photographers, stagers and home inspectors are less busy, he says, as buyers tread carefully. 'They’ll wait and see what happens with the rates,' he says. Mr. Kutyan says the spring market was sluggish to begin with and he expected that late start to keep momentum going through the summer. 'Now I’m second guessing that.'"


"The Bank of England has raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 5 per cent, a day after figures showed inflation remained at 8.7 per cent in May. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee has now voted 13 times in a row to raise rates, which are at their highest point in 15 years. Caroline Wade, a 43-year old mother living in Whitstable in Kent, she owns a small business and has recently found a new mortgage as her two-year fixed rate is about to expire. The best deal that her mortgage broker could get her will cost her an extra £400 a month from August, as nearly half her income is swallowed up in mortgage payments."

"'People are beginning to struggle,' she told The National. 'Normal people with all the costs of their homes, running a car and childcare. It's just not sustainable. For the normal person who's got a decent job and a decent career, it just doesn't make sense.' 'Expect more mortgage market mayhem after this big bazooka rate hike. Lenders were probably already pricing in a 25-basis-point move, but the repricing of home loans looks likely now to be more dramatic and protracted,' said Gary Smith, partner in financial planning at Evelyn Partners."

"A number of Melburnians longing for the keys to their newly built home have had that dream quashed after another residential builder entered external administration on Thursday. Red Bluff Homes has become the latest construction company to collapse this year, after calling liquidators in to wind up its trade. Dee Filik signed a contract six months with Red Bluff Homes prior to the termination, for the construction of their house in the inner northeastern suburb of Diamond Creek. 'Since then I have been trying desperately to at least get my deposit back … and I can’t build the house as I need to get another permit through council and new plans.' Both parties are now in a legal battle. 'I have to now incur significant legal costs at VCAT to try and seek some sort of justice. And even then if I do ‘win’ I still lose. I don’t have a house being built, I’m out of pocket significantly and my mental health has declined considerably.'"

"Buyers waiting to enter Hong Kong’s property market could be spoiled for choice as some developers release homes at price levels last seen five years ago, looking to lock in sales before further anticipated increases in interest rates and supply. Developers are even offering sweeteners like mortgage discounts, dining and travel vouchers to exotic destinations like the Maldives to drum up sales. Many developers 'are rushing to launch at prices close to or even lower than the market price,' said Louis Chan, the Asia-Pacific vice-chairman at Centaline Property Agency. 'Ultimately, buyers will benefit.' While Chan expects the competitive pricing to attract buyers to the new homes market, 'second-hand owners have no choice but to take a beating.'"

"After home prices fell 15 per cent in 2022, developers continue to cut prices, Centaline’s Chan said, adding it would take time for the economy to recover."

"According to Vietnam Association of Realtors, property developers and investors had been in a state of 'stagnation' for a long time. 'Since the beginning of 2022, the government has thrown lifelines to save the real estate market and businesses. But these lifelines have yet to drag businesses out of rough seas,' the association stated, adding that without timely solutions, they will definitely 'drown.' According to Bloomberg, Vietnamese builders have suspended more than 1,200 real estate projects worth VND800 trillion ($34 billion) as funding woes continue to beset the industry."

"'A huge resource has been frozen and we don’t know how long it will last,' it cited the Vietnam Real Estate Association as saying. 'These halted projects are not creating added value for society, leading to multiple consequences.' Each of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities had suspended 20 projects on average, the Hanoi-based real estate association said. Notably, about 400 projects in Hanoi are on hold, while the number in Ho Chi Minh City is more than 300. The property crisis, triggered by builders taking in too much debt, the Covid-19 pandemic that dampened demand, and a government crackdown on corruption, has affected more than 1,800 builders and forced 340 other companies into insolvency in Q1/2023, according to the construction ministry."