A report from News 4 Jax. "St. John’s County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida and the United States, but home prices are historically unaffordable and average rent is more than $2,000 a month. Right now, the average cost of a home in St. Johns County is around half a million dollars. 'That’s crazy. I mean, that is not sustainable,' said Bill Lazar, Executive Director of the St. Johns Housing Partnership. 'If you want people to live and work, OK, whether it’s the hospital, whether it’s the sheriff’s office, whether it’s our school district, whether it’s somebody running a small restaurant or hotel, I mean, you got to say, where’s your workforce going to come from?'"

Axios on Oregon. "Real estate in Portland last year was shaped by climbing interest rates and low inventory that pinched the market and slowed home sales, but local Realtors expect the trend to shift in the new year. And despite lender incentives like temporary buydown and refinance programs introduced earlier last year in hopes to light a fire under the market, both first-time buyers and sellers were wary of high monthly mortgage payments on everything from condos to fixer uppers, Brittany Matthews, a broker with Think Real Estate, said. 'Gone were the days of getting $50,000 to $100,000 over asking price and all contingencies waived,' she told Axios. 'Buyers had a lot more skin in the game and expected sellers to provide concessions.'"

A press release. "For the first time since May 2023 home shoppers are seeing a larger number of unsold homes on the market, according to the Realtor.com® December Monthly Housing Trends Report, released today. 'Across the U.S. we're seeing improvements in inventory levels, especially in the South, which experienced a 7.7% increase in active listings year-over-year,' said Danielle Hale, chief economist, Realtor.com®. When examining the 50 largest metros, 23 experienced increased inventory levels year-over-year, with Memphis (+28.5%), New Orleans (25.5%) and San Antonio (20.9%) experiencing the most growth among them. Though this growth is promising, the country is still seeing lower inventory levels as a whole relative to pre-pandemic times with the exception of San Antonio (+12.8%), Austin (+11.7%) and New Orleans (+11.6%), which saw higher levels of inventory in December 2023 compared to typical 2017 to 2019 levels."

"The median price of homes for sale in December remained relatively stable compared to the same time last year, growing by 1.2% with a few standout places experiencing a decrease including the surprising Nor Cal suburb of San Jose, which saw a decrease of 7.1% in median listing price year-over-year, as well as San Antonio (-3.9%) and Memphis (-2.5%)."

W42ST in New York. "The US division of Chinese developer Xinyuan Real Estate has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its luxury condo project Bloom on Forty-Fifth in Hell’s Kitchen. The move comes after months of legal battles with lender BH3 Management, which acquired the $79.7 million in loans on the property in April and soon after began pursuing foreclosure. The 92-unit condo building on 10th Avenue between W44/45th Street is anchored by Target and was completed in 2020 by Xinyuan’s subsidiary Xin Development Group. However, the developer has struggled to sell units in the project, with only 32 of the 92 condos sold so far. The luxury condo’s troubles add to Xinyuan’s growing list of distressed projects in New York. The developer also faces foreclosure and unpaid taxes on two other developments in Brooklyn and Queens, according to The Real Deal."

The Real Deal. "Behind the so-called wall of maturities are endless workout negotiations between troubled borrowers and the banks that hold their debt. In back-room discussions and blood-boiling Zooms, that wall is being whittled away, or at least pushed back. A troubled portfolio of office properties in Texas, California and elsewhere just gave a clear line of sight into the kind of deals that are extending maturities and preventing foreclosures — for now. A real estate investment trust managed by KBS, a real estate private equity company based in Newport Beach, California, received its third extension on a $613 million loan from a series of lenders led by Bank of America."

"KBS disclosed in the filing that the REIT defaulted on the loan for 201 Spear Street in San Francisco, failing to make its November 2023 interest payment. That property is 'currently valued at substantially less than the outstanding debt of $125 million,' according to the filing, and the REIT didn’t get a maturity extension. Instead, it simply handed back the keys."

NBC Connecticut. "Two men from New York have been sentenced for their alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme in Hartford, Connecticut, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Authorities said 58-year-old Jacob Deutsch and 63-year-old Aron Deutsch were sentenced for their role in a wide-ranging fraud scheme involving 24 mortgage loans on several multi-family housing properties in Hartford. The loans amounted for nearly $50 million, according to officials. Jacob and Aron work at B H Property Management, LLC (BHPM) - a company that manages multi-family housing properties in the capitol city."

"According to court documents, from September 2016 through May 2021, Jacob allegedly ran the day-to-day operations while Aron engaged in a scheme to defraud several financial institutions, including Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and more. Officials said Aron provided these institutions with false information overstating the value of multi-family housing properties managed by BHPM."

"As a part of this scheme, authorities said Jacob provided fake rent rolls and falsified leases, which either overstated the number of renters or inflated the amount of rent paid by tenants. Officials went on to say that Jacob deceived inspectors into believing that empty apartments were occupied by staging them with furniture and requiring employees to say they lived there. In one instance, Jacob falsely reported that 16 Evergreen Ave. was fully occupied when, in fact, not a single tenant lived there, according to documents. Both men were arrested in May of 2021. After his arrest and while released on bond, Jacob allegedly victimized another lender to secure an $11 million loan. Jacob was sentenced to five years in prison followed by four years of supervised release, and Aron was sentenced to five years of probation. Officials said Jacob has to pay a $10,000 fine and Aron was ordered to pay a $1 million fee. Jacob will report to prison on March 8."

