It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "After two years of elevated home prices in Houston, prices began to decrease for the first time in February, according to a report from the Houston Association of Realtors. Local real estate agent Rose Miller said low inventory has resulted in a buyer’s market. 'When [the market] was competitive and you’re in a bidding war, you’re going to take what you can get,' she said. 'Buyers are not playing that game anymore.'"

"Home prices in Jacksonville are beginning to decline, dropping 4.7 percent in June compared to June of the previous year, and once homes go on the market they are taking considerably longer to sell. So if you’re thinking of selling a property here, it’s all the more important to understand just how much your home is worth. You want to price it correctly for the market so that you don’t wind up having to drop your price to seal a deal, as 31.2 percent of homes that sold in June did."

"House prices in Boise are looking a lot friendlier than they did this time last year. The median sale price for a house in Ada County in June 2023 was $545,000, an 8% reduction from June 2022, according to Boise Regional Realtors. According to Zillow, ZIP code 83669 — which encompasses Star — saw the most significant yearly decrease, at 11.9%. But the median price for the ZIP code is $567,480, which remains higher than the Treasure Valley’s average home value. ZIP code 83607 in Caldwell saw a minor decrease at 4.1%."

"Year-over-year home prices have fallen in every large city in Washington state in 2023, but nowhere as sharply as in the Eastside, according to SmartAsset. Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond and Sammamish posted decreases in home prices ranging from 11% to 12%. The price plunge in the Eastside cities surpassed the 8.1% decline in Seattle. It’s far greater than the state average decline in home prices of 4.2%. Across the country, Kirkland had the fifth-largest drop in home prices. The top 15 on the report were made up of cities solely from the San Francisco metro area and Eastside. The average home in the Eastside cities can cost over $1 million, compared to the about $570,000 cost of an average home in Washington."

"A historic Lake Forest estate that’s been on the market since fall of last year has found a buyer after a series of price cuts. The property, at 255 North Green Bay Road, went under contract this week after a $1 million chop earlier this month brought its ask down to $7.9 million. The Green Bay Road home is currently the most expensive listing in Lake Forest, which only has four other properties for sale at or above $4 million, the traditional marker for Chicagoland luxury listings. Originally listed in September for $10.1 million, the sellers lowered their price to $8.9 million, then again to $7.9 million this month before finding a buyer. It’s unclear when the property will close, or if it will close at or near its asking price. The home is one of several luxury properties to take additional price cuts this year, showing sellers’ willingness to make concessions as interest rates continue to rise and the overall real estate market slows."

"Kim Clark and her family spent 12 years together building lives and memories inside their Independence home. But now Clark is not sure what will happen to her home. The home was under contract to be sold just days ago. But then the buyer found out Jackson County's property assessment on Clark's home is $666,000. 'Jackson County has torpedoed that contract by assessing my home way more than it was listed,' Clark said. Closing the deal was a step toward financial freedom for Clark, a recently divorced single mom working to provide for her family. 'We need this to survive,' Clark said. 'To get to the end and I'm ready to sign with a date to close on the loan and then in a moment it’s stripped away.'"

"One prominent local development firm claims rising interest rates and restrictions on building and demolition in Lancaster city’s historic district - not internal financial issues - have led it to indefinitely shelve its plans in the city and Columbia. Lancaster County-based Eberly Myers, which once proposed high-end apartments for young residents, has sold most of its real estate portfolio in the county after losing two properties to foreclosure by lenders. Benjamin Myers said recent increases in interest rates are 'sucking the life' out of real estate development in general, which has led the group to indefinitely shelve its plans to develop apartments in Lancaster County. 'It is not the right time for very many developers to bring new products to the market,' said Myers. 'The perfect storm culminated and prevented us from being able to get the type of debt we needed, or raise the equity we needed in this uncertain time.'"

"The Hudson’s tower and its massive, window-clad facade are nearing completion. The largest new construction in the city in decades. The biggest question looming over what is arguably the city’s marquee project is, who is going to rent all its office space? Metro Detroit may not be faring as badly as New York or San Francisco, but it’s hardly been immune from the downturn. It can get pretty quiet downtown during the week, says one downtown employee, Jake, who’s worked out of the same office since 2018. His office has a capacity for around 60 people, but some days he’ll be the only one there. 'It’s a bit of a bummer to see the city so quiet, especially in the winter,' he said. 'People really don’t like coming down here if they don’t have to. That’s when it seems most sad to me.'"

"In April and May, the Canadian housing market looked like it was poised for a comeback. As expected, the Bank of Canada increased rates another 25bps, bringing the overnight rate to 5% – its highest level since 2001. Stats show inventory that has been steadily climbing over the last couple of years: we had 1,800 listings in June 2021, 2,141 in June 2022, and are up to 2,396 as of July 14, 2023. Our realtors have commented that days on market have been increasing, and they are needing to resort to price reductions as well. The writing is on the wall: the momentum we were seeing in April and May simply isn’t sustainable with current conditions."

"At least one more large construction company and many smaller companies are behind in paying workers and at risk of collapsing within weeks, a Luxembourg labour leader said. The warning by LCGB Deputy General Secretary Christophe Knebeler came a day after the Manuel Cardoso construction company disclosed that it was bound for bankruptcy. 'We have echoes of a handful of firms where problems are already showing up (with late) salary payments,' Knebeler said in an interview on broadcaster RTL. 'They could be the next candidates (for bankruptcy) we will see in autumn.' Construction has seen 102 bankruptcies in the first six months of this year, more than double the same period in 2022, national statistics agency Statec said earlier this month. Manuel Cardoso is the biggest construction firm facing bankruptcy, but another company with more than 100 employees could soon follow, Knebeler said."

