A report from AFP. "'There's such a lack of inventory that it has driven the prices up. I've been doing this for 40 years, I've never seen the prices like they are right now,' said Joan George, a New Jersey-based real estate agent. In the Philadelphia suburbs, a four-bedroom single family home would have probably sold in the mid-$400,000s before the pandemic, added realtor Kim Rock. But now, on average, such a home would go for $600,000 or more."

The Arizona Republic. "Question: We signed a lease for a home six months ago for $2,400 monthly rent, plus an option to purchase the home for $420,000. We paid a $2,500 down payment, plus our lease said that $200 per month of our $2,400 monthly rent could be used as an additional down payment when we exercised our option to purchase. Last week we learned that our landlord is far behind on the monthly mortgage payments and that there is a foreclosure sale of our home scheduled in two months. Will we have to move out in two months? If we have to move out in two months, will our landlord have to pay us back our $2,500 down payment and the $200 per month payments that were to be the additional down payment to purchase the home?"

"Answer: First, after the foreclosure sale, you should try to negotiate a new lease with the purchaser of the home. Otherwise, you will probably have to move out of the home within 90 days. Second, you should be able to get a judgment in justice court against your landlord for your $2,500 down payment, plus the $200 per month payments to be used for your additional down payment. Unfortunately, any judgment against your landlord is probably not collectible."

From WISH TV. "According to a report from 'Talk to Tucker Realtors,' interest rate increases have cooled the housing market, as expected, but it is holding steady in central Indiana. The average August 2023 home sale price for the 16-county central Indiana region was $292,062, a decrease of 9.4% compared to August 2022. Pended home sales decreased, down 20.6% compared to this time last year. No counties experienced an increase in pended home sales. According to F.C. Tucker Realtor, Dan Brown, the days-on-market rate has significantly increased on average and has doubled since last year, but great homes that are correctly priced and prepared are still selling in a day or two."

The Colorado Springs Business Journal. "Multiple area agents say historic pricing and days on market data are not as reliable in today’s market. 'When I talk with sellers, I tell them we’re not battling what the house is worth, but what a buyer can afford,' says Amy Kunce-Martinez, broker owner of The Cutting Edge Realtors. 'We can have all the comps in the world to support a price, but people have to be able to pay it.' She and others say sellers are becoming more accommodating. They’re providing concessions to help buyers buy down interest rates or cover closing costs. 'There is opportunity in this market for buyers,' Kunce-Martinez says. 'For the first time in years, buyers can offer less than the asking price, get concessions or buy with a contingent sale.'"

The Daily News in Washington. "Home prices in Cowlitz County are reaching record highs while the market is pulled in different directions. Jerrod Strong, a RE/MAX realtor broker in Longview, has been selling homes for the last five years. He said the current market was different from the last few years in ways that often aided homebuyers. 'There’s not enough housing for everybody so there’s always going to be high demand. It’s just different for the concessions. You did not see sellers cover the closing costs a year or two ago,' Strong said. Strong doesn’t expect the housing market to burst, but said there could be lower prices on the horizon."

NBC 2 in Florida. "A new forecast from CoreLogic identifies Fort Myers and Cape Coral as one of the top housing markets in the country at risk of price declines over the next year. Marcus Larrea of Palm Paradise Real Estate said adding more context to the forecast is key. 'You’ve got to take the words for what it says. Decline does not mean crash,' he explained. 'At the peak, we saw year-over-year price increases of up to 40 percent. Which was insane. And this is now, we’re coming back to a more normal market.'"

Mansion Global on California. "Actress Andie MacDowell has launched her 1920s Tudor-style Los Angeles home onto the market for just shy of $4 million, and she’s set to take a loss. The home’s listing comes less than two years after MacDowell, 65, purchased the property for $4.137 million in November 2021, records with PropertyShark show."

Bisnow San Francisco in California. "Bridgeton Holdings decided it is done paying for a mostly vacant San Francisco office building, even though its loan still has a balance due. Manhattan-based Bridgeton Holdings is more than 30 days delinquent on a $45M loan tied to 995 Market St., according to The Real Deal, citing data from Morningstar. 'The borrower has stated they will not be making any more payments,' special servicer Hudson Advisors said in an August note. As of late last year, the building's income wasn't sufficient to pay its debts. WeWork had been the dominant tenant in the building, occupying 75% of the space until its departure in August 2021, terminating its lease about 10 years early. Roughly 92% of the building is up for lease, TRD reported."

CTV Vancouver in Canada. "Three years after construction suddenly stopped on a large Richmond development, pre-sale buyers are demanding the developer return their deposits. 'Every time I drive by No. 3 road, I see a big hole. I just see my money is in the hole,' says Joshua Chang. Four years ago, his family bought a 3-bedroom pre-sale condo in the Atmosphere Development on No. 3 road and Alderbridge. They put down a $250,000 deposit on what was billed as a grand scale neighbourhood. The Atmosphere plan was for seven towers of residential, commercial and retail units. Then in the spring of 2020, after the developer excavated a massive hole, construction ground to a halt. The developer blames Romspen, the construction lender, for suspending funding, citing COVID-19."

