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Sellers Are Trying To Get Yesterday’s Prices

A report from the Daily Herald in Washington. “‘I was putting listings on the market right when the interest rates increased,’ said Dafna Shalev, real estate broker in Woodinville. ‘The buyers stopped coming. There were no showings. Nothing.’ What happened next? Prices began dropping, she said. Price cuts are becoming more common especially when properties sit on the market for more than a week, Shalev said. The number of active listings in Snohomish County in June was 1,973, compared to 1,182 in May, according to data from the listing service.”

From Your Valley in Arizona. “Ron Palmer has sold real estate in Glendale for 19 years. He had a buyer in town with a cash offer company and opportunity for a quick close. The way home prices are falling, however, the buyer was the one backing out. The numbers showed that they couldn’t turn the house around and sell it at a profit they’d like to have because of the market’s appreciation.”

“Just from March to July, inventory in this part of town has increased 253%, Palmer notes. Listings under contract have decreased by 33%, and showing requests have gone down 4.9%. Also, the median sales price in 85310 in March was $625,000, but by July dropped 15% to $540,000. ‘The market has absolutely shifted, and it’s shifting historically,’ he added. ‘Most experts feel like March/April was the peak of the market. And it’s actually turning faster than it did in ’08.'”

“Most of all, he says, sellers are the ones seeing more concessions these days, not buyers. ‘Before, sellers were pretty much in the driver’s seat,’ Palmer said. ‘We’re seeing price reductions at normal to starting to climb into above-normal territories. In other words a lot of sellers are having to reduce price just to see if they can attract a buyer.'”

From WTSP in Florida. “‘Absolutely, it’s starting to turn. Yes,’ said Tampa real estate agent Cristan Fadal. ‘We are not at peak. We’ve gone past peak.’ Fadal knows the market and says it’s already happening —prices are stabilizing, and inventory is rebounding. ‘I think sellers that were on the fence for a while, definitely they see that as prices come down, they don’t want to miss the boat,’ he said.”

From CNN Business. “Prices on new construction homes are actually falling. The median sales price of a new construction home dropped to $402,400 in June, down from $444,500 in May, according to the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. ‘This is the biggest crack yet in home-price inflation,’ said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. ‘If existing home prices follow suit, we may finally see a break in annual increases that have priced millions of Americans out of the housing market.'”

Bay Area Newsgroup in California. “For the first time in years, the tables are starting to turn in the Bay Area’s insane housing market — as prices drop, some sellers have been forced to make concessions. They’re chipping in to help pay closing costs and even to buy points to lower mortgage rates — all to convince increasingly reluctant buyers that the time is right to purchase a home. ‘I’m seeing sellers concerned about prices dropping,’ said San Jose-based real estate agent Gustavo Gonzalez, who works with both buyers and sellers. The change comes as June home sale prices dropped from the previous month in all of the five core Bay Area counties, according to new data from CoreLogic.”

“‘The market is absolutely changing,’ said David Stark, public affairs director for the Bay East Association of Realtors. ‘Particularly when you have buyers or sellers in the market expecting certain things to happen because that’s what’s been happening, when you do have a shift it’s a big deal and it raises some eyebrows. However, you’ve got to take a longer view.'”

From the Herald-Zeitung in Texas. “Diana Clary, a real estate broker with Phyllis Browning Co has been noticing a large shift in the San Antonio-New Braunfels market, especially when it comes to inventory. At the height of the housing market in March Clary noted that there were a little over 100 active listings. Fast forward to the end of July and there are over 350 listings in the New Braunfels area.”

“While the demand hasn’t gone anywhere, the additional inventory is beginning to balance out the market and with more inventory comes more price reductions to compete with the growing market, Clary said. On Friday, July 29, there were over 300 listings that recently came onto the market and about 300 price reductions, according to Clary.”

“‘You have more people putting their homes on the market, which is excellent for people that are wanting to purchase properties because they have more supply,’ Clary said. ‘We’re seeing more price reductions because people were pricing it like there was less quality. The more homes that come on the market, the more supply, which automatically drives down the price.'”

Curbed New York. “In Bay Ridge, nearly two dozen Chinese immigrant families are facing a nightmare case of housing fraud. Just a few days ago, they were at risk of being evicted from condos that they thought they had bought from a developer. But it turned out that he didn’t actually have the ability to sell them. The New York Post reported that the developer, Xihui Wu, had built a 25-unit building at 345 Ovington Avenue; in 2012 he began selling units — some buyers paid deposits ranging from $100,000 to $460,000 in cash and checks — without obtaining the rights from the state to do so.”

“According to lawsuits, by 2018 Wu had stopped paying the mortgage and owed more than $5 million to lender Maxim Credit Group, which started foreclosure proceedings. Then, the residents said, Wu disappeared with $4 million of their money. One buyer told Documented that he had known Wu for seven years before he paid a $200,000 deposit. Another, Jianli Chen, said that ‘as a new immigrant from China, I don’t know the normal process of buying a property here.’ He paid Wu $345,000. The residents won judgments against Wu for the deposits they paid, but it’s unlikely that they’ll see that money.”

The Canadian Press. “When Shannon Tebb listed her downtown Toronto loft for sale in mid-June, she did everything to make the property attractive for buyers. But by July, she was pulling the property off the market — and not because she’d found a seller. Tebb terminated the listing because the market shifted so significantly that the bidding wars and frenzied pace of sales seen earlier this year had dissipated. ‘Everyone was saying, ‘nobody’s going and looking at anything,’ so then we lowered the price…and we had a few walk-ins but nothing, no offers.'”

