A report from WVUE. "The New Orleans housing market stretches well beyond the city’s limits. It covers 10 parishes, and what’s happening within the market has realtors concerned. Closed sales of homes have dropped 24.3% from June 2023 to June of this year. 'Well, overall it’s dramatic for the time, that’s for sure,' said Mark Rodi, owner of RE/MAX Affiliates in Metairie. Rodi says the ever-increasing cost of property insurance in Louisiana is the biggest factor in the dramatic dip in sales. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, 11.3% of mortgages in the state are considered to be seriously underwater. But the insurance crisis is something few people have answers about. It is something Rodi hasn’t experienced in his 47 years in the real estate business. 'I don’t think we’re at a panic stage yet. A worrying stage? Yes,' said Rodi."

From The State. "Columbia had the second highest rate of foreclosures for a metropolitan area with over 200,000 people. And it’s not the only city in South Carolina to make that list. Spartanburg was the metropolitan area with the fifth highest rate of foreclosures. During the pandemic, government agencies and mortgage providers expanded the range of forbearance options to borrowers, allowing them to pause or reduce their monthly payments. But these pauses did not affect the underlying loan, which still needed to be paid off in full at a later date. 'One of the issues is that people come off these forbearance programs and they don’t have the money to pay for it,' said Mark Fessler, head of the housing unit at South Carolina Legal Services."

From WCVB. "More crumbling concrete found in Massachusetts, and this time, it's been discovered in a massive condo community not far from Boston. Those who live there say it's a warning sign for everyone in the state, and Beacon Hill must finally take action to help struggling homeowners financially. Ron Turcotte, who lives in this community, is worried about his home's value crumbling. Repairing every building could cost $160,000 per condo. That's half the value of each unit, which typically sells for a little over $300,000. The problem first came to light because cracks in the most-damaged building meant condos could not pass an inspection required in a sale. 'I never even heard of [the crumbling concrete issue] until it came up in this condo association,' said Turcotte. 'No one's going to want to buy it, the property value will drop significantly.'"

Market Watch. "Foreign buyers are fleeing the U.S. housing market, with sales to buyers from outside the U.S. falling to an all-time low. Potential buyers of condos that require special assessments — and hence repairs — would need to pay toward those expenses, which is discouraging some buyers from acquiring older properties. The assessments are 'tremendously expensive — anywhere from $50,000 up to $400,000 per unit,' said Craig Studnicky, chief executive at Miami-based ISG World. 'It’s crazy, and consequently nobody wants to buy that inventory that’s 30 years and older.' Nearly 90% of active listings in South Florida are condos over 30 years old, he added."

ABC Action News. "Ruskin homeowner Lionel St. Hilaire emailed ABC Action News for answers after receiving a notice of non-renewal from Florida Peninsula alerting him that he would be dropped in the middle of hurricane season. 'I was really shocked,' he told ABC Action News Anchor Nadeen Yanes. 'Because I was never late with any payments, and again, the house was built in 2017. No issues whatsoever, never filed any claims.' According to the notice of non-renewal, Florida Peninsula wrote: 'We are reducing our exposure to hurricanes and other perils. We are reluctantly taking this step to prudently manage our risk, remain financially viable, and continue to protect the interests of all our policyholders in the state.'"

KXAN in Texas. "The housing supply in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metropolitan statistical area (MSA) continues to grow, which is already serving to push down the area’s median home price, according to the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR). KXAN spoke with ABoR economist Dr. Clare Knapp, who said that the report’s data suggests that many sellers are being inflexible on price and unwilling to negotiate. This mindset may be stuck in a market that is ceasing to exist. 'That’s probably a byproduct of what we saw during the pandemic, when homes were really flying off the shelves. We’re still seeing remnants of that mentality amongst sellers,' Knapp said. 'It is going to be important for those sellers to be willing to negotiate a little bit more moving forward, especially amid such a strong uptick and active listings.'"

Bravo TV on California. "On the Season 15 premiere of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, Tracy Tutor broke down the recent challenges of the real estate market, noting that because of the Los Angeles 'mansion tax,' people 'don't want to sell' their homes. During the July 17 episode, Tracy had a request from one of her clients asking to discuss a 'bullsh-t offer' they received on their house that Tracy was attempting to sell for $8,775,000. 'We got an offer on Crescent Bay. The offer price is very low. It's $7.1 million,' Tracy explained. 'It is all cash. Obviously, that is way too low, and I know James [the developer and seller], he's going to want to reject the offer immediately. But I'd like to present to him an alternative.' 'Realistically, $7.1 [million], I mean, that's laughable, right?' He said. 'It's really a disrespect to all three of us that they would even put in a $7.1 [million] offer on an $8.7 million house.'"

