A report from the Bradenton Herald in Florida. "The Sarasota/Manatee Realtor Association released its year-end housing report for 2023, and it shows a buyer’s market trend with housing inventory returning to pre-COVID levels. In Manatee County, the year 2023 saw an inventory of more than 2,000 homes for the first time since 2018. 'We are seeing good adjustments in this market that will benefit both buyers and sellers going forward,' said Tony Barrett, 2024 RASM President and Broker/Owner at Barrett Realty. 'The days on the market have increased, along with inventory and we are starting to see buyers having a little more flexibility in negotiations.'"

The Denver Post in Colorado. "Since November, Joe and Sarah Webber have searched for a larger home to replace the small bungalow they own near the University of Denver. 'We are feeling like prices are high, which we knew. But it feels like the prices are really high for what you get. We have been consistently disappointed in the quality of the houses,' lamented Sarah Webber, director of marketing and communications with the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. She said the couple isn’t averse to putting money into fixing up a home, but they want a discount on the front end."

"Redfin estimated last summer that someone purchasing a median-priced home nationally could expect to pay $630 more a month than if they rented a comparable property. In Denver, that premium to own versus rent came in at $1,663 a month, or 58% higher. That gap was the largest outside of California metros and Seattle, surpassing the gap seen in places like New York City and Boston. RealPage, which tracks the multifamily market nationally, said apartment construction reached a 35-year high in the U.S. last year and new units should go up substantially this year in what it describes as a 'generational' apartment boom. Denver is a leader in that boom. 'That’s a pretty massive amount coming in 2024 (in Denver). Only three other markets in the nation — Dallas, Phoenix and Austin — have more units expected to complete in 2024,' said Julia Bunch, a content manager at RealPage."

"'Rental supply is up, renter demand is down, rents are flat, expenses are up, and legal risks have increased,' said Marc Cunningham, president of Grace Property Management & Real Estate in Thornton. Denver is among the major metros, along with Salt Lake City, Philadelphia and Seattle, that John Burns Research & Consulting listed last year as having a small out-migration now becoming a 'big out-migration.' Being a 'migration loser' should result in less housing demand on both the purchase and rental sides."

"The apartments developers have in the pipeline were designed with younger, high-paid tech and professional workers from California and other states in mind. They likely won’t meet the needs of refugees coming from places like Afghanistan and Venezuela. Making a shift from urban 'luxury' units to working-class affordable options could take years and will be tougher to pull off financially."

South Side Weekly in Illinois. "On Friday, Jan. 12, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lloyd Brooks ordered Apex Chicago IL, owner of the Ellis Lakeview Apartments, to hand over management responsibilities of the 105-unit property to a court-appointed receiver, Trigild IVL. Brooks handed down his ruling amid a foreclosure effort by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac. The ruling comes after several years of residents fighting for necessary repairs to be made, including past efforts to seize control of the property from the owner."

"And this came while Apex’s former manager for Ellis Lakeview, Boruch 'Barry' Drillman, pled guilty to participating in a vast, multiyear real estate fraud with four other unnamed co-conspirators. All together, they fraudulently obtained more than $165 million in loans. According to the Department of Justice, Drillman is scheduled to be sentenced in April and faces up to five years of time in prison."

Richmond Bizsense in Virginia. "As he continues to battle a long running criminal case in New York and the corporate bankruptcy case of his former company in Delaware, Michael Hild’s newest legal fight is playing out closer to home. Local lender Virginia Credit Union is suing the embattled Richmond businessman in an effort to take control of some of his Manchester real estate holdings. Filed in December in Richmond Circuit Court, VACU’s lawsuit claims Hild and Church Hill Ventures LLC, an entity owned by his wife Laura, defaulted on several loans borrowed to finance the development of some of the couple’s more notable properties and owe the credit union around $6.2 million."

"VACU claims those properties have a combined assessed value of $5.78 million. It has asked that Peter Barrett, a seasoned local attorney at the Kutak Rock law firm, serve as the receiver to maintain the properties and collect the rents until VACU can formally take possession and sell them. Two other former Live Well executives also were charged and pleaded guilty in the case. Hild pleaded not guilty and has continued to proclaim his innocence while fighting his conviction in federal appeals court. And Hild’s appeal of his conviction and sentence is ongoing in Manhattan, with the next filings due in March. He was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison but has remained free on bond while his appeals case plays out."

The Mercury News. "Hotel construction and new openings have cratered in the Bay Area and throughout California, fresh evidence of a brutal commercial real estate market statewide, a new report shows. The post-coronavirus pandemic struggles for the lodging sector appear to have eroded the hotel market in a big way, according to a yearly survey released by Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group. 'The rapid increase in interest rates, together with lenders pulling away from making hotel construction loans is definitely having a negative impact on hotel development in California,' Atlas Hospitality stated in its report. 'For those developers who have hotel projects in planning but have not yet obtained financing, we predict that very few will move forward.'"

