A report from the Stamford Advocate. "In pockets of Connecticut from Riverside in Greenwich to Deep River, house hunters are finding larger numbers of new listings hit the market in the first 10 weeks of 2024, compared to a year ago. But this spring’s biggest turnaround may turn out to be the southeastern corner of Connecticut, where the housing market in Mystic and nearby towns has raced out front of many communities statewide. In both January and February, New London County saw its highest 'inventory' of houses for sale since early 2021, calculated by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties. Hartford County also hit a high mark for inventories in February. In Greenwich, new listings are up by nearly half across Cos Cob and Riverside, while holding steady in Old Greenwich. North Stamford listings are up 40 percent, and in the city’s Springdale neighborhood are at five times their level of a year ago."

"In East Lyme, Waterford, properties are hitting the market at 30 percent or more above the pace of a year ago, Griswold and Ledyard are seeing similar levels of activity. Stonington and Montville are topping last year’s listings totals by smaller margins. North Stonington has likewise seen a surge, with listings tripling there in the first two months of this year, and the average bid 12 percent above seller’s final asking prices. A year earlier in North Stonington, the handful of sellers that accepted offers were getting settled for 5 percent below what they sought on average. As of mid-March, Mystic listings ranged from prefabricated homes in the Fair Acres Circle development just north of Interstate 95, which have undergone price cuts since hitting the market last fall."

From Realtor.com. "A 3,600-acre ranch in Ojai, CA, has resurfaced on the market—with an astonishing 50% price reduction. But even with the discount, it's still the week's most expensive home on Realtor.com®. When it initially landed on the market in 2021 with a $100 million price tag, it was America's largest and priciest listing. Now available for 'only' $50 million, this house is an example of aspirational pricing coming back down to earth."

Santa Monica Daily Press. "Neil Shekhter, who was once the city’s most prolific and controversial developer, has lost control over another three local properties as part of an ongoing inability to repay bank loans. According to The Real Deal, Shekhter recently lost ownership of 1007 Lincoln Boulevard, 1038 10th Street and 1516 Stanford Street to Bank of Southern California as part of foreclosure proceedings. The transfer of property is a result of a lawsuit filed by Bank of Southern California over a $16.2M loan covering the three parcels which according to the bank has never been repaid. The bank is also making a fraud allegation, claiming the defendants lied on their loan application and that the bank would have never made the initial loan had they known the truth."

"Outside Santa Monica, Shekhter has lost about half of his total holdings or about 1,000 total housing units. About 20% of those were sold to other companies but the bulk were transferred to various investors to avoid foreclosure and wipe out about a billion dollars worth of debt. Despite the resolution of those cases, others persist. As recently as last month, a court ruled against him in a $3M case with another lender, Preferred Bank."

The Orange County Register. "The last time California ranked 51st for job growth before 2023 was the year Bill Clinton was sworn in as president, Beanie Babies were introduced, the first 'Jurassic Park' hit the big screen, and Whitney Houston’s 'I Will Always Love You' was No. 1 on the charts. Yes, 1993 was a long time ago. Some California industries are in reverse gear. State jobs stats show noteworthy job cuts in the movie business, off 25% – major strikes all but shut production; at temp agencies, off 14% – drops common when hiring slows; lending, off 9% – rising rates slashed borrowing; and at warehouses, off 5% – online shopping has cooled. But tumbling to the bottom of the hiring rankings isn’t California’s style. Remember 1993? When a California house cost $190,000, L.A.’s Metro subway opened, and the first PDF documents were created."

The Columbia Daily Tribune. "A pair of Iowa developers has filed for bankruptcy in federal court, leaving the future of homes and properties in three states — including those yet to be constructed in Columbia — uncertain as court records show creditors are owed millions of dollars, including for luxury vehicle purchases. Jeffrey and Tina Ewing, husband and wife developers from Pella, Iowa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court on March 5. Their real estate business Vintage Cooperatives builds homes and independent living communities for people who are 55-years-old and older in Iowa, including in Altoona, Ames, Ankeny, Bettendorf, Coralville, Des Moines, Indianola, Iowa City, Johnston and Pella. Properties then are managed by a locally elected member board."

"It also has communities under construction or planned in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City, North Liberty and Waukee, as well as Columbia and Liberty, Missouri and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Waukee community's floor plans include two- and three-bedroom homes. As of September 2023, five homes had been sold, according to Vintage Cooperative's website. A Register photographer observed work continuing at the site on the afternoon of March 13, though none of the homes appeared to be completely finished. In February 2024, a West Burlington construction contractor, Bi-State Contracting, filed a lawsuit in Des Moines County alleging that Jeffrey Ewing and his companies failed to make progress on or provide evidence of financing for two Vintage Cooperative communities in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City — which left Ewing in default on promissory notes with the construction contractor. Vintage Cooperatives' websites for the projects showed on March 13 that none of the 35 planned homes at the Cedar Rapids development had been sold as of September 2023."

The Real Deal on Texas. "A distressed apartment property on San Antonio’s North Side, formerly owned by embattled multifamily syndicator GVA, sold at auction recently. An LLC with ties to LoanCore Capital, the lender that foreclosed on the property in November, paid $21.3 million for the 285-unit Solara complex, at 11710 Parliament Street, the Austin Business Journal reported. The price, equating to roughly $74,700 per unit, marks a roughly 21 percent discount from its appraised value of $27 million, according to Bexar County tax records. GVA, which has a portfolio of roughly 30,000 units, is grappling with distressed assets across the Texas Triangle and beyond. The firm, led by principal Alan Stalcup, failed to make its November and December mortgage payments for the 328-unit Bella Madera apartments in northwest San Antonio."

