A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. "The $253 million, 47-story tower at Broad and Spruce Streets, was meant to be a triumph for developer Dranoff Properties and Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. Arthaus began marketing units in 2020, and the tower formally opened last year. As of the summer, deeds of sale had been recorded for only 15 of 107 units, netting a combined $35 million. Its trio of sprawling penthouses, the largest of which is pitched at $15 million, all remain unsold. At this pace, it would take about a decade for the tower to be fully occupied. Developer Carl Dranoff blamed the pandemic and more recent spikes in interest rates for cooling demand. 'We’re not anticipating any [price] adjustments. We’re in the driver’s seat right now. We have inventory, it’s fully [property tax] abated, and the project is built so we have no additional costs. We just have to wait for the market to wake up,' he said."

Mansion Global on Florida. "The Miami-Dade luxury market has slowed in recent months from a torrid couple of years during the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are still several new condo projects launching sales this fall. 'The market has slowed down and we have some inventory constraints,' said Michael Martirena, of the Ivan & Mike Team at Compass. 'Because of that, we’ve been able to get some discounts from developers for the first time in five years.' Further, some developers are now asking for a 40% down payment for pre-construction sales instead of the traditional 50%, Martirena said."

The Santa Fe New Mexican. "Lance Eaton, qualifying broker with EXIT Realty Advantage: 'In Los Alamos, higher-priced homes in the $700,000 range and up are slowing down. Higher-end inventory is available, with homes coming online, but the activity level has ebbed.' Qualifying broker Beverly Chapman, of Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties: 'Buyers are still losing out on sales, with multiple offers on homes generally priced under $800,000. Homes priced above that, up to about $1.5 million, are not moving.'"

The Asbury Park Press in New Jersey. "The conflicting data has puzzled real estate veterans, who can't remember a set of conditions like this. It was only two years ago that home buyers and owners took advantage of record-low mortgage rates. Now, they seem frozen in place, leaving real estate agents and mortgage brokers to wait for rates to begin to decline and for the market the thaw. 'It just stopped everything,' Annette Parker Morano, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Point Pleasant, said of the rising rates. 'There's a lot of kids in their 20s staying with their parents. No one is going to (move) because the rates are so bad.' 'The greatest gift we were given, which was the very low rates during the pandemic, is also somewhat of a curse,' said Kenneth Gunther, senior loan officer for NJ Lenders Corp., a mortgage banker in Shrewsbury."

The Real Deal on California. "Miraflores Community Devco has filed for bankruptcy after failing to build 190 homes planned in Richmond. The San Leandro-based developer led by Scott Hanks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing between $10 million and $50 million in both assets and liabilities, the San Francisco Business Times reported. In 2018, Miraflores Community Devco bought the former flower nursery for $4.2 million. It then took out $10 million in loans tied to the property, former mayor Tom Butt said on his blog last spring. Lenders have pursued foreclosure and the City of Richmond has declared the developer to be in default of its agreement, Butt said, adding the property had become a 'major dump.' 'Hints of trouble began to surface years ago, accelerating in 2022, but staff did not want to let the community know that the project they had anticipated for so many years was headed for the toilet,' Butt said."

WSB-TV in Georgia. "Police say a man used Airbnb to rob and tie up a Gwinnett County homeowner in his own house. The victim spoke with Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson and told him the robbery was traumatic for him and his family. On Tuesday at 11 p.m. a man identified as 26-year-old Khalil Hamilton used Airbnb to rent a basement room on Seed Way in Buford. Police said Hamilton then texted the victim, saying he needed help fixing a leaky toilet. The homeowner came down to repair the leak when the suspect pulled out a handgun, tied up the homeowner, and took his wallet and watch. Detectives said Hamilton may have left the state."

From Fortune. "Many startups make the mistake of scaling too quickly, without getting the foundations right first - and despite its success, Airbnb is no different. It has been plagued by mounting complaints from its users—both hosts and holidaymakers alike. At the core of the issue is that guests feel like they can get a better (and cheaper) experience at a hotel than in someone's spare room. As one X user pointed out earlier this year, on the platform formerly known as Twitter, hotels don’t make you do chores and there’s a good chance there will be a bar on site."