“Strata found a surge in people mirroring Tebb’s decision to delist their property. While January’s hot market saw 380 terminated condo listings in the Greater Toronto Area, the real estate company said June brought 2,822 — a 643 per cent increase. ‘We’re seeing a lot of sellers just not getting the price they want and so they’re like, ‘we’re going to hold off’ or ‘I don’t want to sell $50,000 lower from what my neighbour got a month ago because that’s a lot of money,’ said Anna Wong, a Strata sales representative. ‘We were in a seller’s market for a while … and right now sellers are having a hard time adjusting.'”

“‘We are seeing some sellers stick on the market. They’re listing their properties trying to get yesterday’s prices and they’re staying on for long periods of time,’ said Dan Campanella, a broker with Keller Williams Advantage Realty, who represented Tebb.”

The Globe and Mail. “We’re witnessing a historic correction to home prices, Royal Bank of Canada warned last week. Not exactly what you want to hear if you just bought a home with the minimum 5-per-cent down payment. So far, the median priced condo in the Greater Toronto Area, for example, is already down almost 11 per cent since March, according to real estate fintech HouseSigma. It estimates the GTA’s median detached home has plunged almost 25 per cent – in less than five months.”

“If you bought a $500,000 home with 5-per-cent down, you were 98.8 per cent financed on day one. That’s because, after the $25,000 down payment, the lender usually rolls the 4-per-cent default insurance fees into the mortgage. Many insured buyers who purchased near the first quarter’s peak now owe significantly more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Some are more than 10 per cent underwater.”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “An increasing number of cash-strapped homeowners are being forced to list their properties at reduced prices in order to secure a quick sale. New figures revealed distressed property listings rose by four per cent over the month of July, while there was also a surge in unsuccessful sales campaigns for the month and year to date. The SQM Research data showed national residential property listings rose by 7.1 per cent to 237,336 properties. This is higher than the previously recorded figure of 221,571 recorded in June.”

“Listings lasting longer than 31 days and 180 days also rose by 14.1 per cent, a trend which SQM Research director Louis Christopher said will continue to rise over the remainder of 2022. ‘Vendors were largely unsuccessful in their selling efforts over July. There is now a clear trend across all cities of rising listings which is being driven by lower buyer interest and is ultimately symptomatic of a national housing downturn,’ Mr Christopher said. ‘Properties selling under distressed conditions rose again over July and we expect further rises in the coming months. However it should be noted that the rise in distressed activity is from an extraordinarily low base.'”

The South China Morning Post. “Some homeowners are already selling their flats at deep discounts or losses, according to property agents. ‘Due to the repeated outbreaks and the interest rate hikes in the United States, the pace of turnover for second hand transactions has slowed down slightly, and some owners have also begun to face the reality and increase discounts,’ said Wan Chan, chief district associate director at Centaline Property Agency. ‘There will be some incremental strain on consumers as a result of the higher mortgage payments on their household debt,’ said Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters. ‘The reason that central bankers raise interest rates is to slow down economic activity in order to bring inflation under control. We will feel that in Hong Kong as we do everywhere else in the world.'”

“The number of loss-making transactions hit 695 in the first half of this year, the highest amount since 2011, according to Ricacorp Properties. For example, a flat at The Mediterranean in Sai Kung measuring 566 square feet recently changed hands at a loss of HK$2.54 million, or 24 per cent of the original price, according to Century 21 Goodwin. And St. Barths in Ma On Shan had a flat measuring 592 square feet that changed hands at a loss of HK$1.25 million (US$157,983), according to Centaline.”

From Bloomberg. “In a country that only tolerates dissent in small doses—and relies on property as its economic growth engine—a mortgage boycott by hundreds of thousands of middle-class Chinese has become a five-alarm fire for authorities. The ultimatum raced across social media platforms WeChat and Douyin, becoming a call to action for those caught out by China’s rapidly deflating property bubble. In days, the letter became a template for protests from Shanghai to Beijing, and Shenzhen to Zhengzhou, with homeowners cutting and pasting from it to draft their own boycott manifestos.”

“Within four weeks, more than 320 projects in about 100 cities were facing similar protests, roiling markets and forcing authorities to corral banks and developers to defuse the unrest. Censors have simultaneously stepped in to quell dissent, scrubbing posts, silencing protesters and banning document-sharing links. Still, the breadth of the support, and the speed with which it spread, shows that the Chinese aren’t afraid to band together on a national scale, especially when their treasured homes are at stake.”

“Homeowners staring at unfinished gray concrete blocks, and watching developer after developer default on their debt, began to compare notes about what to do to salvage their investments. Li was one of them. Checking on the construction site of his yet-to-be-built apartment in Wuhan had become a form of mental torture, he said. He made a 40% down payment on an Evergrande condo, eating up all his savings after several frugal years. Whenever he visited the complex of 39 skyscrapers he would see one or two workers, with only a few machines humming.”

“‘I only hear the birds sing,’ said Li, a 26-year-old tech worker who didn’t want his full name used for security reasons. ‘If I have to pay a mortgage for a home that’s never going to be finished, I feel my whole life would be ruined. Deep down, that makes me terrified.'”

“It remains to be seen whether all the proposed money will be delivered and how soon the apartments will be finished. Homeowners like Peter, who bought a 2 million yuan ($296,000) condo in Zhengzhou last May after borrowing from his parents and saving for years, want it all to end. ‘The developer has caused us tremendous harm and a lot of homeowners are depressed,’ he said. ‘I just want to get my apartment.'”

