A report from KTVB. "The median home prices in Ada and Canyon Counties are down almost 11 percent compared to last year. That's according to the Intermountain MLS. So, I guess it's time to panic? As fun as that would be, no. Debbie Myers, President of Boise Regional Realtors said, first of all, the market here in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon is unique. Those local numbers still don't look great, but Myers said they shouldn't. It was time for them to come back down. 'I think we're getting into what I would refer to as a more normal market. If you look at growth patterns, and you take out the COVID years, we're back on track with that normal type of growth,' Myers said. 'The COVID years were just so ridiculous, for a lot of reasons.'"

CBS 13 in California. "Sacramento once had one of the hottest real estate markets in the country, but today, people looking to purchase homes are struggling. New numbers show a dramatic decline in the city's real estate sales. 'We're in a situation where we've seen almost 5,000 fewer sales happening in the region,' Ryan Lundquist, a Sacramento-area appraiser and housing analyst. One bright spot is the new homes under construction across the region that help create more options for buyers. 'Builders are offering incentives, credits to buyers, buying down the mortgage rate to help buyers find more affordability,' Lundquist said. The median sales price in Sacramento is $530,000 which is 5% lower than last year."

The Express News in Texas. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, as travelers flocked to Airbnb and Vrbo and a flurry of homeowners rushed to become hosts, Jeremy Rosen and his wife Anna joined the melee as they began renting out a home in downtown San Antonio for short-term stays. Soon, they were managing three more properties for other owners. Now, however, they’re reducing rates and seeing price-conscious travelers wait longer to book their stays as the market is coming back down to earth. Some other short-term rental owners say they are slashing their prices and seeing shorter booking lead times as families haggle over rates and make reservations a few days or weeks out instead of months in advance. Some operators are selling their properties or converting them to long-term rentals as activity reverts to pre-COVID levels."

"The number of available listings on Airbnb and Vrbo in the San Antonio area surged 84 percent from May 2020 to May 2023. Sakib Shaikh, who owns and manages four short-term rentals in San Antonio, said he’s seen daily posts this year in Facebook groups from operators who report selling their properties and furniture and getting out of the short-term rental industry. They may also be over-leveraged and unable to make mortgage and debt payments with less revenue coming in. 'It’s not as easy as they thought it was going to be,' Shaikh said. 'Every house is not a gold mine.'"

The Hartford Courant in Connecticut. "Frustrated by unpaid tax bills and growing complaints from property owners, Simsbury officials are considering a tax foreclosure against the Cambridge Crossing condominium complex. Several buyers waiting to close their purchases, though, asked the town to hold off, saying they fear the possibility of losing homes they’ve already invested in heavily. The project was never finished. Now, court files and municipal records show a mounting volume of liens and lawsuits claiming the company isn’t paying its bills. At issue are several properties in Simsbury, Avon and Burlington, but it’s the Cambridge Crossing project in northern Simsbury that’s currently drawing the most attention."

"A resident who identified himself to selectmen only as John said he lives at Cambridge Crossing and is worried the people who’ve already put substantial money into their properties could be hurt by a tax foreclosure against the developer. 'I’d encourage you to look at the numerous lawsuits against our developer, they’re in the dozens now,' he said. 'A lot of people have been taken advantage of. There are people from what I understand who are putting down deposits and they’re not getting houses built. Some people are renting because they can’t close due to the liens.'"

The Star Advertiser. "Hawaii bankruptcies continue to remain historically low, but local attorneys say the number of monthly filings belie the reality that many consumers are in financial straits. Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Blake Goodman predicts the numbers will 'spike high' but haven't done so already because of low unemployment and creditor collection activity that is just ramping up to pre-pandemic levels."

"'The interest changes themselves are forcing debtors into my office, because their credit card payments have doubled since the beginning of this year,' he said. 'Also, we are finally seeing home foreclosures start up again in Hawaii after a few years' hiatus. The huge delinquencies after the pandemic on mortgages is forcing creditors to send homeowners to court to decide the fate of their house. Informal workouts, negotiations and loan modifications are no longer as available. Bankruptcy is, of course, the fastest, simplest, most inexpensive way to fight back against the foreclosure and save your property.'"