Bisnow on Texas. "Securing financing for an office building in Houston is next to impossible given current market conditions, but some say an impending tsunami of loan defaults could turn into a wave of opportunities. Until 2020, it was normal for office owners to procure a 70% LTV loan with a 3% or 4% interest rate, RH Interests principal and founder Rudy Hubbard said. Now, many of those loans are coming due, and lenders aren't willing to renew them. 'If they do, they're only willing to go maybe 50% loan-to-value, not 70%. And the interest rate has gone up to two and a half times greater than it was,' Hubbard said. 'Office building financing is virtually dried up.' In Houston, a 588K SF Energy Corridor office building is slated to be sold at a foreclosure auction next month. 'It's happening to everyone,' Hubbard said. 'It's not just a poor operator or an operator that should not be doing this. It's happening to the best of the best.'"

"All parties are being more careful about leasing office space, Savills Corporate Managing Director Lesa Nickelson French said. Clients are asking landlords to escrow their tenant allowance to ensure they get it, and brokers are asking for offset rights for rent in case they don’t get paid, she said. 'I even have a law firm wanting to look at the financials of the landlord, which has never happened in 18 years,' she said. 'So it’s really interesting to see how people are trying to protect themselves because of what’s happening with the keys being handed back in many cases.'"

CBC News in Canada. "Through 18 years of friendship, Eunice Chan said she'd built a bond with Po Yuk 'Peggy' Chan. They travelled the world together, were part of the same church community — and Eunice Chan even introduced her friend to members of her family. She is now embroiled in a series of lawsuits involving former real estate agent and mortgage broker Peggy Chan, alleging her longtime friend defrauded her of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 'It's a surprise, it's a shock…. I know I was cheated by someone,' she said. Police allege that from 2016 to 2021, the former agent defrauded people who did not speak or read English well by registering mortgages on their homes and withdrawing the proceeds. Through her lawyer, she denies the allegations."

"Even with the criminal charges, some of the alleged victims who spoke to CBC News are still on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars from the mortgages. As the lenders seek to collect, some alleged victims are now at risk of losing their homes. Experts say this is the reality with many fraud cases: Even when criminal charges are laid — and even when there's a conviction — the burden lies with the victims to try to recover the money through civil York Region police say the criminal charges involve five alleged victims, including Eunice Chan and Tina Li, both of Markham, who spoke to CBC News earlier this year.lawsuits. They say the process is challenging, time-consuming and can leave some financially devastated. Eunice said she can't afford to pay the mortgages, and the lender of the $850,000 mortgage is seeking enforcement action — meaning her home could be seized."

"Tina Li, 45, who shared her story with CBC News in February, is another alleged fraud victim. She said she continues to fight the mortgages placed on her property but worries about the possibility of losing her home — with one of the lenders seeking to enforce a $400,000 mortgage, which Li claims was taken out without her knowledge. 'Even though [Peggy Chan] was arrested and got charged, we are still liable for the payments she deceived from us,' Li told CBC News."

The Telegraph in the UK. "House prices have been on a downward trajectory since they peaked last year, with property values now thought to have fallen more than 5pc. At first glance, the drop seems small – but when inflation is taken into account, the drop is far greater. In fact, property prices may have fallen as much as 14.5pc according to Capital Economics. The research consultancy is forecasting a peak-to-trough fall of 20.8pc in 'real terms.' Jonathan Hopper, of buying agents Garrington Property Finders, said: 'Cash buyers are out and active but they know they’re a rare breed and expect to be treated accordingly. If you’re offering cash and simplicity and uncertainty for a seller, they are flexing their muscles on looking for significant discounts.'"

"Mr Hopper said developers can be reluctant to discount prices for new build properties – so they have been offering other financial incentives. It is becoming more common to see developers giving buyers money towards the deposit or mortgage repayments rather than applying such discounts directly to the sale price. When one new build drops in price in a given development it usually means a cut for all of them. This is because surveyors use the price set by one new build to determine the value of the others. Mr Hopper said: 'There’s a growing awareness that the big issue is affordability. And the elephant in the room is the fact that the product they’re trying to sell is arguably overpriced relative to the equivalent used products in the resale market. They’re trying to preserve those prices at all costs, and offering a basket of goodies to try and subsidise the price that somebody’s paying. But ultimately, the price that they’re paying isn’t necessarily reflective of true market conditions at the moment.'"

3 AW in Australia. "A Victorian couple have been left 'absolutely devastated' after the company building their dream home went into liquidation. Lily told Jacqui Felgate she got wind 'something wasn’t right' after paying a $32,000 deposit for the home in late June. Yesterday, the builder went into liquidation and Lily and her partner learnt they had never taken out domestic builders insurance for the property, leaving the couple with little recourse to recover their money. 'We’ve lost our money,' she said. 'This is our dream and I’m absolutely at a loss of what we can do. It doesn’t look like the liquidators are going to be able to help us anyway because they were in so much debt that we fall right at the bottom.'"