"Long before Europe faced its debt crisis, Sweden struggled through its own 1990s property crash. Now the country is preparing to use an old playbook to contain its problems. Sales have ground to a halt and Swedes are looking with trepidation to the future. 'The market is almost at a standstill,' said Jens Henriksson, chief executive of one of the country's biggest banks, Swedbank. The banks are closely watching the country's mid-sized property firms, several of whom are lumbered with a debt mountain built during a decade of rock-bottom interest rates and virtually free money."

"At the centre of the fallout is a $13 billion property group, SBB, which borrowed to buy public property including social housing, government offices, schools, hospitals and police stations. It is now fast running through cash. Property is the lynchpin of the Swedish economy, making up 80% of household debt. Weighed down by home loans, Swedes are twice as heavily indebted as Germans or Italians. Prices are unravelling after the central bank started to hike the cost of borrowing. House prices are also down by around one-fifth since their March 2022 peak. Price have potentially a long way to fall. While property doubled in value in the five years leading up to the 1990s crash, prices have since risen five-fold. 'If we were to get problems of course, we would take over the collateral,' said Swedbank's Henriksson. 'We would take over the real estate. We could sell it to the market.'"

"It is easy to rattle off numbers that can turn most homeowners into on-paper millionaires, and convince those who do not yet own a property that they will need to win the lottery to do so. In the first quarter of 2023, the 'average price' for a property in Tel Aviv was NIS 2.9 million ($786,000); NIS 2.4 million in Jerusalem ($650,000). In the central Israel town of Kfar Saba, a couple who separated more than a year ago is struggling to find a buyer for their family home. Selling it is critical to the ex-spouses. But more than six months on, they have taken on a number of realtors to market the property more widely, and are still waiting for a serious buyer. Joint owner Lia says, 'People come and look at it and find fault, even though there is nothing wrong with it. We know the price is right for this area and for this time. Of course we would take a serious offer, but we can’t afford to sell for less than the house is worth.'"

"After the prolonged fever, the housing market in the suburbs and neighboring Ho Chi Minh City provinces has witnessed a sharp drop in liquidity. Land plots, the segment that recorded strong price fluctuations in recent years, are no longer as easy to 'eat at the same time' as before. At the end of 2022, due to the influence of tight monetary policy and 'wounds' accumulated after nearly half a decade due to speculative bubbles, the real estate market, in general, and land plots, in particular, fell into difficulties. Specifically, in 2016-2020, especially from 2021 to early 2022, family members flocked to 'hunt for land,' causing prices to increase continuously. As a result, the bubble deflated, liquidity fell freely, and many investors borrowed money not in time to 'return to the shore,' facing the risk of heavy losses. The market report for the first 6 months of 2023 of the Ministry of Construction recently noted that real estate transactions over the past time have mainly focused on the land plot segment. However, these transactions all reduced prices compared to the first period of 2022 from 10-30%."

"When Jen* checked her emails last week and saw one unread message from her builder waiting in her inbox, she opened it with dread. She hadn’t heard from her builder for weeks, despite multiple calls and emails, leaving her with no explanation on why the build on her four-bedroom, two-bathroom home had been stalled for months. 'The harsh reality is on the 2nd of August we will be put into liquidation,' Joestarr Group wrote. 'We apologies (sic) for the inconvenience this will cause, there just isn’t any way out.' Melbourne-based Joestarr Group is due in the Victorian Supreme Court on August 2, which is next Wednesday, after an excavation company called Saliba Excavations Pty Ltd initiated winding up proceedings over an unpaid debt."

"The email has devastated customers like Jen and at least 30 other homeowners that news.com.au knows of. 'It’s soul destroying,' Jen, a healthcare worker, told news.com.au. 'I’ve had a week off work, I’ve cried every single day, it’s our dreams, we’ve done everything right. We’re financially and mentally ruined.' This is the sixth building company this week revealed to be heading towards the chopping block amid an industry-wide crisis. Jen and her partner Damien* signed a $370,000 building contract with Joestarr Group in 2021 and nearly two years later, the house is still unfinished."

"'We’re currently paying $450 a week rent and also paying a $500,000 mortgage for this property we can’t live in. It’s financially destroying us,' Jen said. The couple, in their late 20s and early 30s, who are based near Geelong, live in a rental a five-minute drive away from their building site. 'We don’t like to drive past it, it’s too upsetting. There’s no end in sight,' Jen added. What has left them even more frustrated is the fact they recently paid a $126,000 invoice for the lockup stage of their build. Just four days later, Joestarr Group warned them of the impending liquidation. They also visited the site and realised it was not complete. There are no doors or cladding, according to the customers, and there’s also no tap, no stormwater drain and no sewage system."

"'It’s arguably (been) the worst experience of our lives,' Damian told news.com.au. He added that 'It was just so obvious that they had no intention of starting our house within the time frame' stipulated in the contract. Another customer who preferred to remain anonymous said their building site had not been touched since December last year. 'Trying to get responses to emails or return phone calls has been impossible,' he told news.com.au. 'This is an absolute nightmare for all of us, but sadly we know there are so many like us out there.'"