A report from the Kansas City Star. "Brand new, move-in ready, maintenance-provided luxury villas in a prime Blue Valley location by award-winning builders? If you’re looking for a quality, maintenance-provided villa in one of Johnson County’s sought-after new home communities, Willow Pointe in The Willows, at 147th Terrace and Pflumm Road, has three move-in ready beauties with significant price drops. But act quickly — these three appealing floor plans at a reduced cost won’t last long in the high-demand villa market."

WOWT in Nebraska. "The growing western part of the Omaha metro has plenty of new homes that are ready or almost ready for a buyer. While the supply is there, the demand has dropped, likely because of increased mortgage rates. Bryan Hilderbrand with Hildy Homes said this time last year they were getting about five offers per home. Now it’s one or two. 'Last year was a crazy year,' said Hilderbrand. 'I think we closed 98 houses last year where usually 80 is more of a normal for us. Where now this year is a hard-fought 80.' He and his twin brother Ryan started building homes more than 20 years ago. Since they started they added more than 800 homes to the market. 'It’s not like last year where the price of the house was this and you wrote the full price and out the door, you went,' said Ryan Hilderbrand."

"Real estate agent Ryan Renner said the decreased demand leaves more room to negotiate. 'If you’re looking to buy this time, sometimes you can get a pretty good deal,' said Renner. 'Right now because demand is down a little bit, there are a lot more things that are negotiable when you’re buying new construction. Builders obviously want to sell homes. So they’re looking for different ways to sell homes to people.' The Hilderbrands say they offer to buy down mortgage rates, cover closing costs, or include perks like certain appliances or fence installations. 'I think builders in general, especially at Hildy, we’re willing to play ball more. We’ll do whatever we have to do to move houses,' said Bryan Hilderbrand."

From Alabama.com. "Are there too many apartments in the pipeline in Huntsville? At least one city councilman believes that is the case. And he’s been making that opinion known by voting against apartments in his district that come before the Huntsville Planning Commission for months. 'Frankly, occupancy of some of those newer apartments are pretty low,' Council President John Meredith said at a recent town hall. Meredith said the low occupancy tells him the city is 'kind of saturated in terms of people willing to pay those prices, because some of the new apartments, they are one-bedroom apartments in MidCity with rents that are higher than a mortgage on a much larger square foot home.'"

"He’s not alone with that sentiment. It’s common on Huntsville Facebook pages for residents to complain about the number of apartment units coming in, and how much the rent is. 'We have some pretty good paying jobs here, but people aren’t willing to pay those kinds of prices,' Meredith said. 'You can call them luxury apartments and put a granite countertop in it, but they’re not willing to pay that kind of price for an apartment, which leads to the second potential problem, and that is, if the investors in those buildings are at an occupancy rate that won’t pay the mortgage to the bank, then they are going to foreclose,' Meredith said."

"In terms of land development, Breland Companies President Joey Ceci, whose company is developing Town Madison and Clift Farm, said he would get about four calls a week from developers interested in apartment sites six or seven months ago. 'That has stopped,' he said. 'You don’t have anybody out there trying to buy new apartment sites.'"

The Real Deal on Texas. "Four properties that recently hit the market shine a light on multifamily demand, or lack thereof, in downtown Dallas. It also indicates that demand for apartments in downtown Dallas might not be what it seems. Downtown Dallas is facing a glut of high-end apartments, said Steve Triolet of Partners Real Estate. The trend is likely to continue, too, thanks to a pipeline of almost 4 million square feet of office-to-resi conversions in the area. That equates to at least 1,800 apartments, which would increase the neighborhood’s stock by 20 percent. And that doesn’t account for new apartment projects that are under construction, such as Mill Creek Residential’s 333-unit Modera St. Paul, which is expected to open next year at 400 South St. Paul Street."

"Brookfield could be looking to offload its downtown multifamily holdings before more office-to-resi conversions come on the market, he speculated. The properties are valued for tax purposes at nearly $120 million, and Brookfield’s tax bill for them was over $3 million this year, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District. Brookfield has been hard-eyed with various portfolios recently. The investor defaulted on over $1 billion in loans and gave back the keys to office buildings in downtown Los Angeles earlier this year, a head-turning move that put a sharp focus on that city’s struggling office sector."

Bisnow Washington DC. "Three years after delivering one of the largest developments in Bethesda's history, Carr Properties is cashing out of the residential component. The developer sold The Elm — a pair of high-rise apartment buildings totaling 456 units — to AIR Communities for $220M, according to documents posted this week to Maryland deed records. The sale comes despite a major slowdown in real estate transaction market, as rising interest rates, a lack of available debt and a gap between buyer and seller expectations have made it difficult to get deals done. These issues have been more pronounced in the struggling office sector, but the region's apartment market hasn't been immune: The D.C. area's multifamily investment sales volume through the first half of this year was down roughly 39% from 2022, according to Delta Associates. The $220M sale price, which pencils out to $482K per unit, is below the property's latest assessed value of $299M, according to property records."

From Curbed. "New York City’s Airbnb hosts were having a hard summer. 'I talked to Airbnb support and they don’t know how to go about this,' one host wrote on a private forum. Following an extensive period of limbo and legal challenges, the city was gearing up to enforce regulations that would, at least in theory, take thousands of rentals off the platform. A decade of unfettered growth had made hosting something between a lucrative side hustle and a full-time job for thousands of people in the city, but life as the hosts knew it was ending on September 5. 'I’m petrified,' one wrote."

