A report from CNN. "Share Ross, a Realtor based in southeast Florida, said she’s recently seen a sharp uptick in Canadians listing their Florida homes for sale. 'Some of the clients I have been dealing with want to sell at any cost, even at a loss,' Ross said. A growing exodus of Canadians from Florida could strain the state’s already troubled housing market. Florida currently has a record number of homes for sale. Sharon Savoy, a 65-year-old retiree from just outside of Toronto, said she isn’t quite ready to put her Miami home up for sale. 'I enjoy my life there. Miami has some great nightlife and beautiful beaches. It’s got everything you need, and I’ve never had any issues,' she said. 'But if things continue to get worse, I will be selling my home in the USA. Not because I’m afraid of being there, but because, why would I want to do business there?'"

"Miles Zimbaluk, an Arizona-based Realtor who offers cross-border real estate guidance for Canadians looking to buy and sell US property, said he believes politics isn’t the only thing motivating more Canadians to list their properties for sale. Zimbaluk said a weakened Canadian dollar has factored into some snowbirds’ decision-making process. Last month, the Canadian dollar fell to its lowest level against the US dollar since 2003. It means that Canadians stand to make a profit by moving their money from the United States to Canada. 'There are people cashing in now and taking that dollar back to Canada and converting it back to Canadian dollars,' Zimbaluk said. 'We’ve definitely seen a big uptick in people wanting to sell their homes for a lot of different reasons right now.'"

The Indianapolis Star. "A man is now in ICE custody after he allegedly shot a man inside the Sikh Satsang of Indianapolis temple last month and is now accused of lighting his home on fire for insurance money last year, court documents reveal. The shooting happened on Feb. 16 inside the restroom of the temple and police identified Gurpreet Singh, 22, as a suspect. Singh was arrested in Ohio a week after the shooting and transferred to the Marion County Sheriff's Office's custody March 17 after the Marion County Prosecutor's Office filed two cases against him, one in connection with the shooting and another for his alleged involvement with arson. A little over two years ago, Singh hired the man to complete some construction on his house, which ultimately cost around $12,000, but when it came time to settle up, Singh allegedly gave the man several excuses for why he couldn't pay him, according to court documents."

"On Feb. 16, however, the issue was reignited when Singh confronted the man inside the restroom at the Sikh Satsang of Indianapolis temple and accused him of spreading rumors, according to court documents. The man pushed Singh, who police say fired one round, striking the man in the hip. Singh then hit the man in the face before pointing the gun at him and saying 'I'll kill you,' according to court documents. On March 24, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office filed an additional case against Singh for allegedly burning down his Indianapolis home last year. Investigators also learned his mortgage broker had filed a foreclosure on the property on March 15, 2024. The filing noted that Singh owed $430,984.22 with an interest rate of 6.875% to the broker. Singh was served with the foreclosure summons on March 28, 2024."

"After the fire, Singh placed an insurance claim on the house, and in one of the interviews, Singh allegedly told the insurance adjuster he had $10,000 worth of gold hidden upstairs before the fire that he couldn't find. Investigators informed him that 'gold … would turn to liquid at a hot enough temperature and would pool into an area and return to a solid state once the fire was extinguished,' according to court documents. Court documents filed in the case do not indicate that gold was found at the home after the fire. The loss on the home was valued at $430,000."

Silicon Valley. "After two years of sluggish home sales held back by low inventory, February notched its highest level of inventory since before the pandemic. 'We are making progress down the road to recovery,' said Jordan Levine, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. So far, the increase in inventory, which was up 52% year-over-year in February, has outpaced sales. 'That's helped to keep price growth more modest rather than the double-digit price growth that we saw a few years ago,' Levine said. That buyers have been slower to seize upon an increased inventory is indicative of how the overall economic climate — a flagging stock market and persistently high interest rates — have impacted demand."

"'Typically there's enough buyer demand to support that increased inventory,' said Jordan Mott, a San Jose-based agent with Intero. 'But stocks have taken a hit in value, and a lot of our buyers in the area rely on those for their down payment and qualifications. There's an uneasiness among buyers. As of the last couple of weeks you're seeing properties sit on the market longer than they were at the earlier part of the year. There's without a doubt been a shift in the market.' Buyers may find it difficult to get loans approved for some condominium complexes around California that have been placed on a 'mortgage blacklist' by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae has been growing its list — which includes 168 condo complexes in the Bay Area's five largest counties by population — as it looks to protect itself from taking on mortgages for properties that it considers to be underinsured, dilapidated or lacking sufficient reserves."

From The Hill. "We are now witnessing an outcry from Democrats, loan servicers and the media over the prospect of Congress scaling back the Department of Veterans Affairs’s new mortgage bailout program, the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program. If the program is curtailed as proposed by Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), they warn, tens of thousands of veterans — perhaps as many as 80,000 — will lose their homes. But the reality is quite different and far more dangerous. Left unchecked, the program risks turning veteran homeownership into a costly, unsustainable entitlement for which taxpayers will be left holding the bag."

