A report from WWSB in Florida. "There are only 46 days until hurricane season begins but for Laurel Meadows, they are still recovering from the last one. Dozens of residents remain displaced as they work to rebuild their homes or seek help. One question they had was if they would receive any of the over $210 million disaster recovery funds given to Sarasota County by the federal government. ABC7 spoke with Resilient SRQ to find that out. Steve Hyatt explained that they are working on a proposal. 'They require us to prioritize the funds primarily for low to moderate income households,' said Hyatt. That’s something that has upset many Laurel Meadows residents, who are considered higher income, however, have blew through their savings, retirement funds, and credit cards, to rebuild and start over."

"'You’re not worthy of a $50,000 grant even though you lost $300,000 between your structure and your personal? We’re not worthy?' asked Valvo. Valvo said she does not think there will be any money left for the struggling community. She added that even if there was, the building process and materials would be under certain government requirements, meaning their homes would not reach equity value. She said they will never get back what they lost."

The Oregonian. "A judge has declined to bar the transfer of Block 216 after a contentious hearing, clearing the way for the lender to take control of the downtown Portland high-rise. The business lender Ready Capital had suggested the buildings’ owners — businesses tied to BPM Real Estate Group, led by prominent local developer Walter Bowen — were prepared to hand over the deed to avoid a potentially messy foreclosure. Ready Capital holds a construction loan on the property it values at $510 million with principal and interest. But a smaller lender, Broadway EB-5 Fund, sued to halt the deed-in-lieu transfer, claiming it would wipe out the fund’s 'rights and interests' in the project. Broadway had issued a $49 million loan to help build Block 216. In the court hearing last week, an attorney for Ready Capital emphasized the building is 'completely underwater.' Ready Capital said in court documents that appraisals completed after Block 216 opened valued the building at $425 million — or $85 million short of even the construction loan. 'There’s no money to repay anyone,' the Ready Capital attorney, Jean-Marie Atamian, said during the April 9 hearing in New York Supreme Court."

"'That’s why the plaintiff’s interest has no value, not because of anything the defendants have done here. All of the investors here have lost money,' Atamian said, including Bowen, who put in money of his own and 'has been brought down to a very low level' by the troubled project. Atamian acknowledged Bowen wasn’t his client but went on to say: 'Whether he’s able to pick himself up from these losses that he has suffered as a developer in Portland remains to be seen, but he has suffered massively from this project.' Funding for the project also included 'opportunity zone' investments, which offered investors breaks on capital gains taxes on top of any return from the project, to bring to fruition what court documents described as a project that cost $650 million, opening in 2023 with condos, offices and Ritz-Carlton hotel rooms."

The Atlantic. "Speaking to a classroom of students at his alma mater, Boston University’s School of Theology, Martin Mugerwa described how being a chaplain informs his work as a counselor at a mental-health clinic, where he treats people navigating depression, unemployment, and homelessness. But the campus was whirring with talk of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and several international students stayed after class that February evening to ask whether Mugerwa—who is from Uganda—feared that he could be targeted. 'I’m not worried,' Mugerwa told them confidently. 'He’s going after criminals.'"

"Mugerwa told me that his outlook on the new presidency, and how it could alter his own fate, changed the next day. His family and a group of friends stopped to see Niagara Falls on their way to visit one of Mugerwa’s seminary classmates. But they took a wrong turn and ended up on a bridge that led across the Canadian border. Hours later, an official explained that Mugerwa and two others in the group were going to be detained for overstaying their visas, even though they had all applied for asylum and were still waiting for their cases to be decided. Mugerwa turned to his partner and sons, who are 5 years old and 10 months old. 'I was like, What is going to happen at this point? How is she going to manage?' he recalled thinking. 'Who is going to pay the mortgage? My mind was just spinning.' Five days later, he was in shackles, being booked into a federal detention center in Texas and certain that he would soon be deported. Despite his pending asylum claim, he remains in deportation proceedings; he will have to go before a judge to plead for a chance to stay in the United States."

From KTAR News. "For years, lawmakers and real estate experts have been saying that Arizona needs to bolster its housing supply to address the growing issue of affordability. Mark Staap, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice, notes that commuting costs and location factors also play a pivotal role in determining what homebuyers can truly afford. He also says growth needs to be intentional. 'If all we ever do is build houses without creating the social and cultural infrastructure to support them, we are not building strong, resilient communities,' Staap said. 'We are merely creating commodities.'"

"Buckeye saw a year-over-year increase in single-family home inventory for sale of 38% in March, according to data from Phoenix Realtors. The year-over-year single-family home inventory increase in Peoria was 68.4%. 'What we don’t want to have happen is either haphazard growth or just end up a sea of tile roofs and everyone driving into Phoenix for work,' Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn said. 'It has to be well thought out.'"