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This Post Has 151 Comments

  1. ‘the median sales price in 85310 in March was $625,000, but by July dropped 15% to $540,000’

    It’s a good thing everybody put 20% down.

    ‘Most experts feel like March/April was the peak of the market. And it’s actually turning faster than it did in ’08’

    Oh dear!

    1. Have so many recent buyers ever previously gone underwater so fast? Bye bye, meager life savings that funded a small down payment. Hello, I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.

      If a recession lands on the labor market, things could get much uglier for recent buyers. (Been there, done that…)

      1. The grandma-finally-died house on my block was just taken off the market last week. Zillow says “listing removed,” and the listing has reverted to the old pictures and sale price. I guess elder flipper dude in the sexi-truk is close to underwater himself.

        1. “I guess elder flipper dude in the sexi-truk is close to underwater himself.”

          Got out 30-min later than usual for my morning bicycle ride, so on the way home I was passed by a dozen or more shiny new trucks with lift kits and big meats. These are guys who sweat for a living on their way to work, and they’re driving $60k-plus rigs that will likely never be paid for, and their kids will never go to college unless someone else pays for it.

          2. they’re driving $60k-plus rigs that will likely never be paid for

            These guys are dumber than rocks. About 4 or 5 years ago I started noticing younger guys who make way less money than me driving trucks that I consider to be out of my own price range. I admit that I’m frugal, but there is no way in hell these guys are pulling down enough to justify, much less actually afford, those things. They’re the reason prices were pushed to the hilt. They will borrow as much as Mr. Banker will give them, no questions asked.

        2. A lot of these high-end trucks and SUV’s were purchased with PPP money. I personally know of several. 1 buddy I want the school with Has been flying around in at leased gulfstream jet…I’m not kidding. He owns a sheet rock install company and 1.5 million.

          You can look up all these companies on the federal Pay.PPP website. It was managed by the small business administration. It will go down as the most idiotic thing this country has ever done. I have quite a few customers that got half a million Up to $10,000,000 and they didn’t need the money so they just get to spend it on stuff. I wrote a nice letter to 60 minutes Trying to convince them to look into it and spill the beans on this program.

          1. It was a truly disgusting act by Congress, no doubt about it. I was happy to hear that the statute of limitations was increased to 10 years for the fraudsters, but that doesn’t even take into account the giving of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to people who didn’t need or deserve it so they could go and buy cars, boats and houses.

    2. Sorry, I didn’t get to this yesterday:

      —————
      “all they have to do is provide their bank statements and have a 650 or 680 FICO score”

      I’m thinking oxide has some crowz to eat too.
      ————–

      I guess you’re referring to my past comments that banks are no longer offering risky loans. However, my comments specified that banks are no longer offering the I/O or neg-am loans characteristic of the 2005 housing bubble; and that all loans are now fully amortized and the buyer has to pay on principle. Banks still aren’t offering I/O or neg-am. So, no crowz there.

      Even for the recent ARM loans, there’s always a catch. The buyer is either charged high interest, or the buyer has to put 20+% down, or the buyer has to “provide their bank statements” so that the bank can look for cash to sue for should the buyer not make payments. Every ad I’ve seen for an ARM says something like “We have ARMs now, so CALL US AND LET’S TALK.” That is, a bank wants to see your assets first, before actually offering an ARM.
      Isn’t this what they did before the bubble? Wealthy clients use ARMs as an investment or tax tool, and the banks always demand proof of other assets as collateral on top of the house. The troubles only began when banks expanded ARMs (and I/O and neg-am) to the general public with no safeguards at all. So no crowz there either.

  2. Does Wall Street’s assumption that the Fed will wrap up its rate hikes any day now correct?

      1. I think not.

        I think Wall Street has lots of newbie traders in the mix who are eagerly grasping at straws. This rate hike cycle has barely begun. Volcker’s lasted for years, and spanned two recessions.

        Get a clue, HODLers!

        1. The other thing Wall Street hasn’t priced in yet is the incipient housing bust. That will eventually land on the Street like a two-by-four to the back of the head.

          Denial ain’t a river in Egypt…

          2. “… after Labor day.”

            October, aka Wall Street’s traditional crash month, is after Labor Day.

          4. But the fed will buy some non-performing credit card debt from the big card issuers prior to the Thanksgiving and Christmas national holidays so consumers can once again charge airline, hotel, and travel. It’s the American way!

        2. Every non MSM financial YT video I watch says otherwise: Powell can’t raise rates above~3%. If he did, then the high interest rates would push the cost to service the national debt above any revenue. The bond market would freak and possibly pitch us into Weimar-style hyperinflation. Afterwards, the gov would pay off the debt in worthless dollars and then great-reset the system with CBDCs. So say the conspiracy theories.

          1. “The bond market would freak and possibly pitch us into Weimar-style hyperinflation.”

            Higher rates => less borrowing and spending, slower economy, lower asset prices, reduced inflation

            Lower rates => more borrowing and spending, faster economy, higher asset prices, increased inflation

            I’m totally missing how higher rates would lead to Weimar style hyperinflation. Please explain (or not).

          2. Higher interest rates means that the US will have to pay more dollars to service the debt we already have, not to mention the new debt we issue all the time. So if the Fed isn’t printing dollars to loan to banks etc, they’re printing them to service the national debt. Either way it’s more dollars.

            I don’t understand the mechanics of all, but it’s more complex than small rate good big rate bad.