"'My assets are bound up in my house and I have very little cash flow,' a host wrote on the city’s public comment forum. 'Being able to occasionally Airbnb my home has enabled me to make my mortgage payments.' In public, hosts described Airbnb as a form of public assistance or a godsend second gig. But on private forums, the relationship between platform and third-party contractor revealed itself as a bit more strained: They had fought for Airbnb. Why wasn’t Airbnb fighting for them?"

"On forums, they swap tips on generating contracts for longer-term rentals and 'squatters insurance' for legal fees should a 30-day rental turn into an eviction proceeding. Some are dropping their prices 20 to 30 percent to render a monthlong stay affordable; others are looking into ways to charge half of a monthly fee up front, a function Airbnb doesn’t currently afford. And they’re still confused about how to apply for a license or handle bookings made far into the future for short-term stays, stays that are still showing up on Airbnb. 'I have contacted support so many times,' wrote one. 'I’m distraught.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "Rapper Roddy Ricch, born Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., has sold his four-bedroom, five-bath Beverly Hills abode. Alas, Ricch bagged just under $5 million—$4,995,000 to be exact—for the house he paid $5.6 million for in 2021. Almost a year after that purchase, the 24-year-old artist put the property on the market for $5,995,000. He slashed the ask to $5,750,000 earlier this year. This summer, the price tag shrank again—to $5,199,000—and spurred the recent sale."

The Globe and Mail. "Toronto’s housing market waned in August with sales falling for the third straight month, as higher borrowing costs made it more expensive for buyers to get a mortgage. Activity has slowed since the Bank of Canada resumed raising interest rates in June after a four-month break earlier this year. That made it harder for would-be buyers to qualify for a mortgage and reduced the amount they could borrow. 'This could prompt these buyers to make an offer on a home less than the asking price,'said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst. 'Not all sellers have chosen to take lower than expected selling prices, resulting in fewer sales.'"

Reuters on Canada. "Greater Toronto Area (GTA) home prices fell in August for the third straight month. On a year-over-year basis, the number of home sales fell 5.2%. The average home price edged up 0.3% year-over-year but was down 18.9% from the February 2022 peak. New listings climbed 16.2% year-over-year, showing acceleration after they were up 11.5% in July."

From STV News. "A short-term let operator claimed the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a licensing scheme for Airbnb style properties will 'destroy' her business. Karen Dirollo, who operates short-term let management firm, Property Shapers, said she feared the proposals would be 'devastating' for the industry. She was among those holding a rally outside the Scottish Parliament to demand the Scottish Government stalls plans due to come into force on October 1. Linda McDonald-Brown, who manages 15 STLs across Edinburgh and East Lothian through her business Edinburgh Concierge Company, said she hadn’t yet submitted licensing applications but would by the end of the month. She said: 'Everything I own, my house and everything like that is totally built on my company.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "A Victorian state MP is demanding the government pay back the tradie victims caught up in the $4.2 million collapse of a lead building contractor. Last month, news.com.au reported that Exel Infragroup Pty Ltd had plunged into liquidation owing $4.225 million to 83 creditors. Synergy Traffice Management’s operations manager, Callum Phillips, owed $63,000, previously asked news.com.au 'our biggest question is where the hell did that money go?' he said."

Reuter on China. "As Shanghai sweltered in a heatwave in June, the car factory where Mike Chen works switched production to night shifts and dialed down the air-conditioning. For Chen, toiling through the early hours in his sweat-soaked uniform, it was the latest slap in the face after cuts in bonuses and overtime slashed his monthly pay this year to little more than a third of what he earned when he was hired in 2016. 'SAIC-VW used to be the best employer and I felt honored to work here,' said Chen. 'Now I just feel angry and sad.'"

"The price war triggered by Tesla has sucked in more than 40 brands, shifted demand away from older models and forced some automakers to curb production of both EVs and combustion-engine cars, or shut factories altogether. Auto worker Liu, 35, said he quit Changan Automobile's plant in Hefei in July after earning 4,000 yuan in both May and June, rather than the 7,000 he expected each month. Based on his past experiences, Liu was confident he would quickly find another auto job, but the market had turned. 'The good old days are gone,' said Liu, speaking on condition of partial anonymity to protect his job prospects."

"When Chen Yudong, head of Bosch's China operations visited one of his biggest customers in March, he received an unusual present, a chopping knife with a message engraved on its sheath: 'Cut decisively through the mess.' Three months later, he told Reuters that price cuts had been more aggressive in 2023 than in previous years. 'They've been keeping me awake at night.'"

From Bloomberg. "China’s housing crisis has engulfed the country’s private developers, producing record waves of defaults and leaving a shrinking group of survivors. Out of the nation’s top 50 private-sector developers by dollar bond issuance, 34 have already suffered delinquencies on offshore debt, according to Bloomberg-compiled data as of Sept. 1. The remaining 16, including Country Garden Holdings Co., face a combined $1.48 billion of onshore and offshore public bond payments for either interest or principal in September. The monthly amount is the highest until January."

"'It is uncommon for close to 70%-80% of the non-state-owned issuers in a major sector to run into default or distress within such a short period,' said Zhi Wei Feng, a senior analyst at Loomis Sayles Investments Asia Pte. 'More default is definitely expected by now.'"