A report from Real Estate News. "With the pandemic real estate boom well in the rearview mirror, Central Texas homebuyers and sellers are adapting to life in a more balanced market. The most recent Austin-area housing report from Unlock MLS depicts a market unlike many others across the country: Prices are continuing to drop, pending sales are up and inventory is sitting right around six months. Sellers in Austin are still adjusting to the change. The September report indicated the average closing was 92.8% of the list price, down slightly from 93.2% a year ago. While sellers may be a little disappointed, the pandemic period of rapid price growth was unsustainable, said Clare Knapp, housing economist for Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors. And Austin-area real estate agents may have to evolve too. 'What I've observed is that Realtors are just really positive people and have an ability to try to make the most of any situation,' Knapp said. 'There's a lot of hope for the future, but there is certainly a recognition that this is perhaps not the market in Austin that they would have wanted.'"

Mansion Global. "The aftermath of Helene and Milton, which brought historic storm surges to Florida’s Gulf Coast and wreaked havoc across seven states, is bound to create ripples within the affected housing markets. 'All of the attention that Florida was given during the pandemic has really fallen as the market adjusts to price levels and the kind of inventory that buyers are willing to pay for,' said Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones. 'Right now, it seems like prices are too high for buyers to have more interest. Both Florida and North Carolina have seen out-of-state viewership fall lately, but Florida has seen a sharper drop.' All major markets in Florida have seen inventory flood the market over the past year, with active listings up 36% statewide in August compared with last year, and more than 40% in Orlando, and Tampa, according to Redfin. That’s true in most markets nationwide, including in North Carolina, where inventory was up 21% in August, per Redfin."

From News4Jax. "In the wake of two powerful hurricanes, Helene and Milton, six major property insurance companies are outlining their future plans in Florida. The insurance industry is facing potential rate hikes, and one Fort Myers insurance agent is weighing in on what homeowners should expect. Brian Wilcox, a commercial insurance agent at Five County Insurance, believes that hurricanes Helene and Milton could result in higher insurance rates for property owners across Florida. 'I project that there’s going to be a spike in insurance across the board. Even if you didn’t file a claim, we’re all in this pool together,' he said."

The Washington Post. "Deep blue and normally like-minded, Montgomery County isn’t a typical setting for political divides, especially one with angry shouting at public meetings where each side accuses the other of working to ruin Maryland’s most populous county. Every member of the county council is a Democrat, and the county executive — a longtime member of the Democratic Socialists of America — lives in a town that proudly calls itself 'The People’s Republic of Takoma Park.' But introduce a plan to allow new housing types in single-family neighborhoods and fault lines start to emerge. A man who said he lives in Chevy Chase warned: 'This is a radical change that will be the death of single-family communities.' Another man shouted out 'Yeah!' and the audience erupted in whistles and cheers."

"'It’s really a betrayal of the single-family homeowner,' said Steve Cohen, a retired naval architect and marine engineer who has lived in Kensington for more than 35 years. 'It destabilizes the community and it makes the homeowners pay the price. Every homeowner has a basic expectation that there’s going to be stability in their home price. This is going to destroy all that.' 'You start to realize that communities with a progressive reputation may not necessarily have such progressive views on, say, whether more people should live next to them,' said Jordan Day, a Silver Spring renter and supporter of the plan."

Bisnow on California. "General contractor Suffolk Construction has filed a lawsuit against Behring Cos., the Danville-based developer of a 452-unit luxury apartment tower in Uptown Oakland. The $20M lawsuit, filed Aug. 16 in Alameda County Superior Court, says Behring is in breach of contract over construction delays at the 1900 Broadway project, according to the San Francisco Business Times. San Francisco bedroom communities in the East Bay have seen a glut of new multifamily supply over the past five to seven years. 'The effects of supply pressure are being felt most acutely in bayside submarkets like Downtown Oakland and Berkeley,' according to a second-quarter NAI NorCal report."

The Turlock Journal. "The value of farmland in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, California’s agricultural heartland, has fallen rapidly this year as commodity prices lag and implementation of the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act casts a shadow on the future of farming in the region. In 2014, when SGMA was adopted, the value of farmland without reliable surface water access began to decline. But within the past several months, those values have plummeted, according to appraisers, realtors and county assessors."

"'It’s very dramatic,' said Janie Gatzman, owner of Gatzman Appraisal in Stanislaus County, who until last month served as president of the California chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Her analysis showed San Joaquin Valley vineyards and nut tree orchards had declined in value by 25% to 50% within the previous eight months. Since March, almond orchards without reliable surface water in the valley have lost more than half their value, according to ASFMRA’s figures. In parts of Tulare County, Gatzman said, some pistachio orchards have sold this year for a quarter of what they were worth last year."

"'How quickly it’s come on in recent years has been a surprise,' said Doug Phillips, president of Schuil Ag Real Estate in Tulare County, referring to SGMA’s impact on land values. 'I don’t think much changed initially, but it certainly has changed now.' The value declines have been greatest, appraisers said, in white areas that depend entirely on groundwater, which comprise about 20% of the valley’s irrigated farmland, and in districts with expensive and unreliable water deliveries. 'There is just no appetite for those properties unless you discount it so steeply,' Gatzman said. 'That’s why the value has fallen.'"

"Justin Morehead, a former banking manager whose family farms in Tulare County, spoke last month at the state probation hearing for the Tule Subbasin, spelling out the crisis facing some farmers. 'The banks, now looking at appraised land values that have shed 60% to 70% in five years, are reluctant to lend to the local family farm. Unable to continue farming, the owner will either be forced to sell or foreclose with the bank,' Morehead said. 'This is not a hypothetical exercise to us. This is the reality our family is facing.'"