"'You and I both know, James, that this property a year ago would have traded with a 9 in front of it,' she admitted. 'Trying to keep up with what's happening every day in this market is painful. Without this lowball [offer], we'd be having a discussion in a few weeks from now if we didn't have another offer on the table and reducing to the same price without the leverage of having an offer in hand.' After agreeing on the new price, Tracy said, 'I'm glad we had this call, I was pretty ticked off about it as well. Let's turn the lemon into lemonade.' She then mumbled after hanging up, 'I'm over it.' 'We should've been under 8 [million] all along,' she later added. 'I hate to say, 'I told you so,' but I told you so.'"

"Later in the episode, Tracy revealed that after reducing the price to $7,995,000, she once again reduced the price to $7,599,000. However, there were still no offers. 'To have to fight this hard to sell what I consider to be a beautifully executed property is a defining moment in where the market is,' she said. 'The market's f-cking sh-t.' She added: 'It is going to be a long year for real estate agents and brokers around the country.' However, she wasn't giving up hope. 'I think we've got a little bit of time,' she told her clients. 'We made this reduction. I mean, there's stuff that's sitting on the market, you guys, for 1,000 days … We do not reduce again. You're under-selling it at that point.'"

Fortune on California. "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has joined the list of billionaires with expensive property headaches, after the infinity pool of his San Francisco home flooded the lower levels of the property. In a lawsuit filed to the Superior Court of San Francisco, lawyers allege 950 Lombard Street has 'been plagued by shoddy construction, corner cutting, and development efforts to save money, all which lead to pervasive defects in the building.' The developer also boasted, 'a lot of what we do in terms of development, you can't see.' Here it seems Altman's legal team would agree, saying the owner purchased what they 'believed to be a beautiful, luxury home' when in fact they were sold a '$27 million lemon.'"

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Residents of Ontario’s Prince Edward County are accustomed to the influx of summer tourists. This year more than most, many are hoping that visitors will also spend time checking out local real estate. Buyers have more power to negotiate these days, notes Tammy Noyes, real estate agent with Century 21 Lanthorn Real Estate, and it’s common to submit an offer conditional on a home inspection or financing, she adds. Sales have fallen about 50 per cent from the hectic days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she says. With fewer sales, it’s difficult to accurately set an asking price. 'You don’t have the data you once had with fewer sales,' she says."

"Ms. Miller says prices have dipped since the average in Prince Edward County hit more than $1-million at the peak during the pandemic. A major shift in 2024 is that an increasing number of sellers have become resigned to the fact that those record prices are not returning soon. She points to a Victorian-era farmhouse with 3.7 acres of land and a pebble beach listed last summer with an asking price of $1.579-million. The waterfront property sat through the fall until the owners took it off the market. It came back in the spring with an asking price below $1-million and sold within a couple of weeks, she says. Homeowners often wanted to start with a lofty asking price in the past, but more people today accept that they need to be priced in line with the market. 'We don’t have to fight tooth and nail,' she says of those conversations. 'People understand you have to start competitively – otherwise you end up sitting or chasing the market down.'"

From Reuters. "Building permits for apartments in Germany fell 24% in May from a year earlier, Statistics Office data showed on Thursday, highlighting a continued downturn in demand in the construction and real estate industry. Germany's property sector, in its third year of decline, is undergoing its most severe slump in decades. 'Building permits in Germany continue to go in only one direction: down,' said Felix Pakleppa, head of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry. 'You don't need a degree in statistics to realize that Germany is slipping into a deep housing crisis.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "Canterbury Bulldogs prop Liam Knight has taken a $150,000 loss on his Vaucluse townhouse investment after pocketing $1,475,000 in its midweek settlement. Knight, who has played nine for the Bulldogs this season, bought the three-level townhouse for $1,625,000 in January last year. It suggests Knight may have overpaid to buy into the block."

Vietnam Investment Review. "The condotel industry in Vietnam has experienced significant transformations over the past decade. The first few years indeed proved beneficial for early investors, driving a surge in similar developments across the country. However, the influx of large-scale projects quickly saturated the market, challenging the sustainability of returns that early adopters enjoyed. The Vietnamese government’s liberal approach in issuing licences for new condotel projects led to an oversupply in the market. Moreover, the rise of platforms like Airbnb added another layer of complexity. Many unit owners chose to rent out their properties independently, bypassing the rental pools managed by developers. This move put further pressure on the returns for those who remained within the official rental management systems."

From Barron's. "Zhong Weiyi, who owns an auto dealership just outside the sprawling western Chinese city of Chengdu, isn’t feeling confident about the economy. 'If housing prices keep shrinking, I wonder what kind of security I will have in my 70s,' the 58-year-old told Barron’s in a phone interview. Nearly all of his family’s savings have been put into their two apartments, leaving Zhong hesitant to buy much beyond necessities. His case illustrates the pain that has continued to flow through the economy since China’s property bubble burst in 2021."