A report from Yahoo Finance. "Homebuilders are walking a fine line when it comes to new projects as high mortgage rates curb demand. New residential construction, including single-family homes and multifamily, dropped 11.3% month over month in August to 1.283 million units on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to Census Bureau data. That's down 14.8% compared with a year ago. New construction sales reached a record-high share of homes on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors. New home sales made up about one-third of inventory on the for-sale market in the second quarter, when they typically only account for 10%. Almost one-third of homebuilders discounted home prices in September to boost sales, compared with 25% in August, the NAHB found. This marked the largest share since December 2022, when 35% of builders reduced costs."

From Housing Wire. "The housing starts rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 334,000, declining dramatically in August, down 41.0% compared to a year ago. 'The slowdown in new multifamily starts is a reaction to the perceived oversupply of apartments in some markets,' observed Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant."

From Alabama.com. "Although a sellers’ market usually means higher prices for homebuyers, Rocket Homes’ report showed that Birmingham bucked this trend last month and could continue to do so for the rest of 2023 according to local real estate agent Chris Prichard. 'My most recent two buyers who purchased homes in Birmingham this summer both competed with multiple offers, but ultimately paid right at asking price,' she said. 'Whereas 18 months to two years ago, there would have been far more offers to compete with and the winning offer would almost certainly have been over asking price.' The median selling price for Birmingham homes last month was $234,966, according to Rocket Homes. That represents a 10.5% ($27,533) decrease from July of this year. The nearby cities of Mountain Brook and Fultondale, with average home prices of $677,500 and $212,500 respectively saw price decreases of 23% and 1.2% respectively."

Island Free Press on North Carolina. "Hatteras Island specifically is a unique place when it comes to Outer Banks real estate. Most of the island is owned or operated by government agencies. In a bit of a reprieve for house hunters, the median sales price is down 7% versus last year on the island. As you can see in the chart, sales volume has slowed significantly YTD."

The Denton Record Chronicle in Texas. "Home sales in the city of Denton were down 25% from August of last year. Pending contracts slid 6% year-over-year. Median and average prices posted declines of 5.8% and 4.3%. Good homes were still selling fairly quickly in August, but there were simply fewer people who could afford the available housing stock. The stag-flationary housing market of 2023 continues to take shape. Many sellers are offering concessions to get buyers to the closing table. For the 36 new homes sold in the city of Denton during the month of August, the average seller concession from the builder was more than $7,600."

"Builders have been reducing prices, ramping up the incentives and even sweetening the deals for agents in some cases. With monthly payments through the roof, sellers are again making deals if they want to move inventory. One national builder has been offering $20,000 incentives along with $5,000 price discounts and a 2% BTSA (bonus to selling agent). That’s the kind of motivation you see in a slowing housing market. Big seller concessions for mortgage rate buy-downs have been a common theme for most of the year. The concessions from builders have ramped up in recent weeks. It is important to note these generous seller concessions do not get captured in the reported sale prices. Real home prices are lower than what you see reported in most major news outlets and industry press releases."

The Review Journal. "Nevada led the country in August in home foreclosures, according to a study from ATTOM. And Las Vegas ranked third among cities in the U.S. with the highest foreclosure rates. One in every 2,224 housing units in Nevada had a foreclosure filing in August, beating out Illinois, South Carolina, New Jersey and Delaware, according to the new report. In Las Vegas, one in every 1,796 houses was in foreclosure in August, behind Columbia, South Carolina and Fayetteville, North Carolina."

The News Journal in Florida. "When Tropical Storm Ian roared into Volusia County one year ago, the brutal wind and waves whipped up by the ferocious system tore apart three-quarters of Phil Martin's oceanfront home and pulled it out to sea. The surging water also devoured his backyard pool, deck and wooden dune walkover. His $1 million-plus oceanfront home is a total loss, but he still has to pay the mortgage and property taxes. 'Quite a bit of money was lost by all of us there, and there's no recouping it,' Martin said. The Dimucci Twin Towers condominium in Daytona Beach Shores has a new, considerably stronger seawall in place now, said Ed Offerman and Shirley Harrington. The two residents are a part of the condo association, which led the community through repairs on the property."

"But the repair work has come at a heavy cost to condo residents, around $3.5 million total, Offerman said. The condo association charged a special assessment to owners of the community's 136 units to pay for it, he said. If the $3.5 million tally was evenly split among residents, that would mean a $25,735 bill for each condo unit. 'This was a huge financial burden on our owners, an absolutely huge financial burden,' Harrington said. Offerman said he and others had to borrow money to pay the special assessment. Some had it worse. 'There were a few owners that were forced to sell at distressed prices,' he said."

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. "Demand for lab space in Cambridge’s Kendall Square and other Boston area life sciences hubs has dropped dramatically, leaving the region with vacant space for the first time in a decade. A report released Tuesday by Chicago-based commercial real estate giant JLL depicted an overbuilt market that is forcing building owners, who only recently commanded top dollar for premium lab space, to reduce rents and scramble for tenants. Underlying the slowdown are higher interest rates and a tighter financing market. Venture capital firms, the lifeblood for life sciences startups, have been writing 35 to 40 percent fewer checks in 2023, with a higher share of the money going to later-stage companies, the JLL report said. A once robust investor appetite for initial public offerings also has diminished."

"'We were going through a COVID sugar high where people were investing in all sorts of companies that probably in normal times they wouldn’t have,' said Bob Coughlin, a JLL managing director who leads the firm’s Boston life sciences and health care practice. Now the industry is seeing 'a correction,' he said, 'and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.'"

