A report from Newsweek. "Completed new-home construction soared in February, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Privately owned housing completions skyrocketed by nearly 20 percent last month compared to January and were up about 10 percent from a year ago to more than 1.7 million. For single-family properties, they were up by 20 percent for the month to more than a million new homes. The multi-family segment - properties with at least five units - also saw a rebound. Completions in this area of the market jumped to 644,000 in what was the highest recorded figure in half a century, Yelena Maleyev, a senior economist at KPMG, pointed out, while the single-family segment saw the highest completions since 2007."

Arlington Now in Virginia. "Question: Can you explain Friday’s news about the National Association of Realtor’s settlement over real estate commissions? Answer: I see this change as an overwhelming loss for most home buyers, including: Most first-time homebuyers. Veterans using VA loans to take advantage of buying with little or no money down. FHA and other low down payment programs that support those with fewer financial resources and/or lower credit scores. Anybody who benefits from having buyer agency representation/advocacy and cannot afford the cash needed to pay for it themselves (buyer agent commission can’t be rolled into a mortgage)."

KXAN in Texas. "The Austin Board of Realtors said on Friday the settlement announcement was 'a critical development.' Jennifer Martin, a broker associate at Twelve Rivers Realty, said the changes may deter some first-time homebuyers who already have a difficult time in this market. 'If you don’t have representation, and you don’t understand the complexity of the legal document that you’re signing, first-time homebuyers could get in significant financial distress,' she said. 'Especially if they’re having to come out of pocket to pay for services that previously they weren’t having to come out of pocket to pay.'"

My San Antonio. "A recent report from the Texas Realtors shows one city inching toward becoming a buyer's market with many options at a smaller price. The Four Rivers Association of Realtors released the quarterly report for New Braunfels Wednesday, March 13. Homes are sitting on the market for around three months, 94 days to be specific. The average cost per home is $316,643, which is 7.6% lower than last year's first-quarter report. As listings rise by 30.5% and sales begin to take a pause with a 5.2% drop, local realtor Sydney Blue says, 'It is nothing in comparison to the decline that other cities are seeing nationally.' According to Rocket Homes, buyers in New Braunfels are able to get a good deal as 75.6% of signers are able to secure a home below the asking price in February."

Local 10 in Florida. "Several residents at a Miami-Dade County condo community have come forward, concerned for their safety. Floors are soaked, there is water dripping from the walls and even from underneath a smoke detector. There are structural cracks, exposed rebar and a corroded water valve in disrepair. Those are just some of the structural concerns leading Miami-Dade County officials to deem multiple buildings unsafe at the Jade Winds condos on Northeast 191st Street. Resident Vanessa Ortiz told Local 10 News it comes as no surprise. 'I can’t sleep, I can barely eat,' she said. The young mother said she’s been complaining to management for months. 'A big chandelier just fell from the roof,' said Ortiz. A notice posted on residents’ doors states the complex failed its 50-year re-certification."

The Miami Herald in Florida. "The never-inhabited Coconut Grove townhouses previously sold and double sold and triple sold at increasing prices to unsuspecting buyers by a developer accused of fraud are for sale. Again. The houses, selling at twice their original prices from three to five years ago, do not have certificates of occupancy and nobody can move in until they do. Receiver Alan Fine has asked Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Tom Rebull to allow the sale of 12 Grove townhouses on Coconut Avenue — priced at $2.7 to $3.3 million — despite code violations, liens and purchase contracts dating from 2018 to 2023."

"Original buyers ensnared in those very issues since they signed contracts had hoped Fine would sit down with them and negotiate a discounted price for their long-awaited homes, but he never offered, they said, after he initially asked if they would be interested in purchasing the homes at current market rate, which they couldn’t afford. 'Those houses are cursed. Who would want to buy it out from under us?' said Alan Lombardi, another original buyer. 'Greed took over and everyone forgot about the families who were planning their future. We’re not investors making a business transaction. We’re not loan companies collecting predatory interest. Yet we’re being treated the same as those creditors; we’re paying the same consequences as a lender or investor who failed to do their due diligence.'"

Hoodline in California. "A Bay Area real estate company honcho has been slapped with charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the office of United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey. Vikram Srinivasan is accused of duping an investor out of $125,000 in a fraudulent real estate investment scheme. The FBI's Robert Tripp also confirmed Srinivasan's indictment, which was made public today. The 31-year-old Fremont resident allegedly masterminded the operation through Paragon Holdings, LLC. Srinivasan is said to have exacerbated a prior real estate deal for an individual only identified as 'R.K.' As per the indictment, instead of recovering the victim’s funds, Srinivasan transferred a chunk to his personal account for his own use and lied about where the money was held."

"Furthermore, Srinivasan is accused of conning R.K. into sending additional funds for a supposed real estate transaction in Pleasant Hill. According to the indictment, this transaction was non-existent and instead the funds were transferred to Srinivasan’s account. Two other victims, named 'B.R.' and 'A.S.' in the indictment, also had their identities unlawfully used during the scheme."