The Daily Voice. "A New York attorney has admitted to running a scheme to defraud victims of nearly $6,000,000. Long Island resident Daniel Boldi, age 49, of Garden City acted as settlement agent and bank attorney in multiple property sales on Long Island and embezzled millions of dollars of his clients’ escrow and home loan funds, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly. The scam involved 46 separate real estate transactions between September 2020 and January 2024, Donnelly said. Boldi pleaded guilty to 13 counts of grand larceny in the second degree (a Class C felony) and one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree (a Class E felony). Boldi is expected to be sentenced to three to nine years in prison and is required to pay $1,000,000 in partial upfront restitution."

"In one scheme, Boldi provided a private lender with a fraudulent mortgage and title closing records, embezzling $1.15 million through two separate loan thefts. According to bank records, Boldi used the funds he stole on various personal expenses unrelated to the victims’ transactions, including Venmo payments to other individuals and property investments. 'Daniel Boldi posed as a trusted professional in real estate transactions and orchestrated elaborate schemes that defrauded nearly four dozen prospective homeowners, real estate brokers, and even a volunteer ambulance corps out of more than five million dollars,' said Donnelly."

The London Free Press in Canada. "Jean Zak was midway through writing a book about her son Jonathan, who was killed in a 2012 shooting, when she had to stop working on it in the spring. Zak became overwhelmed after finding herself embroiled in another London police investigation. Zak, 81, is one of two dozen people who police allege were defrauded out of nearly $2 million by Robert (Randy) Hawken, a financial adviser and insurance broker who had built clientele in the London area over more than three decades. Hawken, 66, faces criminal charges and a mounting tally of civil lawsuits. After retiring from TD Canada Trust, Zak invested in a guaranteed investment certificate (GIC), a fixed-term investment that pays set interest rates, through Hawken’s company, Dufferin Financial Group, in 2002, she said."

"Another London couple has launched a $178,000 lawsuit against Hawken, his wife and Amsaral, which lists Hawken as director and holds a mortgage on a home at 554 Waterloo St., where Dufferin Financial operates. The couple had known and invested with the Hawkens for 15 years, contributing $78,000 between December 2023 and January 2024 in a GIC, the statement of claim alleges. The couple asked Hawken to withdraw their investment from the GIC, but he told them he couldn’t return their money until he had paid out 'residuals,' the lawsuit alleges. One day later, a Dufferin Financial Group employee called the couple and said the company had defrauded them and several other clients, the lawsuit alleges."

"The Hawkens misappropriated the money invested with Dufferin Financial Group and used it to support their lifestyle, including to pay the mortgages, taxes and upkeep for two houses in London and another in Grand Bend, the lawsuit alleges. The Tuscan Lodge is asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to put a certificate of pending litigation on the London properties, both listed for sale since the spring, and the Grand Bend cottage. The four-bedroom house at 558 Waterloo St. has been listed for sale since March 3. The $549,000 asking price has been slashed twice since it was first listed for $699,000. Property records show the house is owned by Amsaral Holdings. The three-storey house at 554 Waterloo St. is listed for $1.05 million, down from the original nearly $1.3-million March asking price. Zak, meanwhile, said she’s been consumed by worries and has had trouble sleeping since learning her GIC investment with Hawken may be gone. Asked what Zak would like to say to Hawken, she replied: 'How could you do that to me when you know I lost my son? '"

Radio New Zealand. "Economists said the period of high inflation - and the downturn the Reserve Bank's interest rate response to it created - had changed the economy significantly, in at least seven key ways. Independent economist Shamubeel Eaqub said an obvious, lasting change was in the prices New Zealanders pay for just about everything. Prices were still much higher than they had been previously, he said, and that was the new normal."

"'It almost went on to a different plain, or train track. We were going along and suddenly shifted on to a higher level for prices and a lower level for economic activity. We haven't seen a permanent shift up in prices for a long time … I don't think the Reserve Bank or anyone is forecasting outright deflation and if you don't have outright deflation what happens is you get stuck on that parallel track. On a macro level, on a business level, on a household level - businesses have higher costs and higher prices. Everything has shifted up. The value of money has [dropped] - $20 is not the same as it was five years ago. We will look back on this period as quite seismic, the ripples will go on for a long time … I have never seen such a sustained period of financial stress among New Zealanders before.'"

"Council of Trade Unions chief economist Craig Renney said the experience of the downturn may have changed some people's perceptions around housing. 'A residential portfolio investment as a quick and easy way to make money… the foundations of that will have been shaken. The construction market is well off its heights and it could take a long time to get back to the levels of the boom period post-Covid.'"

From ABC News. "Banning development in serious flood zones and buying back existing properties that are at high risk are among 86 recommendations of a federal government inquiry that probed how insurance companies responded to major Australian floods in 2022. The inquiry's report, handed down on Friday, found evidence of systemic problems following severe flooding across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, including inconsistent decision making, poor-quality expert reports and long delays. More than 300,000 insurance claims were made over the flood events, totalling almost $7.4 billion. The report concluded insurance companies 'failed too many people.'"

"Northern Rivers resident Aveley McCann's home on the outskirts of Lismore was damaged by the 2022 floods, but repairs under her insurance claim are yet to be completed. 'I've got doors that don't close in the house and it's almost three years later,' she said. 'If I'd had some of those definitions really early, it would have made the process easier. The entire process was like picking off a scab every time. You could never heal. I feel like I've failed.'"