The Sacramento Bee in California. "Suburban Rancho Cordova has become the epicenter of the office vacancy crisis in the Sacramento region. The office vacancy rate in the suburban community was 31.8% as of June 30, far surpassing the overall 20.5% regional rate for the four county area of Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties, shows data from brokerage firm Colliers. Will Austin, director of market analytics for the Sacramento region at the CoStar Group said the problem is that even if the market rebounds, many of the office buildings in Rancho Cordova are two-to-four story buildings that are dated because they were built more than two decades ago. 'They’re bland to look at, they’re boring, they look like concrete boxes,' said Austin. 'It’s hard to get your employees to want to go to work if that’s where they’re going.'"

"One investor in two Rancho Cordova office buildings took a major loss when he sold them earlier this year. Cupertino-based investor Brent Lee sold 2868 Prospect Park Drive in the Highway 50 corridor for $12.65 million, about half of what he paid to acquire it in 2018. The 165,000-square-foot building was 43% leased, according to Colliers. The brokerage film also said Lee also sold 10901 Gold Center Drive this year, also in the Highway 50 corridor, for $10.1 million, a $8.27 million loss from a 2018 purchase."

Vancouver is Awesome in Canada. "Mid-month September data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) shows an anticipated surge in listings of homes for sale is being seen this month. This, combined with a drop in sales compared to previous months, points to a potential shift in the market to a buyer’s advantage, agents say. 'For the first time in a while, opportunity is knocking for buyers,' said Kevin Skipworth, managing partner of Dexter Realty, Vancouver. At mid-month there have been 2,982 new listings, which is higher than the 2,331 new listings at mid-August and the 2,741 new listings at the mid-point of July. It’s also higher than September last year and above even the mid-point of busy September 2021, when 2,891 new listings had come out with much higher sales, at 1,477 transactions, REBGV’s data shows."

"Meanwhile, housing sales as of September 15 of this year reached 896 sales, down from 1,198 sales at the mid-point of August and from 1,295 sales at the mid-point of July 2023, but up marginally from the 843 transactions in September 2022. Also, the sales-to-listings ratio was just 29 per cent in mid-September compared to 51 per cent at the mid-point a month earlier, and an average of 55 per cent since January, the data shows. Skipworth said the result of more listings and slowing sales could result in 11,000 active listings this month, the highest level since June 2021."

ABC News in Australia. "Building companies have warned the industry could be in serious trouble if the state government does not give them financial help, as Perth recorded the tightest residential vacancy rate in the country. The ABC visited an emerging suburb in the city's south-east, where the vast majority of dozens of sites earmarked for new houses lay dormant amid the skilled labour crisis. DASCO Building Group Director Damien D'Ascenzo said in a normal building environment, the street would be packed with tradies. 'The street is pretty much empty, and there's jobs just sitting there,' he said. Mr D'Ascenzo said it was like nothing he had experienced before."

"Home Builders Action Group chairman Jason Janssen said the government needed to help, and fast. 'Small to medium businesses, like clients, are under extreme pressure,' he said. 'Clients are obviously doing it tough, they're staying in their rental properties, paying mortgages for prolonged periods of time. Effectively builders are working through projects, maybe the lengthy projects from government grants from two or three years ago, which they're effectively losing money on.' Builders have sold assets to fund price rises to get homes built but insolvencies have increased nevertheless."

From News.com.au. "Another prominent Chinese property developer has filed for bankruptcy protection over its $15.5 billion foreign debt as police raid the investment arm of its embattled competitor, Evergrande. Sunac has applied to the US Bankruptcy Court for protection in that country after its creditors authorised a comprehensive debt restructure. Its total liabilities – both at home and abroad – top $213 billion. Evergrande made the same application in the US after announcing it had accrued debts of more than $450 billion. And fears continue to grow that China’s biggest builder, Country Garden, is on the brink of default."

"An industry-wide sales slump has presented Chinese property developers with a cash crunch. Many developers had geared their ability to pay contractors and investors to continuously increasing numbers of pre-build purchases by Chinese homeowners. Now, the Chinese Communist Party has begun pursuing the industry’s big players with allegations of fraud. Evergrande’s wealth management unit in Shenzhen, southern China, was raided at the weekend. Several of its staff have been detained on suspicion of 'illegal fundraising.' 'Recently, public security organs took criminal compulsory measures against (general manager) Du (Liang) and other suspected criminals at Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co,' Shenzhen Nanshan District Police Bureau said on Saturday."

"As the world’s second-largest economy teeters, the Chinese Communist Party is cracking down on corruption. Military generals and high-profile central government officials have been 'disappeared.' But the fate of business figures tends to be a much more public affair. Wang Bin, the Chairman of China Life Insurance, has been sentenced to death. He was recently found guilty of taking $69 million in bribes. According to documents obtained by the BBC, the former Communist Party chief was awarded a two-year reprieve, with the likelihood of it becoming life imprisonment without parole. He’s the lucky one."

"Huarong Insurance chairman Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 after being convicted of corruption and bigamy. But two other major financial players are at risk of paying with their lives: Liu Liange, party chief of China’s central bank, Bank of China, is under investigation for 'serious violations.' One of its deputy governors, Fan Yifei, has been expelled from the Party and is also under investigation. The Shenzhen Province government says the raid on the Evergrande headquarters was 'a positive significance in regulating and stabilising the financial market.'"

"'According to the current public information, Evergrande Wealth and its related parties illegally collected funds to form an internal fund pool, violated the contract and mismatched product investment directions and deadlines, causing losses to investors,' the statement circulated on to Weibo social media service reads."