It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Christina and Dave Clausi’s family of five moved into a three-bed, two-bath home in McKinney, Texas this July. After renting in the city for four years, the first time homebuyers finally found a home, but not without some sacrifice. Their yard is too small to fit a trampoline, the home is about 500 square feet smaller than the rental they left, and they weren’t able to afford a new build. Dave is a litigation paralegal case manager at Burress Law in McKinney, and Christina works part-time as a server at Choctaw Casino — she works weekend and some weekday nights so she can take care of her three children during the day. Even though Christina picks up extra shifts, the two still struggle to make ends meet, especially as their mortgage is $850 more than what they paid in rent. Christina started working in May — after being a stay-at-home mom for about four years — to help with rising costs."

"'It’s really heartbreaking because we bought our own house, and we should be able to save more money and excel in life, but now we’re like, ‘What are we not buying for groceries this week?’ And we definitely can’t go on vacation… it’s pretty stressful going from $1,850 to $2,700. It almost makes me want to throw up,' said Christina, 33, noting that while stressful, the sacrifice is worth it to be in McKinney where she loves the parks and schools for her kids."

"In March, DFW’s home values dropped 1.2 percent compared to one year prior, marking the region’s first year-over-year decline since February 2012. North Texas has bounced back, though. DFW’s prices still may be 4.1 percent lower than its pandemic peak, but that figure is considerably better than markets like San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and Phoenix, where prices have fallen by 9.7, 8.8, 8.2 and 7.5 percent, respectively."

"More homes are being built in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, but what kind of market is this? The latest figures show there are fewer sales, pending contracts and listings than there were a year go. Lancaster County saw July sales drop 21.2% year-to-year, with 156 homes sold. New listings dropped 29.5% and contract activity dropped 10%. Unlike in York County, sale prices fell in Lancaster County. Median sale price dropped 12% to $410,000. Average sale price dropped 6.5% to $428,936. The average list price was down 39.3% to $438,981. Homes that spent an average of 13 days on the market last year spent 28 days this year, an increase of 115.4%."

"Home prices in Salt Lake County were down seven percent during the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago, according to new data released Thursday. That data from the Salt Lake Board of Realtors showed the median price for a single-family home in the county during April, May, and June was $582,500. That was lower than the $623,138 sales price in 2022. Home sales in Salt Lake County were also down considerably last quarter, according to the data – a 25 percent drop this year compared to last year. It was a similar story in other counties along the Wasatch Front, the data showed."

"Waterfront enthusiasts with deep pockets, take note: There has been a $20 million price drop on 46 Ledgerock Lane in Hyde Park, a 10-acre estate that juts over the Hudson River that was first listed for sale in late 2021 with a record-breaking price tag of $45 million. In early 2023, the 'masterpiece of modernist architecture' was the subject of a no-reserve online sale. But despite this, the glass and stone mansion with guesthouse has yet to snag a new owner. The property is now on the market with a significantly 'corrected' price tag and new sales and marketing representation from two teams at Douglas Elliman. Nothing about the property has changed to warrant a nearly 50 percent price cut. The sellers are highly motivated to sell, said John Oliveira, co-founder of the Oliveira Pinkas team at Douglas Elliman . 'A lot of times with COVID and what it did to the market in the region, sellers would dip their toes in the water to test out pricing and demand,' he said. 'This time around, there’s more clarity for the seller. At this time, the sellers are more seriously motivated.'"

"Canadian consumers are facing mounting financial pressure amid higher interest rates, and it's something Canada's biggest lenders are bracing for. Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, told Global News this week that only a third or so of outstanding mortgages have already renewed into the higher rate environment, with 'a lot of pain yet to come.' RBC, TD Bank, CIBC and BMO’s third-quarter earnings all show that more than 40 per cent of their current mortgage books hold amortizations past the typical 25-year mark. When these mortgages come up for renewal, many consumers could be forced to snap back to their original amortization period at today’s rates, which can mean much higher payments."

"Mortgage broker Leah Zlatkin tells Global News that there’s a lot of 'uncertainty” in the mortgage space right now.' Zlatkin says your existing lender could be the only place to turn at renewal. That could see consumers offered unfavourable rates because the lender knows there’s little threat from competition elsewhere in the marketplace, she says. 'That's where I think it becomes really disadvantageous for consumers because you can be put between a rock and a hard place.'"

