A report from 425 Business in Washington. "Stubbornly high mortgage interest rates, low home inventory, and fewer homes listed for sale contributed to a decline in closed and pending sales of single-family homes and condominiums last month in King and Snohomish counties than a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. In King County, for single-family homes only, the median sales price fell 2.2% last month to $882,997. The priciest Eastside market was Bellevue, west of Interstate 405, with a median of $3.2 million, down 20.7%."

From NBC 2. "The Allen family had set their sights on their dream home in Southwest Florida. After searching around, they decided during the pandemic to build that home from the ground up. 'We ended up finding this builder, and we liked the layout of the house,' Chuck Allen said, 'and they actually had good promise times to when the house would be completed.' 'Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do, and we thought we’d done what we’re supposed to,' Shannon said. 'Just kind of scary because it puts you in a financial predicament that you weren’t expecting to be in at this point in your life. We really just feel held hostage.'"

"The same goes for Paul Mezzanotte, an Air Force veteran who signed a contract with the company in 2021 to build his dream home in Cape Coral. 'It seems like they’re getting further and further behind,' Mezzanotte said. Both families tell NBC2 they’re staying in Airbnb and month-to-month short-term rentals while their homes sit empty and unfinished. Attorney Ryan Murphy says issues like this are happening in builds all over SWFL. 'One of the main disputes right now is delays,' Murphy said. 'This guy’s taking too long to build my home. He’s taking too long to replace my roof. He’s taking too long to put in new windows. That’s the main dispute that we have.'"

News Channel 3 in California. "News Channel 3 has learned new details following a shooting on Halloween night that involved a home on Flora Avenue and Cholla Drive in Desert Hot Springs. The home was, at the time, a licensed vacation rental with Airbnb. Police said no injuries have been reported, but the home was damaged. Community members, including Councilmember Russell Betts, have raised concerns about safety when it comes to vacation rentals, as well as calls for tighter regulations on these properties. 'I’d like to see some type of lottery system as other cities have done to reduce the number of homes in the already saturated neighborhoods,' according to Councilmember Betts."

The Mercury News in California. "The bankruptcy filing by WeWork, the co-working company once valued at $47 billion with locations across the Bay Area, could potentially jolt parts of the region’s office market — especially if it terminates leases as it seeks to reorganize its feeble finances. WeWork still has 17 locations in the Bay Area, according to its website. They include seven sites in San Francisco, two locations in downtown San Jose, two sites in downtown Oakland, two locations in San Mateo, and single sites in Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Ramon and Mill Valley. 'This business model works in a steady office market or one that is improving,' said Dave Sandlin, an executive vice president with Colliers, a San Jose-based commercial real estate company. 'It just doesn’t work when you have a declining office market.'"

The Los Angeles Times. "In 2022, 818,000 Californians left for other states, while 476,000 moved in, resulting in a total domestic loss of 342,000 to the Golden State, according to newly released census data. But some states have been taking in more of California's former residents than others, with Texas leading in that category. In 41 U.S. states, more people arrived from California than moved to California last year, according to the data. Marie Bailey, 44, moved from El Segundo to a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb in 2017. She and her husband built a home for $750,000, while a 'tiny fixer upper' in El Segundo would've cost upward of $1 million."

"The couple quickly figured out that they could capitalize on the niche in the real estate market for California migrants to Texas. For years, Bailey has administered the Facebook group where Jayne Jordan and 45,000 others swap recommendations on how to make the move. She runs a real estate firm that places Californians all over the state. Bailey's husband, who was previously employed by the UCLA medical system, 'wouldn't even talk about his politics because he was afraid of losing his job,' she said. 'Nowhere is perfect,' Bailey said, 'but we fit in a lot better here.'"

Bisnow New York. "Capital One is reportedly looking to offload millions in loans attached to New York City real estate. The majority of the debt is nonperforming and tied to office buildings. Banks almost doubled their direct lending to landlords to $2.2T during a period of historically low interest rates in the seven years before 2022. But now, loans are increasingly challenged, and banks are expected to continue to withdraw from the market. For the loans still on banks' books, more and more are being forced to write down their assets' values. New York Community Bank reported a 2,600% increase in nonperforming loans on its books in the third quarter, attributed to loan defaults tied to office buildings in Syracuse and Manhattan."

The Wall Street Journal. "The sale of Signature Bank’s $33 billion in commercial-property loans and other assets is expected to attract bids as much as 40% below face value, offering new evidence of how much property prices have eroded. Regulators closed Signature Bank in March after a run on its deposits, marking the fourth-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Now, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is auctioning off thousands of Signature loans backed by apartment buildings and other commercial properties primarily in the New York region. Just how far values have fallen on these properties is difficult to pinpoint, but at some buildings where all apartments are regulated, values have fallen as much as 70%, according to the Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlord trade group that cited building-sales data and discussions with brokers."

