It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Austin, Phoenix and San Jose have seen home prices fall since the beginning of the year, but those markets were already among the most expensive in the nation. But now price declines are beginning to show up in cities whose median home price was already below the national average. 'Generally, there are two things that can drive an increase in price reductions,' said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. 'One is if you have more homes on the market. Two is if there is a mismatch between what sellers are expecting and what buyers are willing and able to afford.' In this case, it’s the latter."

"The data show cities with the most price declines tend to be in the South and Midwest, where the number of homes for sale has been growing along with prices. Huntsville Alabama had, by far the largest median home price – $407,000 – so it also experienced the most price cuts. The number of price cuts increased by 69% over July 2022. But even McAllen, Texas, with a median home price of $289,000, experienced a 50% increase in price cuts year-over-year."

"The Treasure Coast real estate market has been resilient and slowly normalizing this summer, amid low inventory and higher mortgage rates, according to the latest data released in August. More houses were for sale in July compared to June, but fewer sold. Homes sold faster and prices were down in Indian River County: : $377,500 in July, down 9.03% from $415,000 in June. Throughout Florida in July, the number of home sales declined and the annual rate of home price growth slowed."

"Housing prices in Utah are definitely not what they used to be. That housing market correction has impacted some areas more than others. In Salt Lake County, the median single-family home price dropped to $582,500 in the second quarter of 2023, a 7% decline from $623,138 during the same period last year. Utah County also saw a 7% drop, while Davis County saw a 5% drop, Weber County a 6% drop, and Tooele County a 9% drop. In Glendale’s 84104 ZIP code, the median single-family home price dropped to $381,000 in the second quarter of 2023, a 7% decline from the area’s median price of $409,000 a year ago. South Ogden, Weber County (84403): $400,000, down 9% from last year. Roy, Weber County (84067): $410,000, down 8% from last year. Kearns, Salt Lake County (84118): $420,000, down 7% from last year. West Valley City, Salt Lake County (84119): $420,000, down 4% from last year."

"A little over 12 percent of San Francisco homes that sold between May and July traded for less than what their owners paid for them, with the median deficit of $100,000 tied with New York for the largest in the country. That figure doesn’t include additional possible losses due to staging costs or agent commissions. Home values in San Francisco had fallen by almost 8 percent year over year in June, a loss of nearly $60 billion in aggregate, according to Redfin data. Los Angeles saw the biggest decline in aggregate home value at nearly $153 billion, followed by Oakland at almost $86 billion. Compass Chief Market Analyst Patrick Carlisle pointed out that while it’s true that San Francisco values have come down, short-time owners who bought during the 'relatively short period of the overheated pandemic boom' are the most likely to be impacted."

"The Redfin data includes different types of residential properties and Carlisle made a distinction between single-family homes, which have largely gone back to 2020 prices, and condos, which are at 2015 prices, with those outside the downtown core closer to 2019 pricing."

"An Englewood man who owes 189 home buyers $6 million for tiny homes they never received spent money in some very curious ways, according to a trustee assigned by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. Matthew Sowash, the man behind Holy Ground Tiny Homes and Revelations in Christ Ministries, filed bankruptcy on Oct. 7, 2022. Numerous customers told the Problem Solvers they paid for tiny homes they never received. In the first half of 2022, Holy Ground spent $55,000 on 'extraordinary travel-related expenses' to Las Vegas while only $10,000 of these travel expenses 'appear to be related to the delivery of the tiny homes,' according to the report."

"The investigative report found that in 2021, Holy Ground spent $4.4 million on materials to build homes that it sold for $2.6 million. In 2022, it spent $5.3 million to build homes it sold for $2 million. Attorney Arthur Lindquist-Kleissler, who represents a couple that claims to have given Sowash their life savings for a tiny home they never received, told FOX31 the investigative report filed by the trustee didn’t go far enough. Lindquist-Kleissler wrote: 'My clients gave their hard earned money, as well as borrowed monies (their life savings) to a Debtor and it’s principal who knew or should have known that they could not deliver on their promises. The Trustee’s Report evidences far more than 'incompetence' or mismanagement on the part of the Debtor and its management.'"

"A water war is underway in Laughlin as existing storage limitations prevent local developers from building any new homes, while who should bear the cost of expanding it remains contingent. Spokesperson Carrie Larson says they brought the concept of RV garages to the area in 2000, which has spiked the interests of those primarily out of state and retired people looking for a big home with a small-town feel. 'They’re asking us to fork over $11 million to use about seven and a half percent of that water storage,' Larson said, standing in between newly developed homes and the 40 empty acres of land next to them. 'There’s too many small parcels in Laughlin that aren’t able to absorb those kinds of costs to develop, which basically means you can’t develop and now your land is worthless.'"

