A report from KTLA in California. "An Orange County man involved in a house flipping investment scam that victimized at least five elderly investors and raised more than $17 million has been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison, officials announced Monday. Prosecutors say 45-year-old Costa Mesa resident Brett Barber, along with co-conspirators identified as 65-year-old Sacramento resident Louis Zimmerle, promised investors returns of up to 10% from bogus real estate deals. 'While BNZ Capital did purchase some real estate, it did not take any steps to develop parcels, nor did BNZ flip real estate for a profit,' prosecutors said. 'Rather, BNZ primarily used investor funds to pay Barber, Zimmerle, and others associated with the scheme, including purchasing residences where Barber and Zimmerle lived. Some of the investors’ money was used to repay earlier investors.' 'There may not have been bloodshed, but this was real violence. [Brett Barber] knew these people were in their golden years, and he just took it all,' U.S. District Judge Otis Wright said during the sentencing hearing."

From WTOP News. "There are 5.6 million homes in the 50 largest United States metropolitan areas currently sitting vacant, including 123,000 in the D.C. metropolitan area. Among the 4.85% of existing homes in the D.C. region that are vacant, 33% are empty because they are rentals between tenants — the number one reason. For buyers, extreme vacancy rates do serve as red flags. Extremely low rates indicate a very tight rental or buyer market. Extremely high vacancy rates may be areas to steer clear of. 'It might mean there are not a lot of people who are interested in living there, and if you’re thinking about buying a house, it could mean that the value of your home doesn’t really appreciate over time — and if you decide too sell, you could be waiting a long time before your home changes hands,' said Jacob Channel, chief economist at LendingTree."

NBC News on Florida. "Roughly 1 million units are subject to the new capital-intensive rules. Some owners are hoping to sell their units rather than comply, others are walking away, and still others are looking to investors to bail them out. Longtime analyst Peter Zalewski, founder of Miami-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures, calls it the condo cliff. 'I would compare it to what we saw in during the Great Recession, which is effectively zombie buildings. These are the units where a small minority are going to have to basically bear the cross or pay for everyone else who’s not able to pay, whether they can’t or they choose not to pay,' said Zalewski."

"According to Zalewski’s count, in South Florida, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, three-quarters of all the condo units for sale are more than 30 years old and subject to the new rules. Condo prices were down about 2% in the summer season, and Zalewski said that’s just the beginning. 'It was only in September that the area started to get bombarded with information about the pitfalls,' said Zalewski. 'Uninformed buyers saw cheaper prices [in the summer] and figured they better buy now so that they could own a piece of South Florida. There is a lot of buyer regret right now.'"

KPNX TV in Arizona. "The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to approve proposed plans to develop over 1,500 housing units on 374 acres located south of Maricopa. The Sunset Canyon project proposes turning a lot of undeveloped land in the southwest corner of Val Vista Road and John Wayne Parkway into a new housing community. Several residents living in the nearby communities of Hidden Valley and Thunderbird Farms spoke out in opposition to the development, fearing Sunset Canyon would disrupt the rural lifestyle they sought out when moving to this region of Pinal County. Pinal County's population has grown enormously over the last couple of decades thanks to rapid development in San Tan Valley, Maricopa and Casa Grande."

"But some residents think the county's infrastructure has not kept up with the influx of residents and projects like Sunset Canyon would generate more problems along State Route 347, a roadway with a notorious reputation for heavy traffic and dangerous crashes. 'The message that is being sent to the residents of Hidden Valley and Thunderbird Farms is that we are irrelevant and expendable,' one resident told the board while expressing the feeling that the pleas of rural community members are ignored."

Westword in Colorado. "In Amanda Sawyer’s Denver City Council district in the eastern portion of the city, she’s combated plenty of problem properties — including a vacant church on Colorado Boulevard that required 165 calls for service and the involvement of 260 city personnel before it could be demolished and stop creating trouble in the area. That example is just one of many in her district, Sawyer says, and she knows that each of Denver’s ten other council districts have their own issues with problem properties. But when residents reach out about properties that their owners have abandoned — resulting in garbage on lawns, fires started by squatters looking for shelter or crumbling infrastructure — councilmembers often can’t fix the situation."

"That’s because of what Sawyer has dubbed the problem property 'doom loop,' where there are so many city agencies involved that no one agency can actually help residents effectively. 'What we see happen in the District 5 council office is that it's our police and our sheriffs who are ending up cleaning this up,' Sawyer said at a December 9 council committee meeting. Not only are there no good outcomes for residents, but Sawyer’s research found that city staffers are frustrated by the constant problem property issues that they just can’t solve. Staffing challenges are one reason that city agencies aren’t as active on the issue as they’d like, Sawyer found, so the problem is compounding. 'Our jobs are to connect people to resources, and there's no resource to connect them to in this instance except for continuing to board up the house,' council president Amanda Sandoval said at the committee meeting. 'That's not solving the problem, it's just boarding up a house.'"

From Bisnow. "Fannie Mae blacklisted two new real estate firms pending the outcome of an investigation, becoming the latest brokerages to face scrutiny as the mortgage behemoth works to uncover fraud on its books. Eastern Union Funding, which says it has closed on nearly $42B in loan volume since its founding in 2001, and Sevenstone Capital, a 4-year-old firm started by a former Eastern Union broker, have been temporarily suspended from doing business with Fannie Mae. Sources told TRD that Fannie Mae is scrutinizing loans involving Jeff Seidenfeld, a loan consultant who worked at Eastern Union from 2007 to 2020 before leaving to establish Sevenstone, his LinkedIn profile indicates."