The Federal Way Mirror in Washington. "Stolen cars, package thefts and trespassing are issues everywhere in Federal Way. Incidents at the Celebration Senior Living Apartments highlight these challenges. Residents are advocating for better security at the apartment complex, located on 1524 S. 328th St. between Pacific Highway South and Celebration Park. 'Somebody got their car stolen out of the garage and that’s what kind of got me going,' said Frank Fields, a resident at Celebration. Community Manager Cindy Asher told The Mirror that a new camera system was installed within the last year at the apartments."

"'I can’t do anything about homelessness. I can’t solve their problems. All I can do is try everything possible to protect my residents,' Asher said. 'And sometimes that is impossible.' Of the people who are trespassing or causing issues, Asher said: 'That’s all they want – somewhere to do their drugs or a place to be warm. They’re not trying to hurt anyone.'"

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Nexii Building Solutions Inc., a green building startup that boasted a $2-billion valuation less than two years ago, has been granted protection from creditors as it seeks a buyer to rescue the money-losing operation. The Vancouver-based company said it owes its creditors more than $109-million and faces 'significant liquidity constraints,' according to the petition it filed last week with the Supreme Court of British Columbia. It is unable to pay its debts after a costly expansion in the United States, notably a new manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania."

"Much of the business’s value is in building contracts, according to an affidavit from its acting chief executive officer, William Tucker. Its lenders are owed US$80-million and were not prepared to advance any more funds without an agreement to pursue a sale, Mr. Tucker said. 'Although Nexii has significant potential value, the entities have few tangible assets and a tenuous financial position, as a result of which there is a limited pool of potential lenders in the context of a restructuring proceeding,' Mr. Tucker wrote. Nexii’s downfall has been quick, as had its ascent to unicorn status. In the summer of 2022, it said it had completed an equity financing that implied a market value of $2-billion, nearly double its worth a year earlier. That $45-million deal was aimed at speeding up the company’s growth to meet demand for sustainable building solutions."

This Is Money. "The number of companies 'on the edge of collapse' has continued to soar, with every sector of the economy suffering from high debt costs and weaker consumer confidence. Over 47,000 UK firms were in 'critical' financial distress during the final quarter of 2023, compared to 37,772 during the previous three months, according to Begbies Traynor. It marks the second successive quarter where the volume of businesses nearing failure has jumped by around 25 per cent. The construction, real estate and property, and support services industries were particularly badly affected, as was the health and education sector, which observed a 41.3 per cent rise."

"Julie Palmer, a Begbies partner, said a 'perfect storm' of inflation, high interest rates, low consumer confidence and growing input costs was 'impacting every corner of the economy'. Palmer said: 'Now that the era of cheap money is firmly a thing of the past, hundreds of thousands of businesses in the UK, who loaded up on affordable debt during those halcyon days, are now coming to terms with the added burden this will have on their finances.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "Nathan and Rachel Walton’s beachside dream was 15 years in the making. But just over one year since securing their “perfect home” at exclusive Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, the couple is shifting back to NSW with their three children. The teenagers didn’t adjust well to the interstate move, and the family’s happiness is top priority, the Waltons say. Their multimillion-dollar contemporary home in one of Queensland’s richest beachside markets in going under the hammer on February 2, 15 months after they bought it. PropTrack data shows the median value of houses in Mermaid Beach has dropped 20 per cent over the past 12 months to $2.63m."

The Western Journal. "For those of you who pay attention to China's stock market, you may have noticed that it's getting battered as of late -- with $6.3 trillion U.S. in losses and indices hitting five-year lows. If stock-watchers in Beijing think this is bad, however, they ought to be warned: It could be just a taste of what's to come. 'Macro data from 2023 shows China’s economy is going through a transition to a new growth model,' said Zhiwei Zhang, a president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. The so-called 'transition' in the 'property sector' -- a nice way of saying that China's boom construction economy has gone bust, with overcapacity, ghost cities and major bankruptcies and money crunches among developers -- has been one of the trends dragging Chinese and Hong Kong markets down more than $6.3 trillion since their 2021 peak."

South China Morning Post. "An increase in new home sales was driven mainly by improved supply, instead of demand, said Chen Wenjing, director of market research at China Index Academy. 'Overall, residents are still quite cautious about buying homes, and as the market enters into its off-season in January, sentiment will fall even more,' he said. The pre-owned housing market is faced with even greater headwinds, analysts said, as second-hand homes usually have longer transaction cycles, and the imbalance between supply and demand in the second-hand homes market is more pronounced. 'Pre-owned homes are already hard to sell,' Chen said. 'This, coupled with the fact that expectations of household incomes are still shaky, and homebuyers are hesitant to increase leverage [to buy homes], is putting a dent in demand.'"

"Gao Yueqiu, a manufacturing industry professional living in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, said that she is interested in buying a flat for her daughter who lives and works in Beijing, but is facing many challenges. When asked about the effectiveness of the easing measures, Gao said the rules were 'generally positive' for homebuyers and for Beijing's property market, but she expects prices to keep dropping for a while. 'After all, there is too much inventory, and the population keeps falling … That said, if you put your money in the bank, you're still losing money. The economy is bad and people have no place to invest their money, so placing your bet on Beijing's property might not be such a bad idea.'"