A report from the Mercury News in California. "Just a month after she bought her red-doored dream home, Ana Wold’s little gray Boulder Creek house burned to the ground in the 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains firestorm. Now she’s walking away from a half-built replacement, putting it up for sale after more than four years of battles with an insurance company and a contractor. 'It’s been hell, absolute hell, and I have been spending money like it’s water,' said Wold, a 51-year-old sales director for a technology company in Fremont. 'I wish to God I didn’t start building.'"

"The experiences of CZU Fire victims and damning grand jury findings depict a county government unprepared to meet the needs of overwhelmed residents. The recovery was mired in a mix of challenges, including widespread lack of sufficient insurance. Many 'found themselves under-insured to the degree that they simply could not bear the cost to rebuild.' 'We’re stuck,” said Tina Cortinas, 52, a Saratoga High School special education teacher who lost her yellow three-bedroom Boulder Creek home to the flames and whose insurance payout isn’t enough to rebuild."

WPTV in Florida. "The term 'homeowners insurance' has become a bit of a jumpscare for homeowners WPTV's Joel Lopez spoke with on Friday. 'The increase of the coverage of the houses, many people cannot afford it,' said Julio Jimenez. 'Especially these days, meals are expensive, gas is expensive, everything is expensive.' He's a local artist that lives in Lantana and said he was paying $5,500 annually for Citizens insurance. 'It's way too much, you have your property tax increasing; you have your insurance increasing, so everything is increasing, you cannot afford to put food on the table,' said Louis Ductan. He said he couldn't afford his $6,000 Citizens premium and decided to drop homeowners insurance coverage all together."

"'We got to save the money cause it's getting too tough,' said Ductan. He's monitoring the changes coming to Citizens Insurance and hopes for rate decreases across the board. 'It's way too much, they have to do something,' said Ductan."

From WMBB. "Friday morning, the Central Panhandle Association of Realtors (CPAR) presented its real estate market findings from 2024 and its outlook for 2025. Officials say Bay County is in a buyers’ market, meaning buyers have more say in pricing and demand. In addition, the condo market is struggling. 'Condos have really been affected by the legislation for Florida put in place. It’s definitely good that it was put into place for the safety of our residents. But there are side effects that have come. The assessments and the fees for condos are increasing, and buyers just aren’t necessarily willing to take on that additional cost right now,' CPAR 2025 President Ariane Johnson said."

"Bay County’s continuing development is creating conflicting outcomes for sellers. CPAR officials say resale homes are struggling to compete. 'We’ve seen a big influx of new development, a lot of new builds, which is great for buyers because new builders can offer concessions and discounted points that the regular seller may not be able to offer,' Johnson said."

Star Advertiser in Hawaii. "Oahu’s housing market saw a strong start in 2025, with both sales and prices rising, according to the latest figures from the Honolulu Board of Realtors. More sellers entered the market in January, with 336 new single-family home listings, up 17.9 % from 2024, and 739 new condo listings, a 27.2 % increase. Active inventory grew 20.9 % for single-family homes and 54.9 % for condos compared with January 2024. However, the data suggests buyers were not aggressively overbidding—62 % of those homes sold below the original asking price, with sellers receiving a median of 97.4 % of their asking price. Across all single-family home sales, 23 % closed above the original asking price, similar to 2024. Fewer condos sold above the asking price, dropping to 10 % of transactions from 17 % in January 2024."

From Summit Daily. "The most expensive home sold in Summit County during 2024 went for roughly $1 million less than the most expensive home sold in 2023 — and $6 million less than the all-time record. Real estate agents say there was a trend happening where sellers were setting their original listing price unrealistically high in 2024 after seeing record-breaking price tags in prior years. Sellers ruled the market from 2020-2022. Housing inventory is up in 2024, and there are more options for buyers to consider. The market has shifted, and price tags dropped while the average amount of days a property spent on market rose, which bolstered buyers’s power to negotiate. 'In 2024 we saw a lot more concessions and price cuts,' President of the Colorado Association of Realtors Dana Cottrell said."

"The home sold with the highest price tag in 2024 was first listed at around $14.8 million before sellers bumped the price tag down to $12.8 million. The home ultimately sold for $10.9 million. Every property that earned a spot in 2024’s top five most expensive home sales was bought for less than the original listing price. '(Particularly) for the luxury market, buyers had the ability to kind of pick and choose a little bit, and they could be choosy,' said Lou Cirillo, the real estate agent who represented the seller in the second most expensive home sale in 2024. 'From a local affordability perspective, you’re not seeing as much growth. If anything, you’re seeing a decline in pricing,' said Summit-based real estate agent Dishon Lutz."

