A report from Atlanta News First in Georgia. "Robert Anthony has worked at the Atlanta VA Medical Center since last spring. He took a vacation just last week for his birthday and came back to some startling news. 'I’m terminated,' Anthony said. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced sweeping terminations, saying it is dismissing more than 1,000 employees, all under the Trump administration’s effort to shrink government. Cathy Caballero received the same letter, after 18 years of service at the V.A. 'We have people who have moved, got houses, got cars or have sick kids and we’re being hit with no notice,' Caballero said."

Essentially Sports on Illinois. "Once a $14 million investment for the Chicago White Sox, Tim Anderson now finds himself in a far less glamorous trade—selling his own house. In a league where contracts are tossed around like confetti, his decline from big-money pitcher to real estate salesman is a brutal reminder that MLB careers don’t come with a lifetime guarantee. The times are so bad for Tim Anderson that he has had to sell his own house for below the asking price. The sale happened very quickly. This begs the question of financial difficulties and other problems. After buying the Flossmoor house for $450,000 in 2017, he made a profit, but given his recent earnings collapse, that profit might not be as significant."

Florida Realtors. "Homes are selling furthest below their asking price in Florida. In West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the typical home is selling for roughly 5% less than its asking price, the biggest discount among the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Next come two other Florida metros: Tampa and Jacksonville, where the typical home is selling for about 4% less than its asking price. Homes in all of those metros are also selling for a bigger discount than they were a year ago. Coastal Florida’s housing market has taken a hit as natural disasters become more frequent and intense, causing some would-be buyers to have second thoughts. Climate disasters have also led to a surge in home insurance costs, HOA fees and property taxes in Florida. Slow homebuying demand means more sellers are open to accepting an offer under asking price."

WINK News in Florida. "Cape Coral is once again buzzing with discussions on short-term rentals. One resident expressed her frustration over a rental property behind her home. 'I have spent the last three years trying to navigate the code compliance for curtailing this rental behind me, it’s been a horrible three years. They are actually pushing us out. We’re thinking of moving,' she said. Another resident, determined to stay put, added, 'They climb up on the roof out of the dormers at night, they smoke, they drink, they have parties. I mean, it’s ridiculous. I’ve been in my home for 40 years. I’m not moving. They’re moving.'"

"'Even if I sit in my living room, I have my TV off, I hear the music from these homes,' said Markus Hartwich, a Cape Coral resident. Macy Magas, another resident, also shared her concerns. 'If there were just kids playing and just a family group, that would be totally fine. But it’s the loud music,' she said. Gregg Mckee described the situation further. 'You get a little alcohol-fueled party, you hear everything. And not just the music, but you hear the language and all that,' said McKee."

Press Democrat in California. "As the disintegration of the LeFever Mattson real estate empire grinds slowly through federal and state courts, a pair of recent developments offer the promise of speeding up the process, and perhaps aiding investors who hope to recoup the money they believe is owed them. The FBI posted on Monday a solicitation on its website inviting potential victims of investor fraud to fill out a form — accessed via a link on the site — detailing the nature of their LeFever Mattson investments. And four days before that, LeFever Mattson Inc. filed two applications in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, seeking to employ real estate brokers to list, market and negotiate the sale of 60 properties owned by the company. Thirty-two of those properties are in the Sonoma area."

"The message noted that no criminal charges have yet been filed in the case. Notably, the invitation was not limited to people who invested with Ken Mattson and his solo company, KS Mattson Investors. It also seeks to identify investors with LeFever Mattson Inc., Divi Divi Tree LP and other related entities. The bankruptcy filings are less dramatic, but they could move investors one step closer to resolution, and free up money for a pool that might eventually repay some or all of what they say they’re owed. The company has valued its entire portfolio at $400 million."

"The Press Democrat first published an investigation into the duo’s expanding real estate portfolio in and around the city of Sonoma in early 2023, documenting community concerns as some of the firm’s properties remained vacant or fell into disrepair. The partnership began to dissolve last April. The fallout from that unraveling has included a regime change at LeFever Mattson, property liens and defaults, and a half-dozen lawsuits aimed at the company and its fallen partners."

From Bisnow. "Cuts aimed at the National Institutes of Health in a Feb. 7 announcement from President Donald Trump could have stark impacts for the life sciences real estate industry, which is already struggling under the weight of supply overages and soft demand. 'It's going to touch real estate,' said Project Management Advisors Senior Project Manager Grayson Mann, a pharma and life sciences expert. 'It will touch the companies that would make therapeutics and will stop life sciences expansion in our major markets. We’ve already seen an overbuilt real estate market for life sciences… this kind of just pours salt in a wound that's been festering for almost three years now.'"

"The NIH cuts, along with other recent staffing cuts or funding reductions announced by the Trump administration, including significant proposed cuts to the Food and Drug Administration and thousands of probationary Health and Human Services employees getting let go, have left the scientific community stunned and trying to process the nature of this shift, JLL Head of Global Industries Markets Advisory Travis McCready said. The localized impacts will be disproportionate state by state and institution by institution. McCready predicts Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and New York will 'disproportionately bear the burden of the proposed rate cut,' since companies in these six states received nearly 75% of NIH research grant funds in fiscal year 2024."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "335 Lonsdale Rd., No. 406, Toronto. Asking price: $509,000 (November, 2024). Previous asking prices: $549,000 (Mid-September, 2024); $589,900. (Early September, 2024); $599,900 (August, 2024). Selling price: $500,000 (November, 2024). Property days on market: 91. This one-bedroom unit with a solarium struggled to get attention from buyers last fall, especially since it has less square footage and fewer bedrooms and upgrades than other units for sale in the 14-year-old building. 'It was a hard one because the market was soft, interest rates were still high and consumer confidence was not robust at the time,' said agent Kimmé Myles. 'As far as competition, there was a penthouse on the market – which is still on the market – and one came on the market that had the same square footage, but had two bedrooms and was a corner unit. It sold quite quickly.'"

