It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Seattle-area home prices dipped last year at levels unseen in more than a decade, signaling the hit the region’s housing market has suffered since high mortgage rates dampened buyer and seller enthusiasm. The price drops, reflected in year-end data the Northwest Multiple Listing Service released Thursday, are a sign that the Seattle-area housing market is 'finally coming back to reality,' said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington. The 'off-the-charts' double-digit price spikes of the early pandemic years have given way to a smaller 'correction,' Virant said."

"Facing high interest rates, many shoppers found their mortgage payments would be 'significantly more than what they could potentially rent for,' said Jenny Wetzel, an agent with Windermere Abode in Tacoma. 'So, people are now opting to rent rather than buy — or they’re being forced to,' Wetzel said. 'It’s not affordable for many homebuyers right now to purchase.' Throughout 2023, Wetzel heard from curious potential home shoppers who successfully qualified for a loan, but then decided against it 'because of the significant financial strain that it would put on them,' she said."

"The Central Texas housing market took a breather last year. Across the five-county region, sales and median prices were down in every county except one: Caldwell, where Lockhart is the county seat. In the Austin-Round Rock metro that extends from Georgetown to San Marcos, sales fell 9.8% as 30,438 homes changed hands. Half of those homes sold more for more than $450,000 and half sold for less, for a 10.2% drop in the median closing price. Here are the numbers for each county: Travis, median price: $523,800, down 8.9%. Hays, median price: $397,330, down 9.7%. Bastrop, median price: $350,210, down 11.3%. 'Housing inventory reached the highest level it's been in more than eight years, and while there was a drop in closed sales and median close price, these were both symptomatic of higher mortgage rates,' said Kent Redding, president of the Austin Board of Realtors."

"Raising the stakes for Steve Wynns’s Beverly Hills estate seems out of the question at this point in the game. The casino mogul’s 11-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion at 1210 Benedict Canyon Drive has been on and off the market for a few years. On Jan. 17, its price dropped about 12 percent. The property is currently listed for $75 million. A year ago, the 27,000-square-foot estate was listed for $85 million. Its initial off-market ask in 2020 was $135 million. The price cut for Wynn’s house follows a tough year for L.A.’s luxury home market, where agents have counseled sellers in almost every segment to bring down prices. 'Most never sell and are ultimately taken off the market. So it is more unusual when one sells than when it doesn’t,' said Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates headquartered in Pacific Palisades. Eventually, the over-priced aspirations come down to meet reality. Price reductions of 30 to 50 percent are not uncommon for luxe homes in this market, Marguleas noted."

"Actor Kevin Spacey’s waterfront home in Baltimore will be sold at a foreclosure auction in February. The auction will be held on Feb. 29 at a yet-to-be decided time, according to the website of the debt collection firm of McCabe, Weisberg & Conway. A limited liability company tied to Spacey snapped up the apartment in 2017 for $5.65 million, records with PropertyShark show. The foreclosure has been pending for more than a year without resolution, the Baltimore Banner reported, adding that a mediation session in August failed to produce a settlement."

"On Dec. 28, Arianna Kamal, Teena Kamal, and Rakesh 'Rick' Kamal were found dead in their sprawling Dover estate. Authorities have called the incident a murder-suicide and said initial autopsy results point to Rick murdering his wife and daughter before taking his own life. Investigative reporting by The Boston Globe, some light is being shed on the Kamal family and the circumstances that led to their deaths. The Kamals lived in a massive house that included 21 rooms, a spa, a movie theater, and a pool. On Dec. 11, the company that developed the property and loaned the family the money to buy it received a court approval for their eviction. It was the culmination, according to the Globe’s reporting, of years of financial troubles that were carefully hidden by Rick from his family."

"While all of this happened, Teena and 18-year-old Arianna were reportedly kept in the dark. 'Teena had no clue that there were financial problems,' her brother, Sandeep Bedi, told the Globe. 'She thought that they were rolling in money.' Teena had even begun buying furniture for a lavish second house that she believed the family was on the verge of buying."

"The value of city buildings is sinking under the weight of high interest rates, crippling regulations and large vacancies caused by work-from-home and pandemic downsizing. Many properties are now worth no more than their debt, and they’re still not selling. According to the Real Estate Board of New York, sales in 2023 were the lowest since 2009. You have to be 'a really smart analyst and appraiser to read the tea leaves,' added Adelaide Polsinelli of Compass. 'Many buyers have left the market, and the rest are going bargain hunting and not buying unless it’s a steal.'"

