A report from Fox Business. "Sunny skies aren’t shining across America’s real estate market just yet, according to one of the nation’s top experts. 'No one wants to move and [there are] fewer houses to choose from at higher rates. So it's difficult for homebuyers,' Corcoran Group founder Barbara Corcoran said. What's more, the real estate expert doesn't believe home prices will come down anytime soon. 'I don't think it's in the nature of sellers to be realistic, honestly. Their house is always worth more,' Corcoran argued."

The Business Monthly. "Hundreds of federal workers from throughout the central Maryland region crammed the Smith Theater at Howard Community College on Feb. 4 to discuss uncertainty regarding their jobs and financial security in the wake of an unprecedented and allegedly unlawful buyout offered by the Trump administration.The comments expressed by 28 of the evening’s anonymous speakers follow below, edited for brevity. 'I recently got into the federal space, just five months in, and it’s devastating. I quit my good job in the private sector because I thought I would have some kind of job security and insurance. One of my family members is not very well and needs surgery in the next couple of months. I’ve been crying and thinking about so many things like how will I pay my mortgage, how will I maintain health insurance.'"

"'I’m not a federal employee, but I have worked in international development. My company is Maryland-based and has furloughed or laid off, at this point, about 75% of our staff. I am one of the lucky ones, I was furloughed last Thursday, my colleagues are being laid off. I am not at all confident that my company can survive this. I’m not at all confident that I will get my job back. I don’t know how we’re going to pay for our mortgage.'"

The Ledger in Florida. "Karina Sloan came to the United States at age 19 and has remained here for 37 years, serves as an unofficial Venezuelan leader for Polk County. She expressed dismay at Trump’s decision to revoke TPS for Venezuelans. Sloan said she has been hearing from local Venezuelans living under TPS protections, many of whom are now 'panicking.' 'I have some friends that have been here probably close to 10 years, and the paperwork (for political asylum) has not gone through,' Sloan said. 'They had the permit to work, but the whole process was stuck. So then when TPS came in, they filed for that one too — in case the one didn't go, then the other will kick in. So now they don't know where they are. And these are people that have bought houses here, bought businesses here.'"

Florida Realtors. "Is Florida’s housing sector on the cusp of transitioning to a buyer’s market? The answer could be yes, especially in some local areas, according to Florida Realtors® Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. 'If we go by the general rule of thumb that five to six months of supply is a balanced market, single-family homes ended 2024 still just barely in a seller’s market at 4.7 months of supply, while condos and townhouses are now firmly in buyer’s market territory, at 8.2 months’ supply,' O’Connor said. 'Multiple factors were responsible for the underperformance of this category throughout the year, including concerns about insurance coverage and reserve requirement compliance giving some prospective buyers cold feet. The result was the lowest number of condo and townhouse sales we’ve seen for any year in Florida since 2010.'"

"Year-over-year growth in new listings of condos and townhouses slowed in the second half of 2024, especially when compared to the first half of the year, he said, noting that because of the surge of new listings that occurred in the early months of 2024, the annual count of new condo and townhouse listings came in more than 11% higher than 2023’s count. 'That increase is not much larger than the 9.5% increase we saw for single-family homes, though, and it suggests that the narrative of panicked condo owners across the state scrambling to sell in the face of the new state-mandated reserve requirements has been a bit overblown,' O’Connor said. 'We do think the requirements are having an impact on the market, but this impact is being felt more so on the buyer side than on the seller side.'"

From KMPH. "The FOX 26 News Team continues to look at home insurance rates in California, as the state was seeing significant rate hikes especially over the last five years. Joel Preheim, a victim and survivor of the Creek Fire said the following, 'They actually issued a check. They actually told us that they had closed my account and that we were settled. Things like that…they're trying to force you to take it basically.' A year after he bought it in 2019, he says he was dropped by his insurance company, so he had to jump on the fair plan. It's been five years after the devastating fire. He and his wife are still, rebuilding. He says dealing with his insurance company was a nightmare. 'It's just not fun…it takes a lot to continue to fight to get your money. It does,' he said."

