A report from Newsweek on California. "A San Francisco home has been sold at half its original listing price, crystallizing the stark real estate climate in the city and in the U.S. The home in the Russian Hill neighborhood sold for $9,990,000 on November 9, after being listed in October 2022 at $19,995,000. The house sat on the market for almost a year before selling. While the $10 million loss is significant, it is representative of the wider distress in the San Francisco housing market. Leslie Stretch, chief executive officer of software company Medallia, and his wife purchased the home for $20 million in January 2020 but listed it for sale just two years later after their youngest child went off to college, according to a 2022 report from the Sacramento Bee."

From CalMatters. "California lawmakers created Housing Is Key with billions of dollars in federal relief money, initially guaranteeing everyone who applied in time and was approved would get paid. The ultimate goal of the program was to stem a flood of evictions, as state and local emergency eviction bans came to an end. But a sizable, unlucky minority of applicants — tenants and landlords alike — have had to wait…and wait and wait. Many of the applicants fed up with the program’s hotline or web portal have wound up in a Facebook group created by Bella Allen. The owner of a property management company in Long Beach, Allen set up the private group in 2021 to help a friend who was trying to navigate the new state program. Two years later the Facebook group’s membership has swelled to more than 3,000."

"As the months have dragged on, the tenor of the posts have grown more desperate and irate. 'I don’t know what to tell these people,' she said. 'And I’m gutted.' Cindy, who lives near Yuba City north of Sacramento and who asked that her surname not be published so as not to jeopardize her pending payment, said she bought her three-bedroom home in early 2020 and took on two tenants to help her with the mortgage. In late 2021, one of her tenants was unable to pay his rent, so she encouraged him to apply to Housing Is Key. Without his payments, she said she used credit cards to pay her mortgage. Housing Is Key has a policy of not reimbursing so-called shadow debt, loans taken out to pay down rental debt. Cindy now says she has $20,000 in credit card debt. Last month, she said she unexpectedly lost her job of eight years."

From KUTV. "Many people took advantage of lowered interest rates during the pandemic and bought a home. According to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, 2020 and 2021 were two of the best years on record for home sales in Utah. Now, some of those homeowners facing divorce are discovering they will need to either refinance their mortgage at nearly double the rate or sell their home. When Whitney Asay and her ex-husband went through a divorce, part of their division of assets was for Asay to receive a family vacation home in St. George the former couple shared with Asay's side of the family. The family took out a mortgage to build the vacation home during the pandemic, working with a builder to customize the development. 'If I'd known it was going to be like this, maybe I'd have done something different throughout the whole mediation,' said Asay, 'but because I was told loans were so easily assumable I just kind of trusted [the bank].'"

"Now Asay and her family find themselves in a dilemma, as her ex-husband's name was on the original mortgage loan, along with her brother Joshua Scott and father Richard. 'If we were to refinance today it would increase our monthly payment by almost 1,000,' said Joshua. 'They had no problem giving us the loan, right? That’s where I can’t help but feel we’re the victims in this situation.' 'We can't afford to keep the house with the new interest rates,' said Asay, 'so it's coming down to selling it, or figure out a way to muster up the money to make those payments.'"

The Columbian. "At first, the ads seemed like a pandemic-era curiosity, a niche political pitch playing on the red state, blue state divide. 'Escape liberal hell,' counseled one sales video from a Boise real estate agent. 'Here are seven reasons conservatives flock to Idaho.' 'Time is not on your side, flee the city NOW before the coming collapse!' read another ad for 5 acres in Moyie Springs, Idaho, listed for $259,000 by a company called Black Rifle Real Estate. (Motto: 'Ready. Aim. Move.') Now, there’s solid evidence that some people really are migrating over partisanship. Sixty-two percent of Washingtonians who moved to Idaho registered as Republicans, the data shows. Only 12 percent were Democrats. Ours is a 60-40 blue state, roughly, so this means Republicans are preferentially sorting themselves out of Washington at high rates. You can now even choose your real estate agent by their politics. The company GOP Agent 'is here to help you connect with a Real Estate Agent who shares your Republican ideals and values,' their website says."

CBS Colorado. "'Very interesting times. High-interest rates, real estate issues,' said Richard Wobbekind, senior economist with the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business. 'That piece of the economy nationally and in Colorado is probably only about fourth or fifth inning in a nine-inning game at this point. There's a lot more to be reckoned with in the months ahead,' said Wobbekind of commercial real estate. 'So we project that the vacancy goes up to 25 or 30% for the next couple of years. And office is already in the tank,' said Marcel Arsenault, CEO of real estate investment firm Real Capital Solutions."