          3. Higher interest rates means that the US will have to pay more dollars to service the debt we already have

            Which means they will have less money to spend in other things.

          4. Whoever you’re watching is delusional, stupid, or both. The FED has already said they plan on being at 3.5% by the end of this year, and they will continue raising rates until inflation goes down to 2%. Many believe the FED will have to raise to 9%.

    2. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      European shares slip as Fed officials focus on inflation
      Asian markets recover as Nancy Pelosi declares support for Taiwan
      The US Federal Reserve building
      Several US Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday signalled that the central bank was committed to its aggressive fight against soaring prices
      Naomi Rovnick in London and Kate Duguid in New York
      3 hours ago

      European equities slipped in the morning on Wednesday after hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve clouded market hopes that the US central bank would ease the pace of rate rises to counter an economic slowdown.

      The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.1 per cent in morning trading, with London’s FTSE 100 up 0.2 per cent and Germany’s Dax trading flat.

      Fed officials on Tuesday signalled that the central bank was committed to its aggressive fight against soaring prices, prompting investors to price in more interest rate rises.

      Meanwhile, an influential survey of eurozone executives found that business activity in the currency bloc hit a 17-month low in July, putting pressure on European government bonds.

      Germany’s 10-year Bund yield rose 0.08 percentage points to 0.8 per cent as the price of the debt fell. Italy’s equivalent bond yield added 0.07 percentage points to 2.99 per cent.

      San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly said in an interview on LinkedIn on Tuesday that the central bank was “nowhere near” done with its fight to cool inflation, which continues to run at 40-year highs.

      In a separate interview, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said a 0.75 percentage point rise in September “could also be OK.”

      These remarks come after the Fed’s meeting last week at which chair Jay Powell suggested it might be appropriate to slow the pace of interest rate increases, prompting a relief rally in markets at the end of last month.

      “Fed communication is ambiguous, and it’s way too early for [central banks] to reverse course,” Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, said in a note to clients.
      …

      1. https://www.dailyfx.com/eur-usd

        The euro started declining 21 May 2021, more than a year ago. Lately, it’s ticked upward a bit.
        I can’t see how the timing of the EUR-USD differential tracks with what’s going on in the intl markets including the bond markets. Feeling really dumb here …

    3. ‘Due to the repeated outbreaks and the interest rate hikes in the United States, the pace of turnover for second hand transactions has slowed down slightly, and some owners have also begun to face the reality and increase discounts,’

      Isn’t it amazing how the Fed’s War on Inflation is popping real estate bubbles on the other side of the planet?

  3. ‘I only hear the birds sing,’ said Li, a 26-year-old tech worker who didn’t want his full name used for security reasons. ‘If I have to pay a mortgage for a home that’s never going to be finished, I feel my whole life would be ruined. Deep down, that makes me terrified’

    Peter, Li, as an accountant i must inform you yer airbox doesn’t exist. It will never exist.

    ‘didn’t want his full name used for security reasons’

    Only in communist China.

    1. ‘didn’t want his full name used for security reasons’

      Only in communist China.

      Those guys actually do have box car rides to labor camps.

  4. Fears of possible recession reverberate throughout Colorado restaurant industry still recovering from pandemic (8/2/2022):

    “According to data released last month by the National Restaurant Association, 43% of restaurant operators believe economic conditions will get worse over the next six months, while only 18% believe conditions will improve.

    Meanwhile, some Denver businesses are buckling under the economic pressures. On Monday, Ryan Cobbins had to temporarily close his business, Coffee at The Point, and lay off his entire staff.

    “Rising costs in inflation,” he said. “I mean, I just received a letter from one of our vendors that their prices are going to increase on us by 15%, six months after prices already increased from that same vendor.”

    Whether it be a closure or a coupon, the respective situations at Coffee at The Point and Hapa are bound to become more common, according to University of Denver economics professor, Mac Clouse.

    “Businesses are going to try to do something because we’re starting to see the slowdown in consumer spending,” Clouse said.

    https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/fears-of-possible-recession-reverberate-throughout-colorado-restaurant-industry-still-recovering-from-pandemic

    Subway is now charging $6 for its basic 6″ subs. We went to Five Guys recently and it was $12 just for the burger, that wasn’t all that. The last time I ate at a restaurant in Denver with table service was at The District near downtown a few months ago and it was $55 for lunch for two people and two beers.

    I’ll keep bringing lunch to work almost every day, because its just not worth it to overpay.

    1. I got some takeout from a nearby Mexican place. Two observations:

      1) Prices are up 20%
      2) As I waited for my order, I noticed that about 2/3 of the tables were empty (sure, it was a Tuesday, but still). This place was always packed just a few months ago.

      I’m sure people are seeing their credit card balances soar and are cutting back on non-essentials. Oceans of empty tables and non existent drive thru lines are becoming more common.

      1. “…1) Prices are up 20%
        2) As I waited for my order, I noticed that about 2/3 of the tables were empty…”

        Ditto for here in SoCal (Orange County).

        Anybody notice that in addition to the price increases, the styrofoam takeout containers are getting smaller? Just enough shrinkflation in hopes that no one would notice. Pretty sneaky.

      2. There is a lake area north of here that we like to go to but it is just far enough that gas prices make you think twice so we hadn’t gone in a while. We have only known it as being a busy area. In the 3rd week of July this year it was dead. Taco Bell didn’t have one car. Wendys only had one. We have never been able to get Taco Bell up there because the line was always way too long. Three of the independent family restaurants appeared to be permanently closed. The boats and side by sides were conspicuously absent on the highway thru town.

