A report from the Review Journal in Nevada. "Las Vegas’ real estate investor boom appears to be over. Investor sales in metro Las Vegas plunged a dramatic 60 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, according to Redfin. That was well above the 48.6 percent national average for metro areas. Approximately 28 percent of homes sold by investors in March in Las Vegas were sold at a loss, according to Redfin. Phoenix was the only metro region in the country with a higher rate."

"The Sun Belt has been particularly hard hit by the drop in investor sales, as all but two of the 10 metro areas with the largest declines were located within that region. The largest first-quarter decline among the 40 metro areas Redfin analyzed was in Nassau County, N.Y., where investor home purchases fell 67.9 percent year over year."

Mansion Global on Georgia. "It’s a heartbreaker of a home sale: Mariah Carey has sold her Atlanta-area home for $4.3 million, about $1.35 million less than she paid for the house at the height of the pandemic. The roughly 4-acre property is located in Sandy Springs, a suburb just outside of Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. Carey, who bought it for $5.65 million in 2021, listed it for $6.5 million in September. It was last asking $4.995 million, according to Zillow. Shanna Bradley, who brokered both sides of the deal said the market has softened since Carey bought the house. 'During Covid, a lot of people paid premiums for houses like this because of the privacy, the amenities and the acreage,' she said. 'It was just a different time.'"

The San Antonio Current. "As mortgage rates continue to rise, home values are declining across the nation, especially in boomtowns such as Austin. Texas' capital city logged one of the nation's most drastic drops in home value over the past year, according to a report published last week. On average, Austin homeowners experienced a 15.3% decline in the value of their homes between April 2022 and April of this year, equating to an average $85,000 loss, the report shows. That's the second-worst drop in the nation. In other words, your investment is likely underwater if you bought a home in Austin over the past 12 months."

"The decline in Austin home values outpaced national trends. Nationwide, home values slid by $18,000 on average since April 2022, according to report. Other than Austin, other pandemic boomtowns, including Boise and Salt Lake City, and pricey coastal hubs such as the San Francisco Bay, also reported significant drops in home value."

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. "Office buildings — which have seen a slump in demand since the pandemic — have been particularly hard hit by tougher lending conditions. That’s bad news for the almost 19% of Dallas-Fort Worth office building loans that are coming due in the next two years. More than 50 million square feet of North Texas could be facing distress if owners are unable to find affordable new financing, according to Yardi Systems. 'Loans coming due face a higher interest-rate environment than when they were originated, while lenders are underwriting at more conservative debt-service levels,' according to Yardi Systems’ new eport. 'Some properties will qualify for less proceeds than the existing debt, 20% to 30% in some cases, creating a capital gap that borrowers must fill. The market is bracing itself for a wave of distress.'"

"Some office building landlords have already handed properties over to lenders after they were unable to extend or refinance maturing debt. The problem is huge: More than $1 trillion in commercial property loans are set to expire nationwide through the end of 2025. Along with the more than 52 million square feet of office building loans that are maturing in North Texas, another 87.3 million square feet of industrial property debts in D-FW are coming due by the end of 2025, according to Yardi Systems’ estimates. 'Investors believe the worst is yet to come,' according to Yardi Systems. 'More than half of private equity investors view properties as overvalued and expect value to drop further.'"

From Bisnow. "The fate of the millions of square feet of office space sitting empty in downtowns across the country has the capacity to shift the landscape of the overall economy and commercial real estate. That outcome is increasingly falling into the hands of distressed asset specialists, whose job it is to facilitate the least painful result for troubled properties. New York University professors estimate office property nationwide will lose a collective 49% of its value by 2029."

"Specialists in distressed assets see 'a reckoning' on the horizon. And buying, and financing, these assets won’t be easy, either. 'An investor I was talking to tells me he feels the banks are pulling out, they’re starting to view commercial real estate like crypto, that it’s very risky,' said Esther Reizes-Lowenbein, a New York-based equities connector and fund manager."

From The Street. "For several weeks Elon Musk has been joining the voices of Cassandra, who foresee a real estate bubble bursting. 'A lot of real estate isn’t so good any more,' Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway recently warned. 'We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.' David Sacks, a tech-investor friend of Musk, pointed out on May 29, based on an article by Slate, that Los Angeles office towers 'are selling for less than the amount of debt on them. This is true for [San Francisco,] too, and other big cities.'"

From Storeys. "For the first time in a year, home builder confidence has risen in Canada, but high interest rates and the rising cost of construction are keeping prospective buyers on the sidelines. According to homebuilders, most of the sales seen in Q1 2023 were due to 'significant' price cuts, as high construction costs and interest rates remained areas of concern for prospective buyers."

The Gulf Times. "Market correction is seen across all rental sectors of Qatar's property market, researcher ValuStrat said and noted rents continue to moderate in the country. In its first 2023 review of Qatar’s real estate market, ValuStrat noted that after witnessing sizeable rent growth last year, it has recorded 'market correction' in all rental sectors of the property market in the country. ValuStrat's general manager (Qatar) Pawel Banach commented: 'With the advent of 2023, we are observing a new phase of the real estate market in Qatar.  Qatar is undergoing a period of adjustment. In all the sectors, there was a substantial expansion in terms of supply last year. Post-FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, we have observed a fall in demand. The increase in oversupply is contributing to pervasive market corrections.'"

Stuff New Zealand. Amazing Spaces NZ, a tiny house company based in Morrinsville, has gone into liquidation, leaving around 14 clients waiting for houses secured with deposits between $100,000 and $130,000. Liquidators say the total debt owing is expected to be in excess of $1 million. The company was founded by director Michael Christopher Goodall in 2019. Goodall is a director of the controlling company LKN Group, which is also in liquidation. Goodall says he takes the blame for the business collapse, and appointed the liquidators himself: 'At the end of the day, I’ve got to own the problem. I’ve caused the problem. However it washes up, I am going to be paying this off for the rest of my life.'"

"'It’s a very difficult market right now. It seems one [tiny home builder] a week is going under. But I am not a person to blame things – it is what it is. And it has been a big learning curve for me. I have had sleepless nights when you think of the hurt you’ve put on people that wasn’t meant to be. I am sitting here right now with less than $200 in my bank account. My family has lost their investments, and my partner, who also put her inheritance money into the business has lost that.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "Disgruntled tradies left out of pocket from the recent collapse of a construction firm have ripped out the equipment from one customer’s house to try to recoup their money. They also appear to have trashed the home and left it in an unsafe state, with the owner calling it a 'death trap.' John* is one of those unlucky customers, and claims that since the news broke of the firm’s demise, his home has been completely wrecked. The WA resident, who preferred to remain anonymous from fear of making his home more of a target, claims tradesmen removed the airconditioning units and scaffolding in his house."

"'Tradies have been taking out all the aircon equipment in lieu of payment from the builder,' John told news.com.au. 'The site’s been generally trashed,' John continued. 'The scaffolders weren’t getting paid so (they) came and took all that down, knocking over a custom brickwork wall and removing the safety barriers (which were) stopping anyone on site from potential falls from the top floor.' They’ve 'literally left it a death trap,' he added."

"Pictures supplied to news.com.au show that the balcony and wall are ruined, despite the fact they were completed in the building stage some time ago. It’s understood this damage was incurred when tradesmen removed the scaffolding in place for other parts of the house following the announcement Slatter Group had gone bust. Piles of bricks appear to have been pushed over out of spite while rubbish has been dumped in his yard as well."