"Arsenault, who says he's more on the pessimistic side about the economy points to problems ahead for investors in an oversupply of apartments. The metro area, he says, 'probably needs on average 8 to 10,000 units a year. And we've been producing about 15,000 for the last several years.' His company sold apartments in recent years. 'I wouldn't build an apartment unless you put a gun to my head,' he said. 'If you're a renter, I've got great news. In about a year from now, you're going to be able to get two months free rent, maybe even three months free rent on your apartment.'"

The Canadian Press. "Greater Toronto home sales fell six per cent last month compared with November 2022 despite an influx in new listings. 'Not many people are moving,' Toronto realtor Nasma Ali said. 'The only kind of desperation that we're seeing right now are from people who really need to sell, usually from investors. For the past few years, minus a few months during COVID, condos were selling immediately, within one day or within a week. Now they're just sitting there waiting for any takers and there's barely any showings. We used to have 100 showings maybe in a week. Now we're lucky if we have two to three showings a week.'"

"Ali said some neighbourhoods are taking a big hit, especially for homes where potential buyers see red flags like nearby construction. 'Buyers have no urgency because if anything, prices will be maybe down next month,' she said. 'When you look at urban neighbourhoods, like High Park, Roncesvalles, Leslieville, obviously it's not like what it was at the peak and the price has also come down from the peak.'"

The Telegraph in the UK."Home repossessions are rising among properties worth more than £5m as even the wealthiest are hammered by a jump in mortgage rates, experts have said. Estate agents said there has been a rise in high-end property listings because of repossessions in the last six months, with examples seen across the country including the Cotswolds and the South Coast. Jonathan Hopper, chief executive of estate agency Garrington Property Finders, said many have been reaching the end of lower fixed-rate deals after having made 'emotional decisions during the pandemic, bought with their hearts not heads, and got it horribly wrong.' At the same time, he said it can be difficult to sell quickly because the 'market has shifted and there is just no demand for certain types of property and certain price brackets.'"

"Philip Harvey, of buying agents Property Vision, said there has also been an increase in second homes being repossessed from international buyers in London. Typically these properties are worth £10m to £20m, he said. Mr Harvey said wealthy overseas individuals were 'walking away' because it is cheaper than refixing in the current mortgage market. He added: 'It’s strategic. People borrow heavily when they’re buying those assets for all sorts of tax reasons. Because money’s cheap and they can do other things with their money that makes them more money, so they don’t need to use their own cash, they borrow it instead. But when the market turns and the capital value has gone down, why hold on to it?' Mr Harvey said it can be 'easier for owners to walk away than refinance expensively'"

The Herald Sun in Australia. "Thousands of homeowners across the state are now carrying the weight of million-dollar mortgage stress. Jess Underwood, her husband and two young children are under significant financial stress after their mortgage repayments doubled following consecutive interest rate rises. They have also been living on a single income since Ms Underwood took time off work to protest a proposed heritage overlay on her property by the Maroondah Council that would 'significantly reduce its value.' 'Our mortgage is our biggest expense and it’s non negotiable, everything else shuffles around the mortgage repayments,' she said. 'We don’t go on date nights or get takeaway or go to the movies … our spending on leisure has reduced to nothing.'"

"Mortgage Choice broker David Thurmond said that a 14th rate rise would see homeowners across Melbourne looking for ways to 'alleviate the pain.' 'I’m starting to speak to a lot of clients who are already in mortgage strife and are being laid off from jobs,' Mr Thurmond said. 'The vast majority of clients are not saving what they once were and are just making ends meet or surviving off their savings.' It comes as new data from research group Digital Finance Analytics has revealed the Melbourne areas with the largest mortgage debts for owner-occupied homes, including 16 suburbs with an average home loan in excess of $1m."

Sky News Australia. "Sky News host Liz Storer says RBA employees are getting a 'sweet deal' with half-price mortgages. 'To add to the list of the pain the elites inflict on us that they themselves aren’t actually suffering as a result of. Today we received the revelation that RBA governor has paid off her fourth house in Sydney, the most expensive of the four that she owns, in under ten years. Michele was able to do that due to a wonderful, wonderful, half-price mortgage deal for RBA employees. How do you like that, the people who sit around deciding how hard to squeeze you … they’re all getting this sweet deal.'"