"Two of the firm’s Austin properties — Falls on Bull Creek and Park at Walnut Creek — went into foreclosure in December after defaulting on nearly $125 million in loans. GVA also faces foreclosure on the 264-unit Retreat at Stafford apartment complex in Houston, after falling delinquent on a $288 million loan. The firm’s problems deepened in January, when it missed payments on a $145 million loan tied to three Sun Belt assets, leading to foreclosure filings for two of them."

Soo Today in Canada. "A corporation linked to the insolvent out-of-town landlords who amassed a $144-million debt load after buying up hundreds of northern Ontario houses is now scrambling to sell off properties here in Sault Ste. Marie. Zack Files Real Estate — named after the sci-fi television series starring SID Developments founder Robert ‘Robby’ Clark — recently placed four properties on the real estate market at a combined price tag of $5.98 million. As previously reported by SooToday, 134 Gore Street was overrun by squatters and without running water for weeks during the summer of 2022 due to people entering the building and stripping it of its copper piping."

"The real estate fire sale in Sault Ste. Marie comes just weeks after the landlords behind 11 insolvent corporations — including Butt, along with Ryan Molony and Dylan Suitor — filed for protection from creditors in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, claiming they owe more than $144 million in unpaid loans and have less than $100,000 in the bank. Seven of those now-insolvent corporations collectively own 201 rental properties in the Sault, 79 of which sit vacant."

Blog TO in Canada. "A home in Ontario sold at a staggering loss just a few months after being re-listed shows how frequently prices across the province's real estate market tend to fluctuate. The sprawling 23-acre property in question, located at 76 Ridge Road West in Grimsby, overlooks the GTA skyline. The 16,000-square-foot mansion was originally sold for $5,850,000 in June 2023. Just one month later, the property was put back on the market for a mind-boggling $5,950,000, but was terminated shortly after. In February 2024, the house was re-listed at the same price, however, the winning offer came in at just $4.94 million, which is roughly $900,000 less than what the property sold for just a few months earlier and approximately $1 million less what it was listed for."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Fifteen years ago, Barbara Tate was lucky enough to inherit some money from her parents. She spread the money around some mutual funds and kept her eye on an intriguing private investment fund that advertised in one of her community newspapers. Founded in the 1960s, Romspen Investment Corp. had blossomed into one of Canada’s largest non-bank lenders, often underwriting short-term commercial mortgages. Encouraged, Ms. Tate rolled the dice and put in $50,000. It turned out to be a rock-solid investment. In early 2023, however, Ms. Tate got quite a shock. Retired and in need of a new car, she hoped to pay for one by cashing out her investment. Yet when she called Romspen, she was told that wouldn’t be possible. The company had frozen redemptions on its $2.8-billion fund two months earlier."

"Ms. Tate scoured the internet looking for more information, hoping there’d be a Facebook page or some other forum where investors had weighed in, but came up short. 'I couldn’t find anything,' she says. 'I felt very much alone.' With cash flow getting tight, Romspen cut the fund’s distribution multiple times. Ms. Tate now receives about $100 each month, roughly half of what a guaranteed investment certificate pays at current market rates. And she still can’t get her money out. No one can."

From Bloomberg. "Bankruptcies, bad loans and slumping values. There has been no end to the symbols of Europe’s property woes over the past year. In Cannes this week, it was a lack of yachts. At Europe’s biggest real estate conference, the number of sponsored boats was just a fraction of previous years, when ultra-low interest rates meant big returns and even bigger parties on the Riviera. This week, the mood at MIPIM was more somber, held in the shadow of a market rout after borrowing costs surged. Still, amid the rubble of collapsed empires and oceans of souring debt, the eternally optimistic dealmakers in attendance showed some defiance. Many insisted they see the seeds of recovery in slower construction."

"Take Germany’s beleaguered office market, where the six largest insolvent developers boast 48 projects in total that would have spanned about 1 million square meters (11 million square feet). Colliers International data show two-thirds of that has since been halted or abandoned. Shares of Vonovia SE, Germany’s largest landlord with about 546,000 apartments, plunged almost 11% on Friday. It saw the value of its portfolio plunge by more than €10.7 billion last year, pushing its relative indebtedness above its target range."

News.com.au in Australia. "There are growing signs the strong start to the year for Sydney auctions may not last and the city may transition away from a seller’s market to one that’s more balanced. Close to 900 Sydney homes were scheduled to go under the hammer this week but results were more varied than in previous weeks when auction clearance rates were close to 75 per cent – the mark of a strong market for sellers. Full results from this week won’t be available until mid-next week, but agents revealed that an increase in listings was beginning to spread buyers across more properties. This was easing competition at auction."

"Damien Cooley, director of auction house Cooleys, said it was too early to call whether there had been a sustained shift in auction conditions. He added that vendors with unrealistic expectations were getting punished. 'A common trend we’re seeing is agents often relisting in a few weeks with a revised price guide if the original one was a bit ahead of the market,' Mr Cooley said. A unit on Levey St in Wolli Creek passed in at auction after failing to attract even a single bid. In Coogee and Pagewood, houses passed in on a vendor bids. There were plenty more properties that passed in."