Global News in Canada. "On paper, Kingston, Ont., is doing everything the provincial government has asked it to do on housing — and more. The city was told to get building work underway on 587 new homes in 2023 as part of the province's push to build 1.5 million new homes. By the end of the year, Kingston had achieved 250 per cent of its target, with 1,465 housing starts. Average listing prices in the city peaked at just under $750,000 in early 2022. While that number has dropped to $543,800 in 2024, it still sits far above historical rates. Through much of 2015 to 2018, listing prices in Kingston sat between $250,000 and $350,000. Active listings are up 21 per cent, with more homes on the market overall."

"Erin Finn, president of the Kingston and Area Real Estate Association said she has found new builds are 'not moving as quickly' in Kingston as older properties being resold, with many in the higher price brackets. 'As far as new builds go, there's still quite a bit of inventory for those right now,' she said. Finn said first-time buyers in Kingston are looking at homes around or under $450,000. She said homes above $800,000 are 'not moving very quickly.'"

The Daily Record. "The collapse of the Stewart Milne Group in January led to a swathe of workers losing their jobs after the house builder went into administration. As the weeks went by another group hit by the fall of the firm came to light. Across Scotland homeowners have been left living on half-finished schemes with piles of materials abandoned. Estates in Edinburgh and the Lothians have not been immune. Perched on the outskirts of Haddington, Letham Views is one such incomplete project. Half-built houses dominate the skyline while holes dug by workers who never returned pockmark the terrain. Untouched piles of building materials are visible behind lopsided fences."

"An unfinished road snakes around the estate with broken kerbs while homeowners complain of snagging issues on occupied buildings. A skeletal block of flats faces out onto mud-churned groundworks where driveways were due to be crafted. Further on are deserted work sheds and unemptied skips. Around another corner, piles of piping and sets of concrete steps protrude from mounds of earth. Recent rainfall, meanwhile, has turned foundation channels into muddy lakes. Interwoven with eerie, half-finished blocks of flats are finished homes with residents moved in. Yet roads interlinking the estate end abruptly, with fencing preventing unsuspecting motorists from driving onto dirt tracks."

The Local. "Prices fell by 10 percent after adjusting for inflation - particularly sharply in Stuttgart and Mainz - according to the annual report published by Postbank together with the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI). The downward trend in property prices in Germany spiked in 2023 and also spread to rural areas, where they had previously remained stable. Prices fell particularly sharply in 2023 in the 'Big 7,' Germany's seven largest metropolises. Stuttgart recorded the biggest drop in flat prices, which fell by around 16 percent, more than in Munich, Hamburg or Frankfurt."

"Prices also declined by a similar amount in the surrounding areas and in the Rems-Murr district. Catch-up effects in smaller cities surrounding big cities was also evident: of the cities surrounding the Big 7, prices have fallen the most in Mainz, also by around 16 percent. The downward trend has affected almost all of Germany. According to another study published in February, prices for German residential real estate fell more sharply in 2023 than they have in at least 60 years. The price of condominiums fell by 8.9 percent, single-family homes by 11.3 percent and apartment buildings by 20.1 percent, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). 'The speed and extent of the current fall in real estate prices in Germany are historically unprecedented,'the report stated. 'Never before since the expert committees began collecting purchase prices in the 1960s have property prices fallen so quickly.'"

"However, the recent dip in prices was preceded by a price rally, or a sustained period of increase, which was also unparalleled in historical terms and began around 2009. Since then, prices have risen three to fourfold, depending on the real estate segment, before an abrupt market crash began in 2022. 'In light of the exorbitant rise in prices for over ten years and a new interest rate environment, a phase of price correction is entirely appropriate and is not a cause for concern for the economy as a whole, even at the current level,' said IfW President Moritz Schularick."

South China Morning Post. "The latest Hong Kong 'starter homes' put up for sale by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) on Monday drew a lukewarm response from buyers and analysts highlighted would-be property owners had a bigger choice in the private sector since property market cooling measures were ditched last month. Just 19 prospective buyers for the 260 flats at eResidence Tower 3 on Chun Tin Street, Hung Hom, visited the sales office on the first day of purchases after 60 of them were selected at random from 3,669 applications. One man, who bought a desirable high-floor three-bedroom flat, said he wanted to move with his family to a new home and that the flats were being sold at a reasonable price and inside his budget."

"'The location is also convenient with good transport networks,' the buyer, who asked not to be named, said. 'I believe the property market has its ups and downs. Compared to properties in the private market, this flat still has some discount. I would agree that it is a great deal if the property market recovers later.'"

"The flats were put up for sale at 22 per cent off on last September's market prices - between HK$4.08 million (US$521,767) and HK$9.64 million. But Wai Chi-shing, the URA's managing director, said the discount figure was adjusted to about 13 per cent earlier this month because of a downward trend in the market. Owners of the 'starter homes' cannot sell or let the properties within five years from the date of the first assignment. Gary Ng Cheuk-yan, a senior economist with corporate and investment bank Natixis, said buyers could opt for similar flats in the same neighbourhood given the narrowed discount and restrictions. 'Buying a home is a big decision for most residents - the 13 per cent discount is not big enough to offset the risks at the current juncture,' he said."