        This week in the opposite direction we went to some popular hiking and camping spots on TVA land. Even the free camp sites were empty. I’ve only ever seen them full in the summer. Near one spot we found a dozen law enforcement vehicles and a coroner.

        This is anecdotal but it seems the fringes are rapidly tightening in this area. In other areas of the country people still report huge crowds but we’ll see how long this continues. Things still seemed normal here during the 4th but then dropped way off. In East TN things are visibly tightening.

        1. I honestly think that people are partying in the summer, thinking that they can hunker in the fall “when COVID comes back.” I don’t believe COVID will come back, not in force. But I think people will still hunker down.

          2. “COVID?” LMFAO. That’s still a thing?
            I believe Canada has reintroduced Covid checks on people entering the country.

          3. No COVID isn’t still a thing, but the vaccines and the timing of Delta from last year make people *think* that COVID comes back with the fall.

          4. I believe Canada has reintroduced Covid checks on people entering the country.

            It will never stop being a thing in cuck countries..

      3. My husband and I have tried to keep a small date fund- about 30ish dollars a week- so that we can splurge on Saturday and eat out, not have to do dishes, etc.

        Our date fund has disappeared because or electricity rates have skyrocketed and other expenses just keep going up. We aren’t extravagant spenders in the least, and we can’t even have our weekly take out nights this month.

        1. Well you could still do the activity. In the early years of my marriage we would go out for just a bowl of soup or a dessert. A full blown meal was out of the question.

        3. Between COVID and $10k per semester college bills my wife and I haven’t dined out in over 2-yrs, but we still order an occasional Mexican take-out dish or Pizza.

  5. ‘I don’t know the normal process of buying a property here’

    Well it’s New York, so now you know!

  6. ‘The median sales price of a new construction home dropped to $402,400 in June, down from $444,500 in May’

    But those were the winnahs!?

    2. Imagine you just lost $50,000 in phantom equity in a month? Absolutely hilarious. I’m getting a side ache from laughing.

    1. Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.
      Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
      Oh, I believe in yesterday.

      Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be.
      There’s a shadow hanging over me.
      Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

      Why she had to go?
      I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
      I said something wrong.
      Now I long for yesterday.

      Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.
      Now I need a place to hide away.
      Oh, I believe in yesterday.

      Why she had to go?
      I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
      I said something wrong.
      Now I long for yesterday.

      Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.
      Now I need a place to hide away.
      Oh, I believe in yesterday.

      Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm.

      https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/yesterday.html

      1. Crater Rage….. all the bubbles seem so far away.
        Now it looks as if its here to say.
        Oh I don’t need this Crater Rage.

        Suddenly… my worth is half of what it used to be…
        Now I’m just hopeless debt donkey
        Oh Crater Rage came suddenly.

        Why these tales of woe……

        Chester, ID Housing Prices Crater 23% YOY As Rural Lot And Land Prices Drop Like A Rock

        https://www.movoto.com/chester-id/market-trends/

      2. Yesterday, my home equity was here to stay.
        Now it’s CR8Red and has gone away.
        Oh I believe in yesterday.

    2. Ben, in telling the truth, you have awakened me to how hopeless our future is. From stolen elections, to killer vaccines, to financial crimes against our children. Now the nukes are about to be launched and we are all finished. Mankind failed, short of divine intervention we are doimed, of this I am convinced. If only more had opened their hearts and minds to your warnings.

      2. No nukes are about to be launched. Get a grip. “Mankind” hasn’t failed. There are a lot of strong, resilient people out there who know the score and aren’t about to go quietly into that Long Goodnight planned for them by the globalists. Instead of going into Beaker-like hysterics, try being part of the solution.

        1. The solution was for u, Ben, Professor bears nieces to go pick up guns on jan 6 and shoot back our freedoms stolen in an fraudulent election. You were too much a coward to do so. Game over. The guns don’t need to be taken. A slave is someone who waits for other people to come free him.

          These resilient people you speak of, when do they do a 1776 solution? Stolen election. Nope. Mandated Kill shots. Nope. Unable to congregate at churches. Nope. You are living in a dream world. You are dead already.

          1. You are dead already

            Not dead yet. I want a country run on the rule of law, which is part of America’s greatness. January 6 wasn’t at all about revolution. Nobody took guns. There were no plans for battle. Is it you that sits and waits for old men with rifles to free you?

        2. No nukes are about to be launched.

          I wouldn’t put too much stock into Iran or NorKo threats..

          But otherwise, things do look grim.

      3. Cheer up my good friend and remember…. as a noted economist stated so eloquently, “Nothing accelerates the economy and creates jobs like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.”

        He’s right.

        Destin, FL Housing Prices Crater 27% YOY As Soaring Inventory Blows The Doors Off Florida Housing Market

        https://www.movoto.com/destin-fl/market-trends/

      4. This is the end
        Beautiful friend
        This is the end
        My only friend, the end
        Of our elaborate plans, the end
        Of everything that stands, the end
        No safety or surprise, the end
        I’ll never look into your eyes again
        Can you picture what will be
        So limitless and free
        Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand
        In a desperate land
        This is the end
        Beautiful friend
        This is the end
        My only friend, the end
        It hurts to set you free
        But you’ll never follow me
        The end of laughter and soft lies
        The end of nights we tried to die
        This is the end
        This is the end

      5. ‘Now the nukes are about to be launched and we are all finished. Mankind failed, short of divine intervention we are doimed’,

        – don’t worry we will quote that on TV and then Captain America will show up and save the World!