"B.C. financial regulators received complaints about accused fraudster Greg Martel, including that a high-return investment opportunity might be a 'scam,' years before his alleged $300-million Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2023. The complaints about Martel’s investment schemes were made to the B.C. Financial Services Authority and the B.C. Securities Commission in early 2017 and mid-2021, according to financial services authority records. On learning complaints had been made well before the scheme collapsed, one investor, Kelly, who wished to be identified only by her first name, said if regulators had dug deeper maybe investors could have saved tens of millions of dollars. She acknowledged the regulator is not 100 per cent responsible for money she invested, as she has to own some of that responsibility. But Kelly, whose family lost $1 million in the alleged Ponzi, said: 'I get angry when I hear that people have filed previous complaints and nothing was done about it. I get very angry.' If Martel’s scheme proves to be a Ponzi, it would be the largest in B.C. and one of the largest in Canada."

"Banks and building societies reported the biggest rise in households failing to keep up with repayments on secured loans – overwhelmingly mortgages – since early 2009, according to a closely watched Bank of England survey. Stephen Perkins of Yellow Brick Mortgages said: 'After cutting back where possible and exhausting all available credit options, many households are now at breaking point.' Michelle Lawson, from Lawson Financial, said high living costs will continue pushing mortgage holders into difficult territory. She said: 'Property isn’t easy to sell at the moment if there is a downsizing option and this also doesn’t come without costs. I would expect these default figures to rise further as some households will be left with nowhere to go. Many people have simply run out of road.'"

"Segments of the property market in Malaysia are expected to perform well in 2024, but elsewhere there are areas of concern. In Johor, for instance, a large overhang of residential property remains, according to Siva Shanker of Rahim and Co International Property Consultant. It is the same in the small states such as Perlis, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan as well as the less developed states such as Kelantan. Siva said there is also an oversupply of serviced apartments. 'Many had been built without consideration for actual market demand,' he said."

"Many real estate properties below the price of 3 million baht in Bangkok and surrounding provinces in 10 locations are not selling well and an expert predicts it will take 30 to 78 months to clear the stocks. Darunee Rungruangphon, Managing Director of Darvid Property Service, stated that the number of second-hand houses, including townhouses, single-family homes, condominiums, commercial buildings, and other real estate being offered for sale in the market has increased as owners have been impacted by the economy and are unable to continue making payments. Her information is consistent with knowing that the Government Housing Bank (GHB) is organizing the GHB GHB ALL HOME EXPO 2024 used home expo, presenting 924 second-hand houses for sale and 500 real estate items in the region, including single houses, semi-detached houses, townhouses, and condominiums, with discounts of up to 50% off current prices."

"The news that condotels, resort villas and officetels will be granted a red book, or land use right certificate, was good news. Le Dinh Chung, SGO Homes CEO, said real estate with red books can sell more easily as buyers feel secure about the legal status of the property and can borrow money from banks to buy it. The large cities of Quang Ninh, Da Nang and Nha Trang are expected to see recovery sooner as they are famous tourist sites and are not new markets. Meanwhile, the other areas such as Quy Nhon, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan will need more time to recover. Many real estate investors are selling resort real estate at prices 30-40 percent lower than the buy prices."

"China’s population decline accelerated in 2023, official data showed on Wednesday, extending a downward streak after more than six decades of growth. Last year’s decline was more than double the fall reported for 2022, when the country lost 850,000 people as its population shrank for the first time since 1960. 'The trend of China’s population decline is basically impossible to reverse,' He Yafu, an independent Chinese demographer, told AFP. China’s economy last year suffered one of its worst annual performances in more than three decades, official figures showed Wednesday, as the country battled a crippling property crisis, sluggish consumption and global turmoil."

"An intractable real estate crisis, record youth unemployment and a global slowdown are also gumming the gears of the Chinese growth engine. Financial woes at major firms such as Evergrande and Country Garden are now fuelling buyer mistrust against a backdrop of unfinished housing developments and falling prices. Property has long been seen by many Chinese as a safe place to park savings, but price drops have hit their wallets hard. A record of more than one in five people aged 16 to 24 in China were unemployed in May, according to officials. Beijing has since suspended the monthly publication of youth unemployme