Western Investor in Canada. "Fewer Vancouver-area homes fall into foreclosure because most troubled mortgage holders have been able the sell the property quickly at prices often at or above what the mortgage is worth, explained Amar Shan of Saba Realty Ltd., Vancouver, a specialist in B.C. foreclosures. Shan said it is not a coincidence that the biggest discounts began after mid-October, as higher interest rates began to bite into housing sales. Prior to mid-October, Shan said, typical discounts this year from a property’s assessed value were from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, with some selling for even higher than the asking price from the foreclosure trustee. However, discounts of 20 per cent to 34 per cent are now being seen, he noted."

"'Prior to that time, the market psychology was relatively strong. Investors would get a sale agreed at a low price, but then the sale would be challenged in court by other bidders and the price would be bid up considerably,' he told Western Investor. 'Foreclosure trustees knew this, and it was part of the reason they would accept very low offers. However, after mid-October, investors were moving more cautiously, so accepted offers didn’t get challenged in court, and the sales were at much lower prices.'"

"Recent sales examples from Saba Realty include a seven-bedroom, 9,260-square-foot mini-mansion at 20133 2nd Avenue, Langley. Assessed at $4.79 million and offered under a court-ordered sale at $3,250,000, it sold November 2 for $3,150,000, a 34 per cent discount from its assessed value. In Mission, a six-bedroom house of 4,874 square feet sold August 8 for $1,218,088, which was slightly above the foreclosed list price but $247,000 – or 17 per cent – below its original purchase price. Strata examples include a foreclosed one-bedroom condo in the Koret Lofts at 55 E Cordova Street in Vancouver’s Gastown. Assessed at $1.03 million and listed at $702,700, it sold October 19 for $699,900, 32 per cent below the BC Assessment value. In North Vancouver, a new four-bedroom, 2,044-square-foot townhouse at 752 East Third Street in Moodyville, assessed at $1.96 million, sold under foreclosure on October 23 for 25 per cent less, at $1,470,999."

The Romford Recorder in the UK. "A property developer has called a Rainham regeneration scheme an 'utter shambles,' saying he cannot afford to sell the flats he's building as he would lose so much money. Kuldeep Singh was given planning permission for 60 flats in New Road as part of what was supposed to be a major regeneration project, built around a new Beam Park railway station. But with the station's future in doubt and the property market having declined after last year’s mini-budget, Kuldeep said he and other developers are now lumbered with flats nobody will buy. 'If the climate stays the same, we won’t be able to afford to sell any of them,' he said. 'There’s many blocks that are going up for sale now and they're not selling. The whole regeneration hinged around the train station and the CPOs (compulsory purchase orders). The whole thing just crashed. It’s a complete and utter shambles.'"

From China Daily. "Germany's growing economic problems have been highlighted by the halting of construction of what would have been one of the country's tallest buildings, in the political heartland of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In 2018, when Scholz was mayor of the northern city of Hamburg, in whose crucial port facilities Chinese shipping company Cosco has a significant investment, he welcomed the unveiling of the design for the 64-story, 245-meter Elbtower. But work has stopped after Austrian property company Signa fell behind in payments to its builder, Lupp."

"In September, Christoph Straube, CEO of property development company W&L AG, told Forbes magazine that after a decade of rising property prices in Germany, 'for a long time it was considered unthinkable that this would not continue for a long time,' until in July 2022, the European Central Bank made the first of what turned out to be 10 interest rate rises over the next 14 months."

ABC News in Australia. "Lisa Mammone has her children front of mind in every decision she makes — and having to say 'no' to their wants is one of the hardest things she has to do. The 39-year-old and her husband, Vinnie Mammon, have never really had to do without. In 2021, the couple remortgaged their Mildura home in order to complete renovations, and increased their loan by an extra $10,000 in annual repayments. They were one of thousands of Australian families who did not foresee 13 interest rate rises in 18 months. Their yearly repayments have risen by an additional $10,000 since the first hike in May 2022."

"They were prepared to pay $490 per week – up from $280 before they refinanced – in order to complete their renovations, but now they will be paying an unaffordable $660 per week. Ms Mammone said her family dined at her in-laws' house frequently in order to cut down costs. 'Every hike we get, it goes up anywhere between about $30 or $40,' she said. Today the Reserve Bank of Australia increased the cash rate to 4.35 per cent — the highest rate in more than a decade."

"'It hurts me, because sometimes the kids are like, 'Can we go and get such-and-such today?' or 'Can we go and do this tonight?' Ms Mammone said. 'I have to say 'No, we don't have enough money. Sorry, you must wait until next payday. That's the most horrible thing that I've ever had to say to my kids, and I hate it.'"