A report from 12 News in Arizona. "Michael and Danielle Tantone decided to divorce in August, but remained living in the same house for several months after. Although the couple said they felt separating was best for their relationship, the timing wasn't financially ideal. 'We've been bleeding for over a year and that's one of the things that caused stress in our marriage,' Danielle Tantone said. The Tantones bought their Mesa home for $582,000 in 2022. As of today, it's worth less than what they owe. 'The payment is really pretty high even for us both together but impossible for either one of us on our own,' Danielle Tantone said. 'We have to do a short sale. We have to hope that the bank will take less than what we owe and we haven't even gotten that offer yet.'"

"After two months of living together but apart, Danielle Tantone was able to move into a rental property and Michael Tantone remained in the house. 'I have felt a remarkable lessening of stress,' Danielle Tantone said about moving out. However, the problem persists of finding a buyer to take their home off their hands. 'Buyers just left the market, home prices continued to fall, they somewhat recovered, but the interest rates are so high now still that people that would want to buy this house can't afford to buy the house.'"

The American Statesman. "There was good news for homebuyers in the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of Realtors last week. With rising inventory and lower prices, Central Texas' cooling housing market has provided more choices and leverage for buyers, board officials and other experts say. Across the Austin Round-Rock region from Georgetown to San Marcos, the median price of the homes that sold in November fell 8.4% year-over-year to $424,450, indicating Austin’s housing supply is becoming available at lower price points, board officials said. In the city of Austin, sales year-to-date were down 15.3% (8,001 sales), and the median price was $540,000, a 9.2% drop, the board said. 'The drop in median home prices indicates buyers can be a little more selective in the search for a home that checks all their boxes,' said Ashley Jackson, president of the Austin Board of Realtors."

The Mercury News in California. "Tenant advocates are pushing to put rent control measures on the ballot in at least four Bay Area cities this November, the latest effort to expand such protections across the region as tens of thousands continue struggling with sky-high housing costs. Advocacy groups this month plan to file proposed rent control ordinances with Redwood City, San Pablo, Pittsburg and Larkspur, allowing supporters to start gathering the thousands of signatures needed to bring the measures before voters. The push for rent control has been met with strong resistance from many landlords, who say adding regulations after some property owners lost tens of thousands of dollars in rental income during the moratoriums would force more struggling owners out of business. 'For a small owner-operator, that can be devastating,' said Derek Barnes, chief executive of the East Bay Rental Housing Association."

The San Francisco Chronicle. "Four months since the August Lahaina and Kula wildfires on the island of Maui, Hawaii’s government has been struggling to find suitable long-term housing for the thousands of survivors who no longer have a place to call home. This month, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen proposed Bill 131, a program that incentivizes short-term rental, timeshare and non-owner-occupied property owners to house a person or family displaced by the fires. The incentive is an exemption from having to pay real property tax if they convert their vacation home to a long-term rental. That equates to tax savings of $5,850 to $14,600 annually, depending on the type of property. Bissen also suggested punishing property owners who don’t participate in the program by increasing their taxes. This would 'make up for the loss of tax revenue' from the owners who are participating."

"Testimony submitted by several short-term rental property owners expressed concern about losing money. For some of them, to break even on their investment means charging visitors a few hundred dollars per day to rent their property, which makes a lot more than what a $2,000 to $3,000 per month long-term rental can bring. 'That’s right, they will be losing money,' Bissen said in response to the property owners’ complaints. 'But what they will be gaining is much more, and what the whole community gains.'"

"Others were very specific about how it would affect their livelihood. 'I cannot make up for the loss of taxes from 2200 homes!! I cannot foot the bill to build 2200 new homes!!! I cannot make up for the loss of tax revenue due to Lahaina’s destruction,' retiree PK Opal, a full-time Maui resident, wrote in her testimony."

Business Insider. "When Wall Street money managers fall from grace, there's usually some kind of discernible ruckus: the wail of angry investors, the steady drone of thousands of lawyers filing cases, and the rush of doomer headlines in the financial press. But even as some of Wall Street's elite are getting decimated, you can barely hear a sound. In the post-financial-crisis world of zero interest rates, private equity — a clubby world of investment firms that use leverage (as well as some equity) to purchase portfolio companies — was one of the few places on Wall Street that guaranteed investors yield. But after that decade of winning, the industry's fortunes have started to turn."