CBC News in Canada. "In 2021, Sudip Sehgall put down an $81,990 deposit on a yet-to-be-built townhouse in Surrey, B.C. The 52-year-old envisioned the deal taking him steps closer to owning his first Canadian home, but he only had enough for a deposit after a loan from his retired father. Sehgall was relying on selling his home in New Delhi to get financing to close the deal. He began to worry when new regulations in India made his property less desirable. Then floods hit and selling became impossible. Making matters worse, when he tried to find a buyer to take over the Canadian deal so he could get a refund, the developers opted to keep his deposit and sell the brand-new unit themselves. Sehgall, who came to Canada in 2016 as a skilled worker, says he is now broke and back to renting. 'I may have to return back to India, and my Canadian dreams have been ruined and crashed,' he told CBC News."

"Sehgall is part of a growing contingent of Canadians who are defaulting on deals to buy presale or preconstruction condos or homes due to financial pressures. Toronto real estate broker Barry Lebow has not seen this many buyers defaulting in 30 years. 'It's happening in droves,' said Lebow. 'I'm hearing stories about many people walking away.' Lebow says the declining condo values and high interest rates are making it difficult for people to finance and close on deals. In some cases the unit has lost so much value they now can't afford a mortgage. 'The last time we had a wave like this, it was in the '90s,' Lebow said."

"Toronto condo lawyer Gerry Miller says people are 'better off buying something they can touch and feel.' He's seen clients lose up to $300,000 deposits, bound by contracts he describes as 'incredibly complex and one-sided to the point of it being almost unfair.' 'For me, it was a first-time buy. I'm not an investor. I'm innocent and my realtor did not advise me at all. We just went and signed,' said Sehgall. 'The contracts are ironclad. And it's very hard, if the builder denies you. A buyer like me does not have the legal or the financial wherewithal to go against a big builder. We have been ruined. My parents were not able to take the shock, and they were still hoping that they would refund, hoping against hope.'"

The Evening Standard. "The head of a housing industry body has said she fears more housebuilders could collapse following Stewart Milne Group entering administration with the loss of more than 200 jobs. Administrators Teneo were appointed on Monday for the housebuilder, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, halting construction on sites across Scotland, with 217 roles being made redundant. Jane Wood, chief executive of Homes for Scotland, which represents more than 200 members, said she is 'very worried' about more firms going bust. Adele MacLeod, of Teneo, said, 'The downturn in the UK housing market combined with an extensive sales process not resulting in any viable offers has ultimately led to the need for the directors to place Stewart Milne Group Limited and some of its subsidiaries into administration, regretfully with some immediate redundancies.'"

The Glasgow Times. "A housebuilder with developments in and around Glasgow has gone bust. Merchant Homes, which has an 'unfinished' estate in Easterhouse and permission to build flats on land owned by Rangers FC has appointed liquidators for the business. The firm specialised in private and social housing but said a number of factors led to the decision to cease trading. Liquidators, Opus Restructuring & Insolvency, have confirmed Merchant Homes has ceased trading and 22 employees have been made redundant. The firm had contracts worth around £20m across Scotland including east Kilbride and permission for flats in Glasgow."

The Korea Herald. "Taeyoung Group, the parent company of debt-ridden Taeyoung Engineering & Construction, said Tuesday it will put up its full stake in TY Holdings and broadcaster SBS as collateral to secure liquidity, responding to demands calling for a higher level of self-rescue plan. While Taeyoung Group announced some measures to secure the funds to repay the debts of Taeyoung E&C in late December, financial authorities and creditors have called for more effective measures, such as putting up its shares of TY Holdings and SBS."

"Taeyoung Group’s ownership family responded to the calls Tuesday, adding new measures into the initial plans by offering the holdings as collateral 'if needed.' 'Taeyoung E&C is going through difficulties due to our greed, and the failure of project financing loan rollovers from high interest rates and the sluggish real estate economy,' Taeyoung Group founder Yoon Se-young said at a press event at the group's headquarters in Seoul."

South China Morning Post. "Falling home prices and fears about job prospects will deter Chinese consumers from freely spending on goods such as clothes and home appliances, weighing on the nation's retail sales growth, according to UBS. 'A drop in home prices will have a negative psychological impact on consumers since they feel their net worth has shrunk,' Christine Peng, a UBS analyst, said at a media briefing in Shanghai on Monday. A sharp drop in home prices since the second half of 2023 has caused hundreds of thousands of families across the country to lose millions of yuan in net worth, while government incentives such as lower mortgage down payments and reduced taxes have yet to drive up property values."

"For instance, home prices in Shanghai have declined at least 15 per cent since late 2022 because of a lack of buying interest, according to You Liangzhou, the owner of Baonuo, a property agency in the city. An average two-bedroom flat in the city's downtown area that cost more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) two years ago is now worth about 8.5 million yuan, You said."