A report from Community Impact in Texas. "The latest report from the Austin Board of Realtors shows the average price of homes in Round Rock in May sat at $547,953, which represents an 11.6% decrease from May 2022, when the average home price was $592,653. The average home sales price in in Hutto fell 10.2% from last May, dropping from $436,295 to $394,963. Pflugerville had the sharpest decline, as home prices there dropped 15% year over year. In May 2022 the average home sold for $512,364 compared with $434,765 this May. Additionally, the market in Round Rock has become more favorable for buyers than last year, at least in terms of the amount of inventory available. In May 2022 in Round Rock, there were only 0.9 months of inventory, or the amount of time it would take to sell all of the homes for sale in a given area. This May, there were 2.4 months of inventory in Round Rock. Similarly, Pflugerville had 0.6 months of inventory in May 2022 compared with 2.5 this May."

The Orange County Register. "California housing’s stumble off its pandemic peak means an owner with a mortgage lost $59,600 of equity in the past year. And it’s not just California. Home equity dropped in 13 others states plus D.C. for the year ended in the first quarter. The average U.S. dip of $5,400 was the first such decline since 2012. Only Washington state’s $74,300 equity drop was larger than California’s decline. Next came Utah, off $37,700, Nevada, off $32,800 and Idaho, off $32,500. Or look at the tumbles on a percentage basis: California’s 9.7% drop was topped only by Washington (off 15%), Nevada (off 11%), Idaho (off 11%) and Utah (off 10%)."

Business Insider on California. "Downtown San Francisco's fall from grace is unfolding quickly. Landlords large and small are waving the white flag over the increasing pressures facing the city. The capitulation of some of real estate's most sophisticated players after tech job cuts and a growing permanence of remote work is a dark omen for the city's downtown. Real-estate defaults have been long expected, but not all at once. 'San Francisco is in a sinkhole that's growing bigger by the day,' Manus Clancy, a senior managing director at Trepp, which tracks corporate and commercial real-estate debt, told Insider. 'Store closings, crime, and other quality-of-life issues are leading to an epidemic of negative headlines that are keeping tourists and workers away. It will probably get worse before it gets better.'"

"With housing demand down, median home prices inflated during the pandemic have dropped nearly 18% in the year through April, nearly triple the declines in Manhattan. Jeff Burg, a real estate investor who had been buying and renting out small apartment buildings since 2002, said he's given up on the city, citing burdensome regulation. 'I have unloaded all of my San Francisco rental properties in the past year and just moved my family out for good,' Burg told Insider. 'After 23 years, we're moving on with our lives. Whatever is going on in San Francisco, we are not interested in being part of that any longer.'"

The New York Post. "After a decade of much-hyped and buzzed-about condo developments hoping to attract buyers with sleek designs and a bevy of amenities, the top end of the city’s real estate market is gravitating towards rentals of the same caliber instead. The reasons? Ongoing high interest rates and overall economic uncertainty. Matt and Kelly, a couple currently renting a three-bedroom in One Boerum Place, relocated to New York from Washington DC in 2022. They didn’t want a long-term financial commitment and sought a rental for their new home. 'We have seen instances of family and friends who couldn’t resell their homes, and we didn’t want to be in the same situation given that our long-term plans are uncertain,' said Matt."

News 4 Jax in Florida. "'We’re hearing from realtors that are extremely concerned that they cannot close on properties they are selling because the homeowner will be unable to obtain property insurance to make that sale go forward,' said Mark Friedlander, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute. 'So that’s very concerning as we’re just getting into hurricane season. Potentially, we could see more failures this year.'"

"Houses being used as short-term rentals are also being rejected by insurance companies and some carriers are refusing to write policies for homes with solar panels installed. Friedlander said families that are already in their homes, facing huge policy increases, are also being forced out. 'Certainly, we are hearing now from homeowners that can no longer afford their properties,' he said. 'They can’t pay the insurance bill. They need to sell their homes.'"

KUTV Salt Lake City in Utah. "The iconic Coachman’s Dinner & Pancake House made headlines when it closed in April 2021. After a year, Mike Nikols, the property owner, received approval to construct a condominium complex on the premises. However, over a year has passed since then, and there has been minimal progress made on the project. Other big housing development projects across the area are also dead or in limbo because of the financial climate. 'I think it’s financing right now,' said Dejan Eskic, a senior research fellow and scholar at the Gardner Policy Institute. 'I feel confident with just our demand over the next five to ten years, those apartment projects will see light. Really, we’re in a pause and hold stage right now with big development projects.'"

The Wall Street Journal. "Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank disappeared this year. So did the investments of many of their employees. The two California-based banks encouraged workers of all levels to buy company shares, and top employees often received a big chunk of their pay in stock awards. Both lenders served tech-sector clients, which also nurtured a culture of employees as shareholders. Now shares of both banks, which once traded for hundreds of dollars each, are worth pennies in over-the-counter trading. Employees are facing the whirlwind loss of money they planned to use for retirement, kids’ college educations and other big-ticket expenses, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former workers. Some have also lost their jobs."

"On a message board called Blind, employees and former employees commiserated. 'My diet went from steak and caviar to cup-o-noodles,' one wrote. A poll there of 41 First Republic employees found that 18 had paper losses of $50,000 or more as of May 9."

The Toronto Star. "Major banks are forecasting another rate hike from the Bank of Canada next month, increasing pressure on homeowners with variable-rate mortgages and those looking to renew. Economists at Canada’s major banks say another 0.25 percentage point rate hike is likely, given the Bank of Canada’s recent remarks about raising rates further, with inflation still off its two per cent target. A homeowner who put a 20 per cent down payment on an average Toronto home of $1.14 million will see their variable rate shoot up to 7.11 per cent, resulting in a $6,482 monthly payment."