"Preheim said his insurance company adjuster, '…basically lowballed us. They offered us money for the house that we obviously didn't think we could get rebuilt for that money. And so, I kept after them for more money and up to our limit. We finally came to an agreement, and we got our money recovered and full about 2 and 1/2 years later.' He says the company switched his adjustor six times during that wait. 'If I wasn't retired dealing with this process, I have no idea if I would have been able to spend the time to get recovered. It's an awful lot of emails and there's a lot of phone calls that you make and a lot of wait periods you have to go through.'"

ABC 7 in California. "ABC7 On Your Side is helping you in the recovery process following the devastating Eaton and Palisades Fires. Some people who lost their homes are already dealing with a lot of red tape as they make plans to rebuild, especially when it comes to insurance and mortgage providers. Here's why homeowners who receive money from their insurance provider could face delays from their lenders. Like so many others, not much is left of Christopher Antola's home in Pacific Palisades. He said it appears the roof caught fire and everything collapsed. Antola wants to rebuild and was pleasantly surprised when his insurance company sent him a check right away. As is customary, the check was made out to him and to his lender."

"The lender said that before it endorses the check, Antola has to submit a number of documents. 'The documents included a signed building contract, contractor number, contractor license number, basically all the things that are impossible to have at this day and age after a wildfire,' said Antola. 'I explained that it could take years for me to have those pieces of paper to which they responded, 'Okay, then, you know, the check will just sit in escrow for a period of time.' 'It is normal for a lender to hold onto an insurance check, refuse to endorse it over, until they get some assurance that the homeowner does intend to replace that destroyed the asset, otherwise, they're kind of holding the bag,' said Amy Bach with United Policyholders."

"'That type of response is irrational and illogical, and frankly, deprives people of the money they might need to contract with architects, structural engineers, the things that are necessary before you get a contractor,' said Antola. Antola hopes to work it out with his lender, but he fears it's going to delay him for a long time. 'The mortgage contract that I have with them is similar to every other mortgage contract on the planet, and what they're doing is not against the law, but doesn't make it right,' said Antola."

Bisnow on Texas. "There has been far more action than money in Houston’s office investment sales market over the past 12 months, but those trends could be on the brink of syncing. 2024 office sales were in line with historical averages, while the dollar volume was down significantly, thanks to plummeting property values, according to Marty Hogan, managing director in the Houston office of JLL Capital Marketing Americas. 'The largest office building that we sold last year was $47M,' Hogan said. 'That’s really small in the office world when you have these 1M SF towers all over the place.'"

"'In 2024, it was only about 10% or 15% of the transactions [that] were directly lender-driven, and about half were voluntary sales from institutions,' Hogan said. Institutions might divest office assets for several reasons, including having an overallocation to office and redemption queues for funds, he said. In some situations, sales came from developers building an office building, leasing it up to stabilization, then selling it. 'They go, ‘Well, we're not really in the business of owning this thing long-term. It may not be the best time … and we understand that the value is down, but it's time to sell,’ Hogan said."

"More lender-driven sales should enter the picture and boost volume this year, he said. Lender-driven sales in JLL’s pipeline sit at between 50% and 60% of transactions, rather than the 10% to 15% the brokerage had been seeing, he said. That could be because lenders are no longer kicking the can down the road, owners are realizing they owe more than a building is worth and are reluctant to invest more in it, and a broader recovery from pandemic softness, he said."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "During the real estate frenzy in late 2020, Joe Baradziej decided to buy a $2.195-million preconstruction condo in his tree-lined neighbourhood of Leaside in midtown Toronto. He provided the developer with a deposit of $439,000, the equivalent of 20 per cent of the purchase price. When the building was nearing completion last fall, Mr. Baradziej got the property appraised in order to secure a mortgage. Documents viewed by The Globe and Mail show the appraisal came in at $1.6-million – 27 per cent below his purchase and sales agreement, a legally binding contract with the developer. Lenders will only provide a mortgage based on the appraised value, so Mr. Baradziej was on the hook to bridge the $595,000 gap. He could not sell the rights to his contract, also known as an assignment sale, until the developer sold 90 per cent of all the building’s units, a common practice in the industry."