The Los Angeles Times. "Southern California home prices barely rose last month, as would-be buyers weren't able — or willing — to bid up housing costs much further. 'The housing market is no longer a seller's market,' said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist with Zillow. At the same time, would-be buyers haven't been as eager to return. Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said one reason is mortgage rates remain elevated in the high-6% range, drastically limiting what people can purchase compared with the COVID-19 pandemic when rates were less than half that. 'There is only so much people can afford,' he said. Weak job growth over the last year in L.A. County has also hurt demand, Green said."

"Los Angeles-area real estate agent Mark Schlosser said he hasn't had any clients stop looking to buy because of the economic uncertainty, but he has noticed homes are now sitting on the market longer. 'There's some people that are maybe waiting to see [what happens] before they continue shopping,' he said. By March 2026, Zillow predicts home prices across the L.A.-Orange County metro area will be 2.4% lower than they are today, in large part because of rising inventory."

Bisnow Washington DC. "The next phase of D.C.'s Capitol Crossing development is being further stalled as its owner says it sees no new demand for the space. The developer of the mixed-use project on Massachusetts Avenue is asking the D.C. Zoning Commission to extend its approvals to start construction on its next office building for two years. The combined ground-floor retail is 50% occupied, it says, 'even after a $25 million investment by the Applicant to promote and finish out the new retail space.' 'Based on these figures, it is clear that there is no demand for new office or retail space at Capitol Crossing at this time,' the application says."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "When Mr. Trump blurted out the news of a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on a wide swathe of countries, Toronto home sellers were quick to bombard agents with texts asking whether the reprieve would bring buyers back to the market. The only people not reacting with any speed seem to be the potential buyers, says Victor Tran, a mortgage broker in the Toronto area. 'The confidence is just not there any more,' Mr. Tran says. 'The damage has been done.' Beata Caranci, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, warns that Canada will need to brace for a long period of economic restructuring. 'Returning to a place of commitment and trust would be unrealistic,' she says."

"In the Greater Toronto Area real estate market, the number buyers are riveted to is the 88.3 per cent surge in active listings in March compared with the same month last year. Sales fell 23.6 per cent in the same period. The average price dipped 2.5 per cent to $1,093,254 in March from March, 2024. That rising inventory – 12 months in a row – has many buyers betting prices have farther to fall. Some agents are bringing offers 20 per cent below the asking price, adds Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate, despite the fact that detached houses in good neighbourhoods are not trading at 80 per cent of asking. Mr. Kutyan says agents risk alienating the sellers if they push too hard. 'They’re going to hang onto their asset and you’re going to hang onto your money,' he says of aggressive buyers and their agents."

"Mr. Tran, the mortgage broker, is more concerned for the condo segment, where a new wave of listings will likely put downward pressure on prices, he expects. Additional supply is coming in the form of newly completed units, which often end up for sale. In 2025, an estimated 30,793 apartments in 112 buildings will be wrapped up in the Toronto and Hamilton area, according to research firm Urbanation. That inventory comes as many of last year’s record tally of 29,800 new units remain unsold. 'That will flood the market even more,' Mr. Tran says. Rents are coming down in the Toronto area, Mr. Tran notes, and tenants who are not happy with their current dwelling may be better off finding a new lease. 'By the time they close, the condo they purchased could be worth less,' he says. Now that the units bought five or six years ago are ready, those buyers are facing appraisals coming in far below the purchase price. Some don’t have the money to close, Mr. Tran says, and they may be better off forfeiting their deposit. In that case, the builder may sue. In any case, the damage for many will be long-lasting, he adds. 'That really messes with people’s retirement plans.'"

ABC News in Australia. "When Andrea Martens set out to build a home to retire to in the Victorian countryside, she imagined enjoying the rural serenity with a home loan almost paid off and her troubles behind her. Five years later, the building is neither a finished home nor an active construction site, but sits in limbo, barely touched after the builder left amid a deepening dispute in December 2020. 'This is the part of the house that hurts the most: my beautiful kitchen I can't use,' Ms Martens said as she stepped into the house on a recent visit. 'It is heartbreaking to look at it, every time we come out here.'"

"Ms Martens's allegation, based on an expert report, that there are major defects in her home's slab, framing and roofing are yet to be tested. A VCAT compensation case the Martens brought in late 2021 has moved so slowly the presiding member recently described its pace as glacial. In the meantime — with rent, a mortgage and legal costs pushing her closer to financial ruin — Ms Martens has appealed to the state government for compensation over what she called the severe negligence of the VBA. One expert estimate said the couple would need to find $670,000 to repair their home, a figure Ms Marten said adds to many tens of thousands of dollars already spent on legal fees and expert reports. Ms Martens described the litigation as a second full-time job, one that comes at a personal cost by day, then keeps her up at night. 'I can't get out of it,' she said. 'It rules your life.'"