"A housing finance system that eliminates the possibility of foreclosure is inherently unsustainable, and that is exactly what the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program does. Launched under the Biden administration, the program upends the traditional balance by having the VA buy troubled loans, hold them on its books, and absorb all future losses while servicers walk away whole. Even more troubling, the program’s overly generous terms invite strategic default. Veterans with 6 percent or 7 percent mortgages have a strong incentive to stop paying, just to qualify for a government refinance at 2.5 percent. Naturally, servicers love this. Under the traditional VA program, they shared up to 25 percent of losses; now the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program makes them whole, giving them every reason to push borrowers into the program. It privatizes gains and socializes losses. This isn’t a safety net — it’s a moral hazard factory that risks destabilizing the VA loan program and exposing taxpayers to massive losses."

From Bisnow. "Some rent-stabilized buildings have lost so much value that their owners literally can't even give them away. There are roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in NYC, and many of their owners have struggled since legislation passed in 2019 to severely limit the amount they can raise rent to cover renovations and repairs on stabilized units, all while inflation has caused costs to skyrocket. Foreclosures of buildings that are majority-rent-stabilized are increasing, and values have plummeted — one rent-stabilized building sold for a 97% loss last month, The Real Deal reported."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "When Vancouver developers ran into a slowdown in presales of condo apartments a few years ago, many of them switched over to rentals. Now, a number of builders are saying that even rental projects are uncertain, as demand has softened noticeably in the past six months. That’s the result of a host of factors: big increases in supply in B.C., existing apartments being freed up because of provincial restrictions on vacation rentals, the federal cap on international students and people moving out of Metro Vancouver at high rates because of the housing costs. On top of everything else, builders expect that one of Vancouver’s biggest single rental projects of the decade – the massive Squamish-developed Senakw towers in the Vancouver west-side neighbourhood of Kitsilano – will pull the market down even further as 1,400 apartments in the first three of 11 planned towers start leasing December this year, continuing through 2026."

"'It’s clear to me in the market we’re in that rents are dropping 10 per cent,' said Tony Hepworth, whose company, Pennyfarthing Homes, started building rental projects in Vancouver almost 50 years ago. He, and others, predict that Senakw’s development team will do whatever they can to fill the towers as quickly as possible. 'The question is, how do they absorb it? They will need 50, 60 a month in move-ins. They will try to drive that by having very attractive rents.'"

"One of Vancouver’s senior planners, Matt Shillito, said that what’s happening is, in a way, what everyone has wanted – rents coming down. 'I can understand developers being nervous. But from a city perspective, we are making efforts to increase supply. And that’s the tipping point we want to get to, where land prices start going down.' As developers understand they’re not going to get $7 a square foot or even $6, that should start getting reflected in the prices they’re willing to pay for land. 'We need land values to reflect the realities of economics now,' he said."

Lancashire Telegraph in the UK. "Four East Lancashire towns have seen average property prices decrease by more than 20 per cent between 2023 and 2024. In Rossendale, Helmshore and Bacup both saw house prices in their area plummet by 20.8 and 20.6 per cent respectively. Bacup saw house prices drop from £170,000 to £135,000 on average, whilst Helmshore saw costs plunge from £265,000 to £210,000. Elsewhere in the Ribble Valley, Longridge North, Ribchester, and Chipping saw prices decrease by 20.2 per cent, while Rose Hill and Burnley Wood saw prices drop by 17.9 per cent. Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: 'There is plenty of demand for homes but also lots of choice. Households looking to sell their home in 2025 need to be careful when setting their asking prices if they are to attract sufficient demand to agree a sale.'"

The Malaysia Star. "Many homebuyers are trapped in a financial nightmare, forced to rent while paying off housing loans for properties they cannot occupy, says National Consumer Foundation Sabah Chapter chairman David Chan. Such a financial burden has continued to weigh heavily on lower- and middle-income groups, he said. 'These buyers are paying rent while still servicing loans for homes that remain under construction. It is unjust to leave them in such financial distress,' he said."

"He called on housing authorities and policymakers to implement a 'Build-Then-Sell' policy to prevent such predicaments. 'The current ‘Sell-Then-Build’ model has left too many buyers in limbo, struggling with loan repayments for homes that are either incomplete or, worse, abandoned. It is time for serious policy reform to restore public confidence in the housing sector. Buyers’ hard-earned money must be safeguarded, and stricter measures are needed to prevent future abandoned projects,' Chan said. The foundation said that sale and purchase agreements for new housing developments must require construction to be completed before properties are sold. The lack of enforcement and oversight has allowed developers to sell properties before completion, leaving thousands of families vulnerable to financial hardship when projects stall, he said. "