The Real Deal on Illinois. "David and Susan Kalt initially sought to make $800,000 off their $13 million investment into 595 Longwood Avenue in Glencoe, a mansion along Lake Michigan’s shoreline that was listed for nearly $14 million last year. When the couple didn’t draw any takers for the seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom layout across 8,700 square feet, they hired a new agent. They also lowered their asking price to $11.9 million, resigning themselves to a self-estimated loss of around $1 million on the manse they purchased in 2005 for $6 million and gave an extensive renovation."

"Now, they’re set to lose a lot more than $1 million. After an offer that followed the initial reduction fell through, the Kalts and their agent, Laura Rubin Dresner of Baird & Warner, sliced the asking price another 19 percent yet again on Monday to $9.7 million. The overall 30 percent cut is among a wave of big-ticket price cuts hitting luxe North Shore pads both on and off the lakefront as Chicagoland’s high-end housing market — defined as properties of $4 million or more — shifts back from a sprint to the light jog. 'The smart sellers change with the market,' Rubin Dresner said of the Glencoe cut. 'We want to be just under where the market is.'"

"To the south in Kenilworth, another mansion that started testing the market last year at $14 million had its ask chopped down to $9 million this week. And further north in Lake Forest, off the lakefront at 255 North Green Bay Road, the son-in-law of late former owners Roland and Arlene Casati recently agreed to a second price reduction to $7.9 million for the 1930s-built seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom design across 15,000 square feet. The offering is now down by about $2.2 million, or 20 percent from where it started at more than $10 million. 'Sellers always think, ‘Well, people will make an offer.’ Well, they don’t anymore,' the Kenilworth property’s listing agent, Nancy Nugent of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty, told The Real Deal."

The Globe and Mail. "Canada’s bank regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, is considering changes that it says would help banks and mortgage insurers deal with the risks posed by mortgage borrowers who are under financial stress as a result of higher interest rates. A proposal unveiled late Tuesday afternoon by OSFI would require banks to hold more capital if their borrowers’ mortgages are negatively amortizing, meaning the borrowers’ payments are not covering all the interest they owe."

"The proposal, which OSFI published for consultation, would also require mortgage insurers to beef up their capital when borrowers’ outstanding loans are underwater, a term for when a mortgage is worth more than the value of the underlying property. Variable-rate borrowers with fixed monthly payments – whose amortization periods automatically extend when interest rates rise, in order to keep their monthly payments stable – have seen the lengths of their loans soar above 30 years. More than one-quarter of their residential loan books consisted of mortgages with amortization periods longer than 30 years at the end of April, according to regulatory filings. That share is more than double the rate in April last year."

"The requirement related to negative amortizations would apply in cases where borrowers owe their lenders more than 65 per cent of the assessed values of their properties."

Estate Agent Today in the UK. "A second quarter market report from Spectre shows a 49% increase in price reductions compared with the five year average for this time of year and a 16% quarterly rise. Spectre highlighted that 24% of reductions so far this year have had more than one price drop, which it attributed to the knock-on effects of overpricing are still impacting a seller’s ability to find a suitable buyer. Heather Staff, co-founder at Spectre, said: 'Last year saw more competition between buyers, with over-inflated prices and high demand leading to rushed or over-budget offers - which eventually converted into buyer regret and rejected mortgage applications.'"

The Age in Australia. "Anxious apartment owners fearing they will be left destitute by the possible collapse of embattled construction company Toplace are expected to know whether it will survive by next week after it was placed into the hands of administrators. The construction arm of the Toplace empire went into voluntary administration on Friday, a day after its besieged director and founder Jean Nassif was banned from operating in NSW while a review decides his future. Nassif, 55, has been on the run overseas after NSW Police issued a warrant for his arrest over an alleged large-scale fraud for which his daughter, Ashlyn, has been charged."

"The latest development plunges thousands of apartment owners across Sydney into uncertainty with a number of Toplace projects still under construction, and a series of ongoing court battles over alleged serious defects in towers that have already been built. Margaret Wong, who bought an apartment in Vicinity off the plan as an investment, was distraught to hear Toplace had gone into administration. 'You might expect something like this to happen in a Third World country but not Australia, said Wong, 45, a lawyer. 'Now I am so, so stressed and so worried that the building might collapse and hurt my tenants, and I’m going to have to go back to work overseas to make more money to help pay for all this trouble.'"

"'It’s so unbelievably, ridiculously stressful,' said Jenna Jones, an owner raising her young family in the Vicinity building. 'If Toplace goes under and the building is worth nothing, how are we going to get out of this? We don’t have any other savings, and we’ll be destitute.'"