A report from CBC News on Florida. "Jasmin Gosselin has been escaping Quebec's freezing temperatures for over 20 years, seeking refuge in his Boynton Beach condo, nestled in the Sunshine State. But his comfort doesn't come at the expense of his convictions. Gosselin has recently decided to sell his condo, citing U.S. President Donald Trump's attitude toward Canada and the Canadian people as a key reason for his departure. 'Trump doesn't respect Canada,' Gosselin told Daybreak's Sean Henry. '[He] doesn't respect snowbirds who spend their money during four, five months in Florida. We feed their economy and he doesn't respect us.' He and his wife, who turned 70 last year, are finding it increasingly difficult to live in the U.S. 'My HOA [homeowner association] fees were around $500 [US] a month five years ago. Now, it's $900 [US] a month this year,' said the snowbird."

"Real estate broker Alexandra DuPont is based in Florida's Broward County, a popular area for Canadians, according to her. She has noticed a growing trend of snowbirds selling their properties. 'Some people are still buying, but we're really seeing a huge influx with sellers,' DuPont told Quebec AM's Julia Caron. 'The buyers are quite rare. Everything's gone up. The insurance, the monthly condo dues, pretty much everything that has to do with condominiums.'"

Local 10 in Florida. "Residents of one condominium complex in Sunrise could soon be forced out of their homes. Several buildings have been deemed unsafe and residents have been left blindsided. Documents show their fees and assessments have gone up by hundreds of dollars over the last several years, but with a tennis court in disrepair, a locked swimming pool and some ceilings lined with plastic, they say they don’t know where their money is going. 'I actually ended up having a panic attack at work and had to leave work for the rest of the day today,' resident Bailey Harris said. With the added uncertainty of the notices at their doors, residents worry they’ll be out of pocket and out of a home. 'I feel like the people in this complex are being duped and a lot of us are about to lose everything that we have,' Harris said."

Fox News on California. "After making a shocking prediction that up to 70% of Pacific Palisades residents won’t return to rebuild and live in their homes, former 'Million Dollar Listing' real estate agent Josh Altman is explaining exactly why. 'They're not going to return because it's simple math,' Altman said. 'I don't believe they're going to be able to afford to rebuild with most of the people that are heavily underinsured, with the costs of construction, lumber, steel. We're talking about a $1,000 [per] foot building in the Palisades and in Malibu. And that's on top of getting a construction crew to show up to your site when there's 16,000 structures that have been burned between houses, schools, commercial spaces. It's a disaster,' Altman expanded. 'That's what I'm saying, I don't know that they'll be able to do it with the insurance.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "The announced departure of the Chronicle from South of Market after more than a century in its iconic building is the latest instance of the stark emptying of the area around Powell Street, once a booming hub. It comes as the immediate neighborhood is at a critical juncture: Downtown’s recovery has been a primary focus for city officials for several years now, yet businesses continue to flee the area. The decision by parent company Hearst to break traditional tethers by shifting the Chronicle and its sister company SFGATE from the 1924 Gothic Revival style building at 901 Mission to a sleek 16-story high-rise tower at 450 Sansome St. in the Financial District was prompted by an effort to finish what Hearst had started before the pandemic: a 400-unit condo tower that would further infuse an incomplete mixed-use campus spanning 4 acres between Fifth, Mission and Howard streets, with life."

"A massive 640,000-square-foot office tower at 415 Natoma St., the biggest part of the project, is 97% vacant. Convention traffic spillover has also slowed from nearby Moscone Center, while drug usage and quality-of-life issues on long-troubled Sixth Street to the west has gotten 'significantly worse' in recent months, according to police. 'It’s insane to me that here you have a whole building sitting empty,' said Joshua Manzo, a former bartender at Tempest, while pointing at the 5M office tower at 415 Natoma, which he said replaced a DYI workshop that would bring artists and workers into the bar. 'Downtown is a little lost. We have empty buildings, and yet we have a housing crisis. To me, that doesn’t make any sense.'"