The Dorset Echo in the UK. "A Dorset pensioner says he has been left £200,000 out of pocket by ‘rogue traders’ he paid to carry out works at his home. Keith Gipp, of Milton Abbas, says the situation has left him ‘depressed’, adding he has been forced to take out a loan to pay other builders to finish the work. The 75-year-old employed Blandford-based company Transform Dorset to carry out work on an extension in April 2022 following a recommendation from a neighbour. However, he says the extension has been left ‘unfinished’ and features such as skylights fitted incorrectly - posing a health and safety hazard. Drainage and other parts of the job were also not completed to an adequate standard, he said. Mr Gipp said that there was a lack of consistency with workers failing to turn up to carry out the job."

"He also claimed that another company - Blandford Plastics - has since been set up which has the same address and directors as Transform Dorset on Companies House after the latter reportedly went into liquidation. 'I cannot afford to take them to court,' Mr Gipp said. 'They have taken all of my money. I felt like I let my wife and my two children down. I feel terrible, it has been destroying for me - I don’t deserve this. It has just been a nightmare.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "Stephanie Webb thought she was setting herself up for the future when she managed to achieve the Great Australian Dream of owning a home at the age of just 24. Her father Darren agreed to act as guarantor on the loan and she managed to nab a one-bed apartment in West Footscray, in Melbourne’s inner west, for $310,000 in 2019. But unbeknown to her, the four-storey apartment block was riddled with defects. Residents had begun a lawsuit against Shangri-La Construction when the building company went into liquidation at the end of March. This has left the 77 apartment owners, including Ms Webb, with no way to recover the money needed to carry out the rectification works, leaving them to foot the $4.5 million bill themselves."

"Now 28, Ms Webb is paying more than $10,000 yearly in strata fees, on top of her mortgage. 'I’m realising I’m kind of screwed,' Ms Webb told news.com.au. 'My loan is split into two. The majority is on a fixed rate which ends in October. I’m also sh*tting myself about that. As far as I knew at the time, I was buying a reasonable place. A few years later I realised I purchased a bit of a lemon. All my savings from the age of 17 went into this property,' Ms Webb added. 'You work hard for something like this, it’s really upsetting.' It does not appear the building was inspected by any regulatory body prior to allowing residents to move in."

"Andrew John, 32, told news.com.au he felt like 'one of the last suckers' who moved into the block through his $415,000 purchase. 'I feel like we’re 77 families of suckers, bent over every possible corner,' he said. 'Our properties have gone down $50,000. We were originally excited (but now) everyone hates it here. We’re victims of the VBA’s decisions. We’ve been swept under the rug.'"

From Dezeen. "Chinese architects have told Dezeen they are regularly working through the night while their pay plummets as the country's property industry deals with a severe crisis. Dezeen has spoken to more than 10 architects based in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen who reported widespread layoffs, pay cuts and wage arrears in the industry in the past year. 'You are having a good day if you leave work before 10pm,' said Shuchun Yi (not her real name), a young architect and a former employee of state-owned firm Shenzhen General Institute of Architecture Design & Research (SZAD). 'I know some of my colleagues have worked until 3:00am consecutively for three months,' she added. Yi no longer works at SZAD but was too scared to reveal her identity when speaking with Dezeen for fear of consequences when trying to find another job."

"After a long period of booming urban development, China's property industry is in turmoil, with developers struggling under spiralling debt and construction projects grinding to a halt. The crisis is having a major impact on architecture firms, with once-reliable clients no longer commissioning projects. Founded in 1982, SZAD has offices across the country, including in Shenzhen, Beijing, Chongqing and Wuhan. Known for designing supertall buildings, it employed almost 3,700 people at its peak five years ago following a strong period of growth driven by China's real-estate boom."

"Having expected to earn a good living at SZAD, Yi claims she ended up taking home pay equivalent to Shenzhen's minimum wage. 'HR promised I'd get paid bonuses quarterly and annually but it never happened,' she said. On 6 July, 44-year-old Hui Jin fell to his death from the window of the 21st floor of Design Tower in Shenzhen, where SZAD's offices are located and where he had previously worked as a senior structural engineer. A police investigation ruled out homicide. Chinese publication The Paper reported that Jin had been repeatedly chasing wages that SZAD owed him since his departure from the company, according to text communications between Jin and SZAD's finance department revealed by Jin's surviving family. SZAD has denied any financial dispute in a statement. Jin's bank account reportedly received a payment of more than 40,000 yuan the day after his death, accompanied with the description 'bonus for 2021.'"

"The problems are not unique to SZAD. Chinese website Jiemian News reported that architects at a local firm in Shenzhen have seen their wages half since 2019 as a result of evaporating bonus pay. And there is currently no end in sight for the industry's troubles, with architecture firms now struggling to compete for a dwindling number of projects at lower fees. 'Previously you normally saw three to five companies in the competition, but now there are over 20 companies in one competition,' one architect told Jiemian News. 'But that's common in the industry, because there are too many people and not enough projects.'"