It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Condos that were around when the Hurricanes lost a national championship game to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl are flooding the South Florida market. That was 30 years ago. There is a crush of condos built in 1994 or earlier for sale in South Florida — almost 18,000 condos of that vintage were on the market in the second quarter. About nine of every 10 condos for sale in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties dates back to at least 1994, according to ISG Worldwide. 'What we've seen in the last 12 months is a rush to sell by the owners of those condos,' said ISG Worldwide CEO Craig Studnicky. 'That's met with a lack of rush from the buyers who want to buy that stuff. The buyers who are moving to Florida are specifically asking, 'Realtors, don't take me to one of those [older buildings].'"

"Texas and Florida are seeing the biggest increase in homes sitting unsold on the market, new research has revealed. In Dallas, 63 percent of listings sat on the market for at least 30 days in June - up from 52 percent a year earlier. It is followed by four metros in the Sunshine State - Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville and Orlando. Stale inventory is growing fastest in these states as supply outweighs demand and insurance rates skyrocket, Redfin found, despite property prices beginning to fall. 'Overall, the market is fairly stagnant,' said Shay Stein, a Redfin Premier agent in Las Vegas. 'There are more listings hitting the market, but a lot of them aren't in good condition or they're not in a desirable neighborhood - and sellers are pricing unrealistically high.'"

"While real estate is a tried-and-true path to building wealth, putting all your eggs in this basket and ignoring retirement vehicles such as a 401(k) can come with huge downsides. 'Real estate can be an excellent long-term investment,' says Richard Redmond of Richmond Mortgage Capital in San Rafael, CA. 'A small investor in income-producing real estate—one limited to a few properties in one area— is very exposed to local market conditions, including the local economy, regulations, and natural disasters,' warns Redmond. For example, Redmond says he has seen many small real estate investors going after Airbnb-type rental properties only to see either their market become saturated or they've fallen victim to regulations that restrict short-term rentals. 'Local jurisdictions passing rent control laws or zoning changes can hit income and affect property values,' Redmond explains. 'There are a host of problems that can arise in any one locality that can hit real estate income and values.'"

"Richard Goncher of Backyard Mortgage Group in Garnerville, NY, says a friend's property in Newburgh, NY, lost value after a shooting at the local high school. Properties risk 'bad tenants and the local area going out of favor,' he says. In a nutshell, real estate as an investment 'is for someone sophisticated and diligent,' says Mark McDonough of Assume Loans in Brookline, MA. Even with a management company taking care of things on the property owner's behalf, he warns, 'there are still possibilities of getting burned by a malignant tenant, squatter, or any number of problems that don't plague a 401(k).' Plus, McDonough adds, a real estate market can turn quickly. During the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, 'everyone was looking for lab space, and now you can't give it away.'"

"In a public auction that unfolded in about 15 minutes outside the Baltimore Circuit Court on Thursday morning, the former Charm City home of actor Kevin Spacey sold for $3.24 million to a proxy bidder for a buyer whose name has not yet been disclosed. The two-unit waterfront condo in the Pier Homes at Harborview complex spans more than 9,000 square feet and last sold in 2017 for over $5.6 million to Clear Toaster LLC. Court records showed he owed a significant sum in back payments."

"When interest rates topped out last year, the rise drove a wedge between what sellers were asking and buyers would pay. The gap dragged New York City investment sales activity to around a decade low, according to Ariel Property Advisors. Now, higher rates are fueling its comeback — at least for multifamily. The boom was largely driven by maturing loans that positioned sponsors to be saddled with higher interest rates. Some owners were facing two options: sell or default. 'More sellers were forced to capitulate,' Ariel head Shimon Shkury said. Pricing for free-market properties in Manhattan declined drastically in the past year from an average of $971,849 per unit in the second quarter of 2023 to $532,207 per unit during the same period of 2024, according to Ariel’s report."

"For example, 826 Crown Street sold for $4.8 million during the quarter, which is 58 percent below its 2018 price, according to Ariel. Shkury said the deal was most likely driven by a maturity. Other operators, exhausted by the rent laws restrictions, are working to unwind themselves from the asset class altogether at any price they can get."

"A buyer has emerged for the distressed office tower at 777 S. Figueroa St. in Downtown Los Angeles, Commercial Observer reported, citing anonymous sources. The tower owned by Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor is reportedly set to sell for $120M, or less than half the $289M in debt attached to the building at the time of its default in February 2023. Another Brookfield property, The Gas Company Tower at 555 W. Fifth St., was attached to the $465M in debt that defaulted in February 2023. That property is headed to a foreclosure auction next month, Bisnow reported earlier this week. It has been a busy week for distressed DTLA assets. In addition to news about Brookfield’s properties, a stalking horse bidder for the partially built, graffiti-riddled Oceanwide Plaza project emerged. An auction for that property is expected in September."

"Two arrest warrants were added this month to the pile of legal troubles facing a Vancouver real estate developer who’s advertised large returns for regular people investing in his projects across B.C. In the span of just two days last week, a B.C. Supreme Court justice and a provincial court judicial justice both issued orders for the arrest of Bob Fraser, CEO of the Cynterra Group. Both warrants are for failing to appear for hearings on how he plans to repay more than $80,000 he owes to contractors on a partially completed townhouse development in Kelowna. Until recently, Cynterra held regular seminars to pitch its projects to investors across Canada, and advertised regularly on Facebook, running ads that enticed users to 'boost your TFSA and RRSP earnings,' with '15% annual returns.'"