          1. ‘Using anonymous internet rants. That’s a high quality video you got there’.

            How true – but as this blog get’s moderated like nearly every blog on the Internet – it’s actually the moderation which defines the quality of a blog – and that’s why high quality blogs make sure that no stupid nonsense passes moderation.

      6. Have no fear. Odds are very good that ICBM’s are a complete fiction just like con-vid. Yah….I’m that guy.

  9. the lender usually rolls the 4-per-cent default insurance fees into the mortgage. 

    That’s sound lending right there!

    Re: China

    1.5 billion Chinese are being steered to blame Pelosi and by proxy the USA for them losing their homes.

    Professor bears nieces vs 1.5 billion starving homeless masses. I predict very soon his nieces will become soylent green for 1.5 billion chinese.

    1. Professor bears nieces

      They will be fine. They’re young and may learn from experience what they will not learn from advice. Going bust is not a death sentence in the USA.

      1. Going bust is not a death sentence in the USA.

        Worse come to worse, you file for BK and start over.

      2. Their eagerness has resulted in some of their permanent income getting needlessly transferred into the pockets of the former owners of their homes. That is all.

        Patience often pays dividends to those who can muster it.

    2. 1.5 billion Chinese are being steered to blame Pelosi and by proxy the USA for them losing their homes.

      I’m pretty sure they know who has been locking them down for months and making them get “tested” daily.

  10. And another one gone and another one gone, another one bites the dust!

    Geelong building company Norris Construction Group collapsed owing $27m

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/geelong-building-company-norris-construction-group-collapsed-owing-27m/news-story/b771078dfadab45f0fd04bb496e31d18

    A collapsed Australian construction company has almost $30 million in debt and owes millions more to staff – which it’s unlikely to repay.

  11. The numbers showed that they couldn’t turn the house around and sell it at a profit they’d like to have because of the market’s appreciation.”

    I love the smell of burning speculators in the morning. It smells like…victory.

  12. Another, Jianli Chen, said that ‘as a new immigrant from China, I don’t know the normal process of buying a property here.’ He paid Wu $345,000.

    I suspect most of these immigrants were willfully circumventing a lot of “normal” processes.

  13. “The number of active listings in Snohomish County in June was 1,973, compared to 1,182 in May, according to data from the listing service.”

    Stage one of the transition from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market is a massive inventory increase, as buyers willing to pay last year’s prices have vanished.

    Stage two will be the Hunger Games competition between sellers to set a low enough price to attract scarce buyers. It could get vicious if a recession adds fear of job loss to buyers’ considerations.

  14. Tebb terminated the listing because the market shifted so significantly that the bidding wars and frenzied pace of sales seen earlier this year had dissipated.

    Yer an idiot, Godhead Tebb. Shack prices are only going to crater from here as soaring inflation forces the central banks to withdraw the easy money punchbowl and our oligarch-looted economies are in free-fall.

    1. They are still in the denial stage. Once the crater becomes undeniable they will move into the anger stage, and then will whine that they were misled, tricked and even coerced into getting on the train to schlongville.

      1. There’s also bound to be charges of predatory racis’ lending. Nobody ever wants to admit their own poor judgment played a role in the outcome.

      2. “nobody could have known”

        You can see it coming already. What if we told you and you didn’t listen? that would be a much more honest state of affairs than “nobody could have known”

  15. House bought in 1968 for $10K goes on market for $1.5M. Heckova job, central bankers.

    Untouched Sydney house is an epic retro time warp with décor from a bygone era

    https://www.realestate.com.au/news/untouched-sydney-house-is-an-epic-retro-time-warp-with-decor-from-a-bygone-era-2/?rsf=syn:news:nca:rea:news-strap

    A terrace in a prized Sydney suburb is on the market for the first time in more than 50 years – and its untouched interiors serve as a kind of time capsule from a bygone era.

    1. I wonder if the toilet is actually IN the house. I recall one $900K AUS house where you would have to cross an overgrown back yard* to a flush toilet outhouse thing.

      ————–
      *In Australia, the home of poisonous buggies and critters.

  16. It estimates the GTA’s median detached home has plunged almost 25 per cent – in less than five months.”
    OK, GTA’s SFR down almost 25%.
    Then how come this next statement is:
    Many insured buyers who purchased near the first quarter’s peak now owe significantly more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Some are more than 10 per cent underwater.”
    Well, I guess 20+% is greater than 10+%, So OK, but it sounds disingenuous.

    1. CNN in crisis as profits drop below $1 billion for the first time

      That’s still a lot of money for purveying fake news.

  20. A reader sent these in:

    MassLayoff Notification

    Robinhood Financial $HOOD
    23% of Total Workforce
    Menlo Park, CA

    https://twitter.com/ParResGroup/status/1554561665101864965

    (Bozeman) The hot garbage is piling up now. 30 active listings max all year in 2021, then 80 in Feb 2022, 150 March 2022, 200 Apr 2022, etc

    https://twitter.com/IDKFA3/status/1554677689457319936

    The stories of angry single parents who signed up for loans with 5% deposits for mortgages they now cannot afford begins. The govt never should have offered these loans in the first place.

    https://twitter.com/AvidCommentator/status/1554376201031979009

    🇨🇦’s real estate developers are delaying over 10,000 homes until prices stop falling. Building more was suppose to drive prices lower but we won’t build after a minor drop. 🤷‍♂️ It’s okay to admit you were hoodwinked into believing it was supply shortage and not a credit bubble.