"To enhance this suite, the price was reduced twice in September, though with little effect. The price was cut a third time in November and the listing photos were redone to show a digitally staged version of the unit with more contemporary decor. The changes finally led to a $500,000 deal. 'Buyers were not seeing a lot of multiple offers or buyer frenzy, so they could pick and chose – and find things that are wrong with it,' said Ms. Myles. 'We tweaked the photos through digital staging, and reduced the price to $509,000, then sold for $500,000, which was a great deal.'"

Radio New Zealand. "Developers struggling to sell homes off the plans are trying to sweeten the deal for borrowers - including one in Auckland now offering to pay the buyer's mortgage. Kelvin Davidson, chief property economist at Corelogic, said he estimated new build sales activity had dropped about 45 percent from the 2021 peak - a deeper downturn than the overall property market fall of about 30 percent. He said it made sense that developers were offering incentives to shift stock. 'It's certainly been a tough environment in the new build sector, both for getting the projects off the ground and then eventually selling the properties. You only need to look at dwelling consents to see the scale of the downturn.'"

"Lighthouse Property has offered to pay the mortgage for buyers for the next six sales of properties in a development on St Albans Ave, in Auckland. It said it would pay the mortgage principal and interest for eight months from the date of settlement. The houses sell for prices starting at $1.095 million. Another developer for a Mount Wellington complex last year was offering a free car to buyers. Another, Wirihana, offered $25,000 cashback or a $25,000 whiteware voucher, a car or an interest rate of 1.95 percent for a year. Neighbours were also being offered $2000 as an incentive if they could find buyers."

From News.com.au in Australia. "Banks are now selling a new round of houses, units and land seized from defaulting homebuyers in four states – the tip of the iceberg for distressed borrowers. Beach cottages, lush homes on acreage, half built inner-city homes, units are among properties across four states whose owners have succumbed to forced sales just before interest rate relief is expected, with the mortgagee sales said to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of distressed homebuyers who have been in discussions with their lender for an estimated six months or more."

"Lawyer Matthew Williams of Gold Coast City Solicitors said 'what the general public may not necessarily understand is that there’s probably been several months of back and forth where the bank has really tried to help, and that’s all regulated pretty heavily. As I understand it, they’ve got to give (borrowers) every opportunity available to try and pay, even if it’s to come up with a payment plan. Some banks will even offer a period of relief where (customers) don’t pay the mortgage, but they’ll have to start it back up again. They will bend over backwards to try and help people.'"

"The most expensive price on the mortgagee sales list is $7m for a four-bedroom house occupying prime waterfront position in Caloundra – north of Brisbane. Iain Simms of Henzells Agency has the home listed on behalf of the mortgagee, with the $7m asking price $900,000 lower than the lender originally expected. 'We had some feedback from the market around that level, and so we priced accordingly realising that the sale price of $7.9m was not achievable given the jump in the cost of building a project like the one that’s proposed on that site,' Mr Simms said. With such mortgagee sales where homes have already been seized, 'it’s a normal transaction,' he confirmed. 'It is a case of make an offer.'"

South China Morning Post. "Developers will rely on low prices to draw buyers as rising US inflation and Trump tariff threats make rate cuts unlikely, experts say. Hong Kong developers will continue to price their swollen inventory of new flats at discount prices to attract buyers in 2025 as hopes of lower interest rates fade and concerns grow about a liquidity crunch among builders. 'Expecting interest rate cuts to support the property market is unlikely for this year,' said Chau Kwong-wing, chair professor and director of the Ronald Coase Centre for Property Rights Research at Hong Kong University. Developers would have to launch projects at a 'market-acceptable price' to sell new residential units under high interest rates, Chau said."

"'Developers are still under pressure to offload stocks this year as construction costs remain the same,' said Joseph Tsang, chairman at JLL Hong Kong. 'With many stocks in the pipelines, their carrying costs are very high.' On February 6, New World Development (NWD) surprised the market by pricing the first batch of flats at its State Pavilia residential project - the first phase of its redevelopment project at the site of the former State Theatre in North Point - at a massive discount. The strategy worked, as the indebted firm sold all 168 flats that it put up for sale on Saturday. Controlled by the family of tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun, NWD priced the first 88 units at an average of HK$18,540 per square foot, which was about 13 per cent lower than the accommodation value of about HK$21,500 per square foot. Accommodation value is the land acquisition cost divided by the gross floor area permitted for the project."

"Despite some improvement last year, Hong Kong's property market is still struggling with a glut of new homes, slower-than-expected sales, and falling home prices. Lived-in home prices fell in December to complete three straight years of setbacks, according to data published by the Rating and Valuation Department. Prices weakened 7.13 per cent for the year, following a 15 per cent drop in 2023 and a 7 per cent loss in 2022. The 27 per cent cumulative drop over the past three years is the second-longest slump since official monthly records began in 1993. The 58 per cent crash from 1997 to 2003, during the Asian financial crisis and the dot-com blow-up, was the worst in Hong Kong's housing market history."