"When Sarah Dueck and her husband bought a new house in Langley, B.C., two years ago, interest rates were low. They had little doubt they could pay off their variable-rate mortgage. 'All the messaging from the Bank of Canada was that, you know, interest rates would be low for a while and that they'd increase slowly when they did,' she told The Current's Matt Galloway. 'So we thought, you know, on a five-year term, we're pretty confident that variable rate was a good way to go.' But as interest rates skyrocket, Dueck doesn't know how much longer they can keep paying for the home."

"Dueck and her husband are now staring at mortgage payments of $6,300 per month — up by $2,700 a month in payments since they bought the house. They've cut various expenses to make ends meet, from cancelling investment contributions to cutting back on family visits to Ontario. But if the rates continue to rise, Dueck doesn't know if they'll be able to keep up. 'It's definitely been a hardship,' Dueck said. 'It's something that's been on our minds. A lot of conversations about finances, about budgets. Our future is entirely tied up in our house.'"

"Furious residents who paid up to £300,000 for new homes say they were 'sold a dream but are living in a nightmare' following an alleged catalogue of building blunders. Homeowners on the Broad Lea development on the edge of Worcester have complained about flooding, dodgy electrics, a foul smell coming from the drains, ill-fitting doors, windows and carpets and crumbling brickwork. The group are taking legal action against landowners Platform and developers United Living who opened the estate in 2021. Homeowner Shaun Barnes, 35, said: 'We have been fobbed off at every turn after complying with everything they have asked for at every turn. It has been horrific. We saw shared ownership as a great way to get on to the property ladder - it was sold to us as a good opportunity. Unfortunately it has not been that, it has been extremely stressful and we feel like cash cows for massive companies.'"

"Another resident said: 'Buying this property was the worst mistake of my life. I was sold a dream but I actually bought a nightmare. Everything in my house is badly done and almost every house on the development has suffered similar problems. One workman was filmed pouring cement down a drain outside. We are already convinced the drains are blocked because the smell is just terrible. The smell started in the bathroom but now fills every room in the house. It's an absolute joke.'"

"A distraught homeowner is demanding his former builder pay him back his deposit to save him from a nightmarish limbo. Queensland man Ravi Batra signed a contract with a building firm nearly two years ago but aside from a demolished home, no work has commenced. As the construction dragged on, Mr Batra set deadlines which he says were consistently not met. With his bank warning him that they had been waiting more than a year for him to take out the loan, he took matters into his own hands and hired a solicitor in May. He believes he is entitled to a $30,000 refund, calculated by the deposit paid and the minimal work carried out. But the builder 'did not even bother to even respond to (the) Breach of Contract notice or the Contract Termination notice.' 'All this time I am losing rent, I am paying council rates,' Mr Batra lamented."

"'He said give me $20,000 to get the process moving along. He said he will give me a credit when he gets the advance,' the Queenslander said. 'I had been concerned all along, but I thought at least he is working. I thought that was probably the amount he spent in demolition.' But that was it. Since April this year, Mr Batra says he has not heard anything from 5Rivers or Mr Bhalla. Mr Batra paid the $46,000 deposit and the additional $20,000 progress payment. With the demolition factored in, he has demanded that $30,000 be returned to him. But after the notice of the alleged contract breach, and the contract termination, he is yet to hear anything from his former builder."

"China is in trouble. The world’s second-largest economy is grappling with growing financial distress, which means big problems for the nation’s nearly $3 trillion shadow banking industry. For years they’ve enjoyed a reputation as safe investment vehicles, with the now discredited notion that they were protected against loss of capital. But now, China’s economic woes have led some trusts to fail and saddled others with the risk of massive financial losses, leaving billions of dollars at the mercy of a slowing economy. Some trusts are already falling, according to Chinese state media. Others may be teetering on the edge. Zhongrong, one of the country’s largest trusts, which managed about $87 billion worth of funds for corporate clients and wealthy individuals as of the end of 2022, missed payments to clients in August."

"So far, 'we’ve seen defaults where the Chinese government is not stepping in,' said Phillip Toews of Toews Asset Management. That lack of intervention has led to a wave of protests by angry investors and heightened police presence outside of the offices of Zhongrong. The protests could indicate that the trust’s problems run deeper than previously believed. 'The real interesting question to see is if [these protests] expand and if the government will step in. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a real bank or a shadow bank, it’s still money that’s effectively vaporizing from the economy and they certainly can’t tolerate a lot of additional money disappearing through shadow bank defaults,' he said."