"CIBC’s Benjamin Tal forecasts the next rate hike will be in September when the Bank of Canada has more information on the economy. 'There won’t be enough data in July to make the call,' said Tal. 'We are in the early stages of overshooting the monetary policy.' To stop rate hikes, May’s inflation number needs to be below four per cent, said David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. By raising prime rates, the Bank has contributed to higher mortgage costs, which in turn keeps inflation sticky. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, Macdonald said, and a 'dangerous cycle to get in.'"

This Is Money in the UK. "Landlords are warning that their finances are on the brink of crisis as surging buy-to-let mortgage rates wipe out profits and force growing numbers to sell at discounts of up to 25 per cent. Lenders have withdrawn more than 275 buy-to-let deals and hiked interest rates by up to 1.57 per cent in just two weeks. Rising costs mean that profits are quickly evaporating – and some landlords are now plunging into the red. David Coughlin, who runs Landlord Sales Agency, which helps landlords to sell out of the market, says that he has seen some sell their portfolios at 75 per cent of their value just to get rid of them as they are no longer financially viable now rates are rising."

"They're willing to do a deal just to get properties sold, says David, 53, who is based in Chester. 'They're more worried about getting the property sold quickly than they are about price.' Vanessa Warwick, landlord and co-founder of Property Tribes, says the current situation is like 'facing the four horsemen of the buy-to-let apocalypse'. She says: 'These are rising mortgage rates, increasing taxation, increasing legislation and an economic downturn.'"

The Daily Mail. "Aggressive rate hikes from the Reserve Bank have caused house and unit prices to fall back below $1million in more than 250 suburbs. While real estate values are now recovering, they are still significantly weaker than a year ago, with double-digit falls occurring in idyllic beachside areas. In Sydney, Australia's most expensive housing market, median property prices fell below $1million in 78 suburbs. The Sydney declines included Seven Hills, in the city's west, where the mid-point house price fell by eight per cent to $929,102, down from $1,009,471."

"The slump was even more severe at Hoxton Park, near Liverpool, where house prices fell by 9.7 per cent to $948,608, down from $1,050,956. In the city's south-east, Maroubra's median apartment price slipped by 7.6 per cent to $982,942, down from $1,063,918. Umina Beach house prices on the Central Coast plunged 18.4 per cent to $973,280, down from $1,192,813. Regional NSW also had its share of decline with 47 suburbs falling below seven figures, including Lennox Head, near Byron Bay, where apartment prices fell 23 per cent to $999,452, down from $1,297,826."

"At Malua Bay on the South Coast, house prices fell 15.7 per cent to $890,800, down from $1,056,750. Brisbane saw 41 suburbs go backwards including Annerley in the city's inner south where house prices fell 18.6 per cent to $938,453, down from $1,153,055. In regional Queensland, 23 suburbs dropped from favour including a 14.3 per cent drop at Tewantin near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, taking prices down to $916,576 from $1,069,779. The Gold Coast also fell with house prices at Biggera Waters dropping by 11 per cent to $993,459, down from $1,115,929."

"Melbourne had 30 suburbs fall out of the seven-figure range, including a 19.9 per cent drop at Tootgarook on the Mornington Peninsula, which saw house prices drop to $941,133, down from $1,174,456. Regional Victoria saw 11 suburbs go outside seven figures including a 13.7 per cent drop at Portarlington in Geelong, taking house prices down to $893,640 from $1,036,063. Canberra had 15 suburbs fall below $1million, with house prices at Kaleen falling 15.8 per cent to $951,572, down from $1,130,344."

Stuff New Zealand."Some of the the largest losses being made on property are in Auckland, and in affluent, 'blue-chip' suburbs that market commentators often claim are more immune to dramatic house price falls. Six of the top eight property losses made recently were in Auckland, and all had one thing in common - they were bought and sold in the space of two years. CoreLogic’s recent Pain and Gain Report showed the number of properties selling at a loss has hit a seven-year high, with investors were losing money more often than homeowners, and Auckland sellers were losing money more than any other region."

"The property that topped the list of losses made this year was a four-bedroom Bucklands Beach property in Manukau, which lost the owner $1.6m in the space of six months. The property, on Clovelly Rd, sold in mid-April for $2.5m. Its previous owner had bought it in October the year before, for $4.1m. The property that made the second-largest loss was a three-bedroom 1920s villa on Bishop St in the Auckland suburb of Epsom. It lost the owner $770,000 in the space of two years. Last bought in March 2021 for $3.9m, it sold in March this year for $3.13m. The ad posted on Barfoot and Thompson’s website stated the house had been renovated recently."

"The third-biggest loss was not far behind the second, with this four-bedroom Wheturangi Rd home in Greenlane making a $760,000 loss. The owner had purchased the property in October 2021 for $3.01m, and sold in February for $2.25m. Next on the list was a five-bedroom on Lake Rd in Hauraki on Auckland’s North Shore, which sold in January at a $650,000 loss."

"CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the key factor in big losses was hold period. 'Of course the buyer still wants to get the best deal possible, and if they somehow knew the seller was in a little trouble, logic dictates that they’d aim for a discounted price,' he said. ' It’s also worth pointing out that when you look at house prices by value band over the last 12 to 18 months, we’ve seen falls across the board – upper quartile, median, and lower quartile.'"