Pioneer Press in Minnesota. "In many ways, pets are the first to suffer the ill effects of an ailing economy. Local animal rescue groups see it firsthand. 'We do get a lot of calls on home foreclosures, people being forced to move,' said Katie Jorgenson, a volunteer with Southwest Animal Rescue and Adoption Society. 'We’re seeing a lot of surrenders due to foreclosed homes,' she said. 'Some pets we’re even finding left behind in foreclosed homes.'"

From Bloomberg. "President Donald Trump’s mandate to pause all federal loans and grants, albeit short-lived, is raising questions about US banks’ ongoing support for nonprofit community groups. From Wall Street giants like Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to smaller regional and community lenders, banks have hundreds of billions of dollars in loan exposure to people and groups that rely in some part on federal assistance. They loaned about $150 billion to community development groups and more than $320 billion to borrowers in low-income areas in 2022, according to the latest figures compiled by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition."

"Cutting off federal funding to nonprofits would be 'a huge economic hit one way or another with ripple effects that won’t stop at the nonprofits,' said Randell Leach, Chief Executive Officer of Beneficial State Bank, a California lender focusing on community development work. 'Some banks won’t finance nonprofits at all.' When the freeze was announced, Lila Anna Sauls, president of Homeless No More, was preparing to close on a $3 million bridge loan to begin construction on a new affordable housing complex. The loan was set to be paid back with funds that came from the Department of Housing and Urban Development."

"If she hadn’t been able to get the money the government had promised, 'I would have had a $3 million loan with a really scary repayment option,' she said. One of her bankers raised the prospect that she and other similar groups might need more help from banks’ charitable giving arms, said Sauls, whose South Carolina organization runs homeless shelters and builds affordable housing."

CBC News in Canada. "TV celebrity contractor Mike Holmes has posted a public statement on Facebook about the importance of electrical safety and investigating contractors which may have done unsafe work. The comments came one day after a CBC investigative report found a Holmes-endorsed company, AGM Renovations, is facing accusations of shoddy construction, including unsafe electrical work. For years, Holmes has endorsed the Ontario-based renovation company in numerous slick ads, with glowing statements such as, 'Don't risk just hiring any contractor: Trust AGM.' But after the CBC found AGM is under investigation by Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) following electrical safety violations, an AGM webpage embedded on Holmes' Make It Right website disappeared."

"CBC News had interviewed two families who said Holmes' endorsement influenced their decision to choose AGM Renovations for housing projects — a decision they each say they regret. Both customers complained of shoddy work by AGM, including electrical problems. 'We were furious, very angry. It's our home, it's where our kids sleep,' said Eric Cartier. 'We trusted AGM to do it right and leave the home safe.'"

The Irish Independent. "The ‘Trump factor’ is poised to create a much-needed 'correction' in Ireland’s soaring housing market, an industry veteran has warned. In yet another tumultuous week during US President Donald Trump’s new term in office, he announced a 25pc tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, a 10pc levy on Chinese goods, and threatened to impose surcharges on EU imports, only to pause tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports for at least a month. 'The economy in Ireland is flying,' said Philip Farrell, the co-founder and chief commercial officer of proptech company Offr and a former chief executive of the Real Estate Alliance, a nationwide network of estate agencies. 'But it’s all to do with confidence. These (property) price increases of 10pc, 11pc, 12pc are not good for everyone. It creates a bubble. There needs to be a correction and it would be good for all of us just to have prices stabilise for a year to 18 months. It would put a dampener to this exuberance.'"

"'Because of the lack of supply, there’s an element of panic and we’re seeing a huge amount of international professionals living here bidding on five or six properties at the same time,' Farrell said. 'The current increases in value can’t be sustained. Something needs to give. The market needs a correction. My layperson’s view is that the orange man in America will cause it.'"

The Herald Sun in Australia. "A French Mediterranean-inspired Brighton house changed hands for a massive $8.5m at auction yesterday, a sum $1m lower than its last sale just 12 months ago. The five-bedroom pad at 36 Dawson Ave features a sauna, home cinema, games and billiards room with a built-in bar and rooftop terrace equipped with a hot tub spa and barbecue kitchen. Morrell and Koren buyer’s advocate Matthew Cleverdon, who bought the home on behalf of a client, declined to discuss the price. However, industry sources indicated the sold figure, while public records show the house previously fetched $9.5m in February, 2024. 'I would say the Brighton and Bayside markets are transacting well, with opportunities still to be found,' Mr Cleverdon said."