"Because the condo market is in the gutter, Mr. Baradziej did not want to risk refinancing his current home to make up the shortfall. In the end, he decided to forgo his deposit. 'It comes down to simple math,' he said. 'By me walking away, I am saving money.' According to documents viewed by The Globe, the developer, Gairloch, sent him an e-mail saying it had partnered with Royal Bank of Canada to offer a so-called blanket appraisal, which would allow buyers such as Mr. Barardziej to secure mortgages for their units by having the bank appraise the unit at the original contracted price. Mr. Baradziej declined. 'I wasn’t financially comfortable to take a mortgage out against a value I know isn’t real,' he said. 'I won’t do it.'"

"The mismatch in value is not just occurring in the luxury segment of the preconstruction condo market. Appraisers say they are seeing it in all types of buildings. For example, a one-bedroom 535-square foot condo in Toronto sold for $850,000 in January, 2020. The building at 55 Charles St. East was completed in 2024 and when the unit was appraised, it was valued at just $700,000, according to brokers. Damian Guiducci, a veteran appraiser, calls the current problems across the preconstruction housing market a byproduct of an insane period that led to record sales during the pandemic. 'Buying a preconstruction condo was such a safe thing to do,' said Mr. Guiducci, director of business development for Home Value Inc. Appraisal, whose team appraised dozens of preconstruction condos in the Toronto region last year. 'Now things have hit the wall and these are the repercussions.'"

From ABC News. "House prices never fall very much in Australia. Even in the recessions of 1982 and 1991 they only fell 6.2 per cent, and in the past 50 years the national median price has only fallen more than 10 per cent once — 10.2 per cent after the APRA crackdown on lending to property investors in 2017, which says a lot. In total, there have been eight housing downturns since 1980 averaging 6.7 per cent, including the current one. Housing is the market that never crashes, it only gently subsides. No wonder it's beloved as an investment asset."

Domain News in Australia. "House values have fallen by up to six figures in pockets of regional NSW too far-flung to commute to Sydney for work, as higher interest rates limit how much money potential buyers can borrow. The median house value in Beechwood, outside Port Macquarie, fell $104,000 last year (10.8 per cent) to about $860,000, CoreLogic figures show. In Springvale, an outer suburb of Wagga Wagga, values fell almost $99,000 (9.6 per cent) to a median $934,000. In Gobbagombalin, on the other side of town, values fell 9.7 per cent. Elsewhere in the Riverina, values dropped in Gundagai (9.2 per cent) and South Gundagai (11.8 per cent). The deepest fall in percentage terms was in Coolah in the central west, down 16 per cent to a relatively affordable median house value below $239,000."

"In Gundagai, Ray White Tumut’s Shaun Ryan said higher interest rates have prompted some owners to sell up. 'There’s still a demand for properties but interest rates have forced people to sell. We’ve found people are offloading their investment properties,' he said. 'I would say there are far more properties than buyers but sales are OK. Properties are taking far longer to sell.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "The boss of a collapsed building company may have transferred $2.5 million to its boss as a 'director’s loan' in the months before the business went bust, according to the liquidator left to wade through the mess. That figure is more than the total money owed to creditors. Victorian construction firm Area Projects Pty Ltd went bust last year after being in business for almost three decades specialising in new homes, townhouses and renovations. Customers had been trying to get out of their contracts as projects stalled, calling the situation 'horrendous,' but they didn’t know the full extent of the problems until a liquidator’s report, lodged with the corporate watchdog ASIC, laid it all bare."

"The liquidation report claims the construction firm’s books and records had not been 'accurately maintained' and were therefore not reliable. When the liquidator dug more, he wrote he discovered a 'pattern' where customer deposits would be 'immediately' transferred out of the business as soon as they were received, to a number of other bank accounts. More than a year since the report, homeowners owed money are still in limbo, with several still engaged in court hearings trying to find a way to recoup their losses."

"One customer news.com.au spoke to on the condition of anonymity said they had signed a contract in 2018 and they are still hundreds of thousands out of pocket over the ordeal. 'He walked away into the sunset,' this homeowner told news.com.au. 'You can see all the carnage. It’s horrendous.'"