"Eastern Union and Sevenstone are the latest firms to be caught up in what has become a sprawling effort to root out fraud. The initiative began in earnest this year after New York-based Meridian Capital Group was blacklisted last November over potential underwriting fraud.Meridian’s ban was lifted nearly a year later, although it will face extra scrutiny from the government-backed lenders on future deals. Brokers now at Sevenstone were involved in deals with Moshe Silber of Rhodium Capital, sources told TRD, another developer caught up in Fannie Mae's investigation. Silber pleaded guilty in August to falsifying financial records to get $74M in Fannie Mae financing for a project in Cincinnati, a scheme that ultimately cost JLL, which had sold the loan to Fannie Mae, $18M."

The Ottawa Citizen in Canada. "An Ottawa judge has approved an order that gives Ashcroft Homes protection from its lenders while the developer and property owner restructures its struggling business. Ontario Superior Court Justice Graeme Mew granted creditor protection to the Ashcroft Homes Group, a group of eight related companies, under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Dec. 5. The order essentially buys time for Ashcroft founder David Choo and his management team to refinance the business or sell some of its assets to reduce the company’s debt. In an affidavit, Choo said the company’s liquidity problem developed in recent years due to the combined effects of rising interest rates and falling occupancy levels."

"Founded by Choo in 1992, Ashcroft has built thousands of homes, condos, apartment and retirement units in and around Ottawa. The Ashcroft Homes Group operates largely through four divisions: Ashcroft Homes develops residential units; Alavida Lifestyles builds and operates retirement homes and seniors’ residences; Envie develops and operates student accommodation; and reStays operates luxury short-term rentals. Collectively, they own about 1,000 residential units and employ more than 500 people, mostly within the city of Ottawa. In his affidavit, Choo said the company developed serious 'liquidity shortfalls' in early 2023 and began working with its lenders to renegotiate repayment schedules. 'While many of the discussions with lenders to the Ashcroft Homes Group have been successful, others have not,' Choo said, noting that several of the firm’s projects have been sent into receivership this year."

BBC News in the UK. "Leaseholders living in a block of flats have reported their management company to the housing ombudsman in a dispute over maintenance costs. People living in Park View Court in Kenton, Newcastle, said RMG wanted to charge them £200,000 for repairs, which they believe should have been covered by a monthly fee they already pay for. Resident Neil Scandrett said the fee had gone up to more than £123 'and they just haven't done any repair work.' People living in the flats said there had been overflowing gutters, dead rats, damp, and rotting and broken fences. 'The whole place just looks tired,' Mr Scandrett said. Now they're saying, because the place looks tired, they want to charge us £200,000 to do necessary repairs. But we've been paying maintenance since 2002. Where's this money gone?'"

"Leader of the residents' group, Linda Duval, said her property was her investment. 'I didn't realise at the time that the service charge would cripple me,' she said. 'When I become a state pensioner, which is not going to be that long, the service charge is going to be more than a mortgage.'"

The Daily Telegraph. "The Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest decision to keep interest rates on hold will leave struggling homeowners in a precarious position and start a chain reaction within the housing market, experts claim. RBA governor Michelle Bullock today announced the cash rate would remain on hold at 4.35 per cent, squashing hope of an early reprieve for homeowners. About half of Aussie mortgage holders polled in recent research by comparison site Finder.com.au revealed they were struggling to meet the repayments on their homes. This was up from 35 per cent in October 2023, and 31 per cent in October 2022. Mortgage defaults were also predicted to increase ahead of Christmas, with additional data from SQM Research noting a recent rise in distressed sales – particularly in Victoria."

"Finder research revealed homeowners were responding with desperate moves to break from their existing loans. It follows a dramatic increase in property listings, with many states recording their highest volume of September and October listings in more than 15 years. Part of that bounce has come from investors offloading rentals they can no longer afford. Finder home loans expert Finder Richard Whitten said Aussies had overstretched themselves and were looking for reprieve. 'Interest rates are hitting households hard and many are looking for a way to reduce the pressure,' he said. 'Interest rates have remained fairly steady since November but many haven’t adjusted to the higher repayments.'"

The Telegraph. "It’s been dubbed Beijing’s 'do whatever it takes' moment. In a surprise move on Monday, the country’s ruling Communist party vowed to ramp up support for China’s ailing economy. With echoes of Mario Draghi’s bid to save the euro in 2012, leaders in Beijing changed their so-called stance on interest rates from 'prudent' to 'moderately loose.' The change may seem benign and technical, but it is one that demonstrates how alarm bells are ringing across the Chinese Communist Party. The shift in wording was the first tweak since the financial crisis in 2010."

"But while leaders of the world’s second-largest economy may wish to channel the former European Central Bank chief, analysts warned that unlike a decade ago, China’s vast debt pile and weak property sector means this time around there are no bazookas to stimulate growth. Sonja Laud, chief investment officer at Legal & General Investment Management adds that unlike 2008, China cannot simply unleash a spending spree to solve its problems."

"'It’s very clear that China is facing a very difficult domestic situation,' she says. 'We’ve talked at length about the balance sheet recession, the fact that you can’t really stimulate away the excess in real estate that has been built over decades, and as such, it is a lengthy process to get through this in order to really get to the bottom and a more stable footing for the economy. The consumer cannot overcompensate for the weakness that we are now seeing unfold – in particular in the real estate space – which has been for a long period of time, one of the largest contributors to Chinese growth.'"