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1554279695738437633

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    …and THIS is why Powell is also potentially noble as well, a word I don’t use lightly. He’s been pilloried. And he’s still standing firm.

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1554199656271421443

    The “American Dream” shopping mall is in default.

    https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/american-dream-mall-misses-payment-on-debt-backed-by-n-j-grants

    Another casualty of misallocated cheap capital. 14 years of 0% rates later, pundits wonder relative to 2007, where is the leverage this time? Everywhere.

    https://twitter.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1554441983220924416

    Second largest monthly decline in 50 years. Fastest decline from all time high in history. Whiplash.

    https://twitter.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1554518241489424385

    Just saw Highland slash new construction in a Celina community by 100k (15%). The good quality builders are getting serious now.

    https://twitter.com/OGtexasrunner/status/1554476072539938816

    Aaron Layman

    DFW months of supply for new homes July 2022:

    Dallas County – 3.4 months ⬆️70%
    Tarrant County – 4.3 months ⬆️ 126%
    Collin County – 4.5 months ⬆️ 114%
    Denton County – 4.6 months ⬆️ 142%

    https://twitter.com/dfwaaronlayman/status/1554426564988878848

    Bankruptcies in UK highest since financial crisis

    https://twitter.com/AlessioUrban/status/1554522537803091969

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    The United States of Real Estate (focus on most populous states that are HOT pink but sadly not engines of productivity growth…).

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1554421317138407424

    Canadian real estate looks insanely valued. And this is all of Canada, certain cities like Vancouver are even more extreme.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1554436860797243404

  21. Adam Taggart

    If I ask you to drink a gallon of water in a week, no problem. If I force it down your throat all at once, you drown. The rate of change is critical here. Same with the Fed’s rate hikes. It has hiked rates faster than at any point in history. How badly will the economy choke?

    https://twitter.com/menlobear/status/1554525057870770176

    John Wake

    Whoops! Closer to home, AEI estimates that San Francisco prices are down even more than Sydney!

    https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1554490336038096897

    Average New Home Price, biggest drop since 2008. What every realtor doesn’t want you to see:

    https://twitter.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1554511651604414464

    Average sales price for homes sold in the US are absolutely collapsing. Faster than any time in history.

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1554512714801618944

    Federal Reserve’s Mester: inflation has not decreased at all.

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1554514415981981696

  22. ‘An email recently sent from New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) to all names on its distribution list, and obtained by The Epoch Times, urged all staff who can work overtime to do so, to deal with a “drastic influx of asylum seekers” in Manhattan and the outer boroughs.’

    ‘The internal request came about a week after the city’s Mayor Eric Adams described the growing stream of illegal aliens coming into the Big Apple as a “real burden on New Yorkers,” adding that the city already had “an overburdened shelter system.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-nyc-agency-struggles-to-cope-with-drastic-influx-of-asylum-seekers-urges-staff-to-work-overtime-leaked-email-shows_4638651.html

  24. “The govt never should have offered these loans in the first place.”

    Well Ben, u prove the govt is destroying us, our children. Intentionally. How much more will you take before you do an ashli babbit?

  25. Austin Texas Real Estate | Understanding the Housing Market | Pt.1
    Aug 3, 2022 What’s going on in Austin Texas’ housing? In this video, Dena discusses the shift in Austin real estate and walks us through a graph of Austin Texas housing data provided by Chris Jacobs (Housing Report Facebook group – link to the page below).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9AnTZwYGeU

    4:33. Calls out the local UHS board. Not good Austin.

  28. Aug 2, 2022 Home Value is dropping fast in Las Vegas. We’re seeing $25k, $50k, $70k price reductions and more. Was the market overheated?? I know buyers dried up pretty quickly after the Feds changed their policy to tackle inflation.

    Buyers are getting crushed with high interest rates, record home prices, and inflation squeezing every dollar out of their paycheck!!
    Things quickly changed around here. If you are thinking of buying, are you ready for this? That home that was on market 2 months ago is now $75 less now.

    Sellers, it is very important to list your home correctly before you hit market. The penalty for not pricing your home correctly will literally cost you tens of hundreds of thousands! Your home will sit with no showings and no offers. This is the market screaming at you to get the price right.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJvAhlewmYU

    3:20.

  29. Russia Today — Cooperation with the West is over (8/3/2022):

    “Russia’s decades long attempt to integrate with the west is not only over, but even cooperation is now off the cards, a senior strategist in Moscow has warned. Aleksey Drobinin, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Policy Planning Department, believes that future dealings can only take place on a “transactional” basis.

    Drobinin, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Policy Planning Department, was writing in a keynote article published on Wednesday. He explained that the West is trying to protect its power from an emerging multipolar world, which means countries like Russia which reject Washington’s so-called “rules-based order” must resist.

    Thus, after the present crisis in Ukraine, there can be no return to attempts at a rapprochement with the US and its allies, he argues.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/560133-world-west-breakup-irreversible/

    Russia is winning.

    1. When you have stuff the world needs, like energy, food, minerals, etc. you negotiate from a position of strength.

      What did we take away from them? Fast food and iPhones?

      1. Fast food and iPhones?

        I’m not sure we took any of that from them.

        All the sanctions are being quietly walked back anyway. Stick a fork in Ukraine and walk away.

        1. I’m not sure we took any of that from them.

          I recall great fanfare when MickeyD’s closed shop in Russia, but yeah, other chains did remain. I also recall Apple making a big deal out of pulling out.