"The average UK house price fell in August at the sharpest annual rate seen in 14 years, according to an index. Riz Malik, director of Southend-on-Sea-based independent mortgage broker, R3 Mortgages told Newspage: 'Typically, these people are seasoned landlords with ready cash, allowing them to swiftly finalise deals, often at very strong discounts.' Graham Cox, founder of the Bristol-based broker, Self Employed Mortgage Hub, agreed with Malik: 'The cash buyers out there are likely to be property investors purchasing property at below-market value from distressed sellers. And estate agents will be favouring cash buyers to prevent chains collapsing. The latter is happening a lot right now due to the state of the market.'"

"Jamie Lennox, director at Norwich-based mortgage broker, Dimora Mortgages, drove home the harsh reality that while many lose out, others cash in: 'The grim reaper has got a firm grasp on the property market. There has been a huge downturn in property transactions with mortgages and overall house prices. A gaping void of demand and falling house prices have left the wealthy with no mortgages to fill their boots.'"

"Swedes are increasingly pulling out of reservations to buy new-build homes as the housing market has cooled rapidly and demand for new developments dwindles. About 65% of contracts for planned new dwellings were canceled in the past six months by buyers choosing to take the cost rather than follow through on purchases in a slumping market, according to data published by state-owned lender SBAB on Friday. That’s the highest share since at least 2014. A separate release on Friday showed a swathe of bankruptcies hitting builders. 'The situation for sales and bookings of new homes is disastrous,' SBAB chief economist Robert Boije said in a statement. 'Sales volumes are currently at a fourth or fifth of the level we saw only a year or two ago. My guess is that we only have seen the beginning of the crisis in the residential construction sector, and there will be a steady stream of bankruptcies in the coming year.'"

"Tradies and homeowners have been left reeling from the news that a Sydney building company has gone bust. Last Thursday, on August 24, Simone Homes Pty Ltd went into voluntary liquidation. The family-run business was headquartered in Leppington in Sydney’s southwest and its liquidator is now Bradley John Tonks of insolvency firm PKF. One disgruntled tradesman told news.com.au 'No one knows where that money went.' One customer appears to have been fed up with the business for some time. A review left a week ago for Simone Homes reads: 'Horrendous company to work with. Save yourself the money and the trouble and go somewhere else. You’re better off letting a five-year-old build your property.'"

"Despite the mythology of the Great Australian Dream—that home ownership is the grand social equaliser—the effects of rising repayments are not affecting everyone equally. More people are now being forced to sell their homes. In Sydney’s south-west, for instance, one in ten property sales is 'distressed,' up from one in 25 last year. Almost a million people are now working multiple jobs (a new record) after 89,000 people added a second job in the first three months of this year. 'We don’t have a single penny in savings, just coping with the mortgage,' said Rana, a 38-year-old bus driver and father from Marsden Park in outer Sydney. 'Normally I’ve never worked on weekends, but now I’m doing it every Sunday. Family time is cut—we can’t think about having a second child now.'"

"The market for Chinese developers' dollar-denominated bonds has seen a meltdown over the past two years, losing a staggering 87% of value. The rout has wiped out $135.5 billion of value from $154.9 billion of outstanding notes, according to an analysis by Debtwire. 'The average price on the notes is now only a tad above 11 cents on the dollar,' Debtwire co-managing editor Chaim Estulin wrote. The crash in Chinese builders' dollar debt is symptomatic of the broader crisis facing the nation's real-estate sector, which has seen 53 companies collapse in the space of little over two years."

"Real estate agents have been calling Daisy Wu non-stop to get her to buy an apartment in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, but the 28-year-old said she was too worried about the slowing economy to consider making a purchase. 'The loosening of mortgage rules doesn't relieve me of any stress,' said Wu, who works for a pharmaceuticals firm. 'Companies are laying people off or even shutting down. My boyfriend and I are too afraid to buy.'"

"In Shenzhen and Guangzhou, people who have fully repaid their last mortgage or sold their homes are now eligible for smaller down payments and lower interest rates when they make a new purchase. For Shenzhen homeowner Tina Zhuo, the new policy is 'not attractive' as she does not want to sell her current home in what she calls 'a buyers' market.' 'I'm earning less so I don't want to risk looking for a better property,' she said."

"State-owned company employee Chen Yibo does want to sell his apartment in the smaller southern city of Nanning and buy a more expensive one in Guangzhou, where he works, but he is not finding any buyers.
Without making that sale, he cannot afford to buy. 'Even the smaller down payment is too much for me,' he said. 'Only lower house prices and subsidies will work for me.' Wu, the pharmaceuticals worker, was last shown a flat selling for 1 million yuan ($137,697) less than the average price in that district. 'I was told that the price could be lowered by another 200,000 yuan, but we don't dare to buy it,' she added."