"I'm not saying that the private-equity section of the billionaire boys' club is about to empty out — I'm saying it's going to be a few messy years. We're going to see companies blow up, we're going to see balance sheets get strained, and in that chaos, we're going to see a whole bunch of money get flushed down the drain. The more time passes, the more money PE firms need to spend to hold their portfolio companies, and the harder it gets to juggle all this. Conditions will improve for private equity when interest rates go down. Until then, and perhaps even after that, expect the internal asset churn to continue until some firms quietly shutter or turn into zombie firms, sucking up fees to hold on to stagnating companies while too-patient investors get stuck holding the bag."

Global News in Canada. "A digital real estate company has been analyzing the data across a good portion of the province and says prices and sales have dropped, with some underbidding now taking place in many areas. Wahi analyzed the data in 10 cities outside the GTA, including Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Barrie and the three cities in Waterloo Region, with Kitchener being the only one that had not been affected on average by underbidding. St. Catharines, London, Barrie and Guelph had the most underbidding occurring, although it still remains under three per cent of asking prices. 'We're definitely seeing a underbidding trend in the higher-priced houses across the province,' Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen told Global News."

"The company said that while there is underbidding going on, it does not mean that all sellers are willing to take a cut if they are not in a hurry to sell. Katchen pointed out that while housing prices are falling in many areas, it is not always easy for those looking to sell to take a loss on their investment. 'It’s definitely hard to accept perhaps, that your most valuable asset is not worth what you thought it was worth a year ago, or maybe what you paid for it,' he said. Katchen said the median price of homes in Toronto has only fallen five per cent, whereas in Kitchener-Waterloo it has dropped 7.8 per cent and in Ottawa it has slipped by 10 per cent."

The BBC in the UK. "New guidance has been released aimed at reducing the number of wall safety surveys being requested by banks and building societies on blocks of flats. Thousands of flat owners have been unable to sell or remortgage because they cannot get the checks done. NHS worker Holly Ciesielczuk bought 75% of her first-floor flat in Redbridge in March 2019, under shared ownership. But when she tried to borrow more money to increase her share of ownership a year later, she hit a stumbling block. Following their initial survey, her mortgage lender requested an EWS1 form, which can be obtained following an assessment of a building's external walls."

"The lender refused a mortgage without it, as did the next bank she tried. The combination of this and her partner's cancer diagnosis took its toll. 'I properly broke down. If I knew how much stress this was going to cause, I would never have bought my flat,' she told the BBC."

From Reuters. "Julius Baer's exposure to toppled property group Signa could result in losses that far exceed the provisions taken by the Swiss wealth manager, an analyst said on Monday. 'We have increased our expectation for credit losses to 400 million Swiss francs ($460.7 million) on the mentioned exposure,' Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Michael Klien wrote in a note to clients. Klien, who previously estimated the loss at 300 million francs, said the increased figure reflects that private debt often has no direct recourse to real assets. The bank's share price has lost about 15% in the past month on fears over its ties to property and retail group Signa, which is controlled by Austrian magnate Rene Benko and recently declared insolvency."

From Bloomberg. "Stock investments: down 30%. Salary package: down 30%. Investment property: down 20%. As Thomas Zhou reflects on 2023, his household finances are front of mind. 'It’s just heart-breaking,' the 40-year-old financial worker from Shanghai said. 'The only thing that still keeps me going is the thought of keeping my job so I can support my big family.' Zhou’s predicament will resonate with many people in China, where slumps in the real estate and stock markets are wiping away household wealth. And as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to regain momentum after years of Covid-19 lockdowns, there’s also the growing threat of unemployment."

"Now, middle class households are being forced to rethink their money priorities, with some pulling away from investing, or selling assets to free-up liquidity. At the heart of the decline in family wealth is China’s real estate meltdown, which having a pervasive effect on a society where 70% of family assets are tied up in property. Every 5% decline in home prices will wipe out 19 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion) in housing wealth, according to Bloomberg Economics. While China’s official data show just a mild drop in its existing home prices, evidence from property agents and private data providers indicate declines of at least 15% in prime areas in its biggest cities."

"Media worker Echo Huang watched as the value of her investment property in Ningbo, Zhejiang province fell about 1 million yuan from its 2019 peak. Now, she considers herself lucky to have sold it in May before prices dropped further. Huang gave the majority of the proceeds from the property sale to her parents for their retirement savings, and put the rest in demand deposits and money market funds that allow real-time redemptions. She ruled out stock investments after her current holdings more than erased all gains since 2018. 'My company is struggling to survive, so who knows if I might get paid less or even laid off one day,' said the 39-year-old. 'My main goal is stability in my assets, and I want to keep enough liquidity on hand.'"