          I’m also pretty sure that any foreign products that pulled out were obtainable via gray market.

          1. MickeyD’s closed shop in Russia

            Yet the shops remain and are operated by locals. They’re renamed of course.

          2. Yet the shops remain and are operated by locals. They’re renamed of course.

            Exactly, it was a pointless gesture. Russia is doing fine, while we are drowning in debt and inflation.

          4. And, we’re the ones losing reserve currency status. This can’t be anything but deliberate.

  32. By Legacy Staff August 3, 2022

    Vin Scully (1927–2022) Died: August 2, 2022

    Vin Scully (1927–2022) was one of the most iconic baseball broadcasters ever, having spent a remarkable 67 years as the lone sportscaster for the Dodgers on both radio and television.

    Vin Scully disliked Socialism 0:21

    Aug 3, 2022

    https://youtu.be/kOhIuW2RXdo

  33. “We’re seeing a lot of sellers just not getting the price they want and so they’re like, ‘we’re going to hold off’ or ‘I don’t want to sell $50,000 lower from what my neighbour got a month ago because that’s a lot of money”

    Why most investors lose in one lesson.

    1. “…Why most investors lose in one lesson….”

      Human nature is endlessly fascinating (and often than not, predicatable)

      1. Overheard a woman in the pool over the weekend rambling on about how her neighbors place had sold for more than theirs which is currently under contract. She when on to say “my husband is hoping it falls through so we can relist higher”. I chuckled to myself a “I hope so too.”

        1. I wonder if they know how badly they got ripped off on their rapidly depreciating shanty….

    1. Interesting was this an IBuyer home? I tried to check but couldn’t find any info. I probably just don’t know where to look.

    2. Reckless gamblers. The house closed in early May, so probably a late March offer when the market was at its pinnacle peak. They thought it would on forever. But they are dumb focks. The FED was telegraphing their tightening since last fall. Anybody with even a modicum of common sense could have figured out the end was near. These idiots are going to lose a mint.

  35. $649,000 3 bd 2 ba 2,530 sqft
    Price cut: $100K (8/2)
    3688 E Lawman Dr, Kingman, AZ 86401

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3688-E-Lawman-Dr-Kingman-AZ-86401/87804596_zpid/

    Date Event Price
    8/2/2022 Price change $649,000 (-13.4%) $257/sqft

    7/8/2022 Price change $749,000 (-5.8%) $296/sqft

    6/7/2022 Price change $795,000 (-3.6%) $314/sqft

    5/25/2022 Listed for sale $825,000 (+73.3%) $326/sqft

    7/17/2020 Sold $476,000 (+0.1%) $188/sqft

    5/24/2020 Pending sale $475,500 $188/sqft

    5/22/2020 Listed for sale $475,500 (+1262.5%) $188/sqft

    1/9/2004 Sold $34,900 $14/sqft

    2. 1/9/2004 Sold $34,900 $14/sqft

      Built in 2008.

      600K for a shack in rattlesnake gulch … takes some loco weed to pay that much.

  37. If I am allowed, I will be posting this song for the rest of the week in honor of Deja Vue who may or may not be the descendant of a WWII Nazi SS officer and who once again proved you mess with the bull, you get the horns.

    🙂

    https://youtu.be/OY4jondX6tg

      1. The friend is a 6’8″ ex-Marine with a high and tight haircut and bulldog tattoo.

          1. Hubby and another buddy are trying to dissuade him by highlighting the cuck factor of the participants.

        2. “cuck factor”

          I had to look that up. 🙂

          That should be a great way to talk someone who sounds like they are still carrying very high testosterone levels out of joining that group.

    2. When I was young, there was an org call DeMolay, which was the Boy Scout version of the Masons.

        1. When I lived in Mexico City the American School (Colegio Americano) hosted a 4th of July festival on the closest weekend, There were plenty of booths from businesses that catered to expats. One of them was DeMolay. They had one of those booths were if you hit the target, someone fell into water (Dunk A DeMolay). It was a fundraiser but they also tried to recruit teens.

    1. The Financial Times
      Tiger Global Management LLC
      Tiger Global blames inflation after 50% drop in flagship hedge fund
      Chase Coleman’s group sustains steep losses and admits it ‘underestimated’ effect of rising prices
      Tiger Global hedge fund founder Chase Coleman
      Chase Coleman of Tiger Global, whose enviable returns have been dented by this year’s market volatility
      Antoine Gara in New York
      3 hours ago

      Chase Coleman’s hedge fund Tiger Global ended the second quarter nursing heavy losses amid a tech stock rout that has caused performance across one of the world’s largest hedge funds to plummet.

      A long-only fund the firm manages ended the second quarter down 63.6 per cent after fees, according to a letter sent to investors seen by the Financial Times, while the firm’s flagship fund ended the first half of the year down 50 per cent after fees.

      “In reflection on the first half of the year, it is clear we underestimated the impact of rising global inflation and entered 2022 with too much exposure,” the firm told investors.
      …

  40. ‘Particularly when you have buyers or sellers in the market expecting certain things to happen because that’s what’s been happening, when you do have a shift it’s a big deal and it raises some eyebrows. However, you’ve got to take a longer view.’

    Stark is absolutely correct. It will take around five years to get to the bottom of the CR8R. Meanwhile, try to not catch yourself a falling knife. 🔪

  41. Just read that GEICO insurance has abruptly closed every office in Clownifornia. Per the article, people there can still purchase policies online.

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