"But as the IJF first reported in April, Cynterra, its predecessor Evest Funds and their associated companies have faced a long list of lawsuits from contractors who say they haven’t been fully paid. Fraser has also acknowledged in a previous interview that some of his investors are 'very, very angry' because they have yet to see any returns. In the meantime, homebuyers and investors have been left to wait and wonder. Buyer Tracey Shaw said that when she signed a contract to purchase a one-bedroom unit at Promontory in the fall of 2019, she believed it would be ready within a year. Nearly five years later, she recently received notice that completion has been pushed back to the end of 2024, at the earliest. 'The biggest frustration that I've had is just the lack of communication. There's just been no meaningful updates,' she said. As for those investors who dedicated retirement savings to Cynterra projects, the future is uncertain."

"More than 80 per cent of new condo investors in the Toronto region are bleeding cash as the rental income from their units is not covering the increasing mortgage and costs of owning the property, according to a new report. The losses are dissuading investors from buying new condo units, also known as preconstruction condos. The preconstruction condo market is 'clearly in recessionary territory with conditions deteriorating to levels not seen in decades,' said the report. Many more investors are paying out of pocket to cover the costs – a situation known as being 'cash flow negative.' According to the report, 81 per cent of investors who took out a mortgage to buy newly completed condos this year were cash flow negative and were losing an average of $605 a month."

"If preconstruction condo investors are unable to cover the shortfall in rental income, they may be forced to sell. That would increase the number of condos for sale and further reduce prices. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal said investors who own multiple preconstruction units are the most vulnerable. 'The main correcting mechanism will be to sell,' he said, adding that this would put further downward pressure on resale prices and widen the gap between preconstruction and already-built units. This year, a near-record number of newly built condos are expected to be completed and occupied."

"Some residents living in the popular East Lothian seaside say the holiday lets boom has had a less than positive impact on the local economy - and for residents. Edinburgh Live spoke to North Berwick locals to hear their thoughts on short term lets in the area. Residents were quick to criticise the amount of holiday lets. Ronnie William, who has lived year-round in North Berwick since 1990, said: 'I used to walk my dog in the evening along the High Street, and it was all dark in the off-season. There are so many holiday homes, none of the houses had lights on.' Jim, who lives just off North Berwick’s high street, said he had to cable tie his bins because they would otherwise 'overflow' with rubbish from the tourists. Jim’s flat is attached to two short term let properties, and he reported 'a direct experience of hassle with absentee landlords.' 'There’s lots of not following rules. It’s purely an investment for them.'"

"House prices have fallen in a string of popular Victorian tourist towns as holiday-home owners and investors sell up amid cost-of-living pressures and land tax increases. The steepest fall was in Mansfield at the foot of the Victorian Alps, down 9.1 per cent in 12 months to a median of $663,750, Domain’s House Price Report for the June quarter shows. 'What regional buyers will be finding now is that fear of missing out is certainly not there,' said Domain chief of economics Dr Nicola Powell. 'I do think that provides grounds for many buyers to place in offers and seize this unique opportunity to actually purchase when prices are below peak.'"

"Ray White Inverloch principal agent Fiona McMahon-Hughes said an oversupply of houses for sale on the Bass Coast, caused by a rise in investors and second-home owners selling, had resulted in falling prices in the holiday destination. 'These are people on normal wages … suddenly they’ve got a bill of $7000, or some have been higher than that, and they’ve got to find that every year,' she said. 'We are a holiday destination … the people buying holiday homes aren’t there,' she said. 'What we’re dealing with, if we’re lucky, is half a dozen buyers for over 120 properties.' Principal agent at McGrath Mansfield Kate Mcdougall said properties were still highly sought after in the popular alpine town as prices returned to pre-pandemic levels. 'They’ve gone from what I would say nuts to normal,' she said."

"Waikato woman Helen - whom RNZ has agreed not to identify - has recently spent six months trying to sell her home. While she received a couple of offers, they were well below what she was willing to consider, and eventually she decided to withdraw the property from the market. 'It's really quiet, really frustrating. Anything in that slightly higher price point - we were trying to sell around $1.1 million - there's nothing [happening]. From my perspective, it's the fact that we worked really hard to get into this house and build our home - for us to turn around and get a couple of offers that were so low they weren't quite a joke but they were so low it wasn't worth it… for us it's better to hold on to it.'"

"But she said she was also aware that the longer the property remained on the market, the lower any offers she received might potentially be. 'We were told that by agents. We had one agent for three months then switched to a new agent who said we had to be more realistic because we had been on the market for three months, we had to drop the price. I get that but at the same time, the house hadn't lost value just because it had been on the market three months.'"

"It was after she talked to someone who told her that unless she was willing to drop the price below $1m that she could expect it not to sell for months that she withdrew it. 'I felt that was really refreshing. Everyone else was having us sign up and do this and that, within five minutes they were telling us to drop the price. For us it was refreshing to get a blunt, honest real estate agent.'"

"Property economist Ed McKnight, from Opes Partners, said other vendors were probably experiencing something similar to Helen. 'Property prices have been falling by 0.85 percent per month since February, on average. So if a property had a 'fair market price' of $1 million in six weeks that value might fall to $987,000. So, if a seller lists at too high a price, they may find that by the time they drop the price and find a buyer they have to accept less than they would otherwise get.' He said one vendor he knew wanted to sell for $1.8 million. But at auction the top bid was $1.75m, which they did not accept. 'After many months they eventually sold for $1.63 million. That's $120,000 - 6.8 percent - less than the original offer. So in a falling market, setting a price that is 'too high' can mean that some sellers will end up worse off.'"