Yahoo Finance. "Mirroring trends in the single-family home market, insurers are boosting premiums or exiting the business of covering HOAs’ common property entirely, citing rising losses from extreme weather and aging buildings. The steep premium hikes usually end up passed on to individual owners in the form of higher monthly dues. In suburban Minneapolis, insurance broker Eric Skarnes is having increasing trouble finding options for his clients in Minnesota and Colorado. In both states, insurers fear hail damage, which can pummel roofs. Mark Foster sits on the board for an 84-unit complex in Lakeville, Minn. Since 2021, premiums on his HOA’s master insurance policy have quadrupled to $236,000. Despite being spared from several severe hailstorms that have hit the region in recent years, his association was dropped by their insurer when the total value of their insured property surpassed $60 million. 'We got booted to the secondary market,' he said. 'It’s terribly expensive.'"

"In the same timeframe, his HOA’s monthly fees — which cover insurance premiums, reserves, and maintenance — have roughly doubled to nearly $700 a month. In an effort to avoid further pain for owners, many of whom are retired and live on fixed incomes, the board has opted to defer certain projects like road resurfacing and irrigation system upgrades. Wilson Leung, a real estate agent in California’s Bay Area, said the condo market is noticeably slower than single-family sales as prospective buyers balk at fees and higher property insurance costs. Nationwide, condo sales are falling and for-sale inventory is piling up. As of July 2024, condos under contract fell 5.5% compared to a year earlier, according to Redfin, while listings were up more than 27%."

"The problem is most acute in disaster-prone parts of Florida and Texas, where insurance premiums and HOA fees have been rising particularly fast. In Houston, the median condo sales price fell 6.5% between mid-2023 and mid-2024. Jacksonville, Fla., saw a similar 6.6% decline in that period."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s announcement Thursday that he plans to halt any construction of 'net new' supportive housing in Vancouver has set off dismay and cheering throughout British Columbia. At a Vancouver conference organized by groups of residents, businesses and organizations concerned about deteriorating public disorder, Mr. Sim said this week Vancouver is already carrying too much of the load of supportive housing, with 77 per cent of all that type in the region even though the city only represents 25 per cent of total population."

"The mayor was particularly critical of the amount of supportive housing in the Downtown Eastside and the efforts of past governments whose policies led to a concentration of service providers, as well as troubled clients, in the neighbourhood. 'This poverty-industrial complex has not only blocked local businesses from thriving but has also created conditions that degrade the health and well-being of our most vulnerable community members. Meanwhile, it has attracted predatory criminals, further compounding this neighbourhood’s challenges.'"

The Independent Singapore. "While owning a home is often seen as a measure of success, without proper planning, it can quickly become a financial nightmare. A 34-year-old Malaysian man earning RM4,400 (S$1,354) a month recently purchased an apartment worth RM464,000 (S$142,788) and is now tied to an RM3,000 (S$923) monthly housing loan for the next 30 years—a decision he admits he did not think through. This does not include the extra RM300 (S$92) he needs to shell out for monthly maintenance, as reported by The Sun. Sharing his regret in the Facebook group Muflis Bankrupt di Malaysia, he expressed how the decision has weighed him down."

"'Now, I feel weighed down with the housing loan. My mistake was not thinking this through when buying the unit. I feel scammed.' He also advised those dreaming of buying a home to 'think carefully and calculate wisely,' adding, 'Don’t be like me.' He shared that after working for 11 years without any assets or debts, he wanted to own a property and thought it was the right step to take, especially since he had already paid off his car and education loans. However, he later realised that purchasing the house meant 75 per cent of his salary would go toward paying off his apartment—a stark contrast to when he was renting and living comfortably without debt."

"While some commenters sympathised with his situation, many agreed his salary couldn’t support a property at that price. 'Buying a home is not wrong; it’s just that you bought the wrong home,' one user said, suggesting it would have been a better decision if he had opted for an RM300,000 property (S$92,320), paying just RM1,500 (S$462) monthly.