A Bellwether For The Value Destruction
A report from CBS News. “First Republic Bank’s stock price continued to plunge Wednesday. After shedding half their value on Tuesday, First Republic shares tumbled nearly 30% to close at $5.69, with the New York Stock Exchange halting trading in the stock several times because of volatility. Since January, the shares have shed 95% of their value. ‘Investors got a sharp reminder on Tuesday that the U.S. banking crisis and broader credit crunch are not over,’ wrote Will Denyer of Gavekal Research in a research note.”
The Washington Post. “Shares of First Republic Bank fell sharply Wednesday, continuing an astonishing decline. The bank’s funding costs are rising, as it must pay more to acquire and keep deposits, while its earnings from low-yielding securities and loans remain the same, according to Karen Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington consultancy. ‘This is what happened to the [savings-and-loans institutions] in the 1980s: The cost of deposits rises and the bank has a large portfolio of lower-rate loans or securities. The cost of doing business becomes higher than the return they can realize,’ she said.”
The Sun Sentinel in Florida. “‘They know the market has changed,’ said Patty Da Silva, broker with Green Realty Properties in Cooper City. ‘Sellers have come to the realization that they aren’t going to get the prices from last year and buyers realize that interest rates will probably not come down meaningfully soon.’ There’s about 3 months of inventory in Palm Beach County, a 166% increase from the year before. In Broward County there is about 2.7 months, a 145% increase, while in Miami-Dade County there is 3.5 months of inventory, or a 105% increase. Prices are also significantly lower than what they were at the peak of the market — the median sale price in Palm Beach County was $620,000, while in Broward County, it was $600,000.”
The Colorado Springs Business Journal. “While the inventory of homes on the market is up a dramatic 259 percent over March of 2022, it’s still historically very low. ‘We saw a huge inflation in prices in 2021 and early 2022,’ says Chris Lutyen, managing broker of Coldwell Banker Realty. ‘We had so few listings then that people were overbidding and creating a huge price bump, inflating the prices more than they would have been otherwise. A sort of downtick in pricing now is like a recovery.'”
From Deseret News. “Utah ranks in the top 10 most ‘difficult’ states for first-time homebuyers, with an average of over $70,000 in cash needed up front for a down payment. In May of last year, the median price of a single-family home in Salt Lake County peaked at $650,000, but since then, price increases have slowed and even tipped downward. In February, the median single-family home in Salt Lake County fell to $560,000, down $90,000 from its May 2022 peak, according to the Salt Lake County Board of Realtors.”
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “The median price of a Southern California home, or the price at the midpoint of all sales, fell 2.1% to $705,000 during the 12 months ending in March, CoreLogic housing figures show. Last month’s median was down 7% from an all-time high of $760,000 in the spring of 2022. But on the other hand, it’s up 5% from January, when median prices dipped to a recent low of $670,000. Southern California home sales, meanwhile, were down 37.5% to 15,307 transactions last month, CoreLogic figures show. That’s the second-lowest tally for a March in records dating back 36 years.”
The Wall Street Journal. “Before the pandemic, San Francisco’s California Street was home to some of the world’s most valuable commercial real estate. One building, a 22-story glass and stone tower at 350 California Street, was worth around $300 million in 2019, according to office broker estimates. That building now is for sale, with bids due soon. They are expected to come in at about $60 million, commercial real-estate brokers say. That’s an 80% decline in value in just four years.”
“Regardless of the building’s specific issues, a sale as low as the bids some brokers expect would be bad news for office owners in other U.S. cities too, said Mark Fawer, a partner in the real estate practice group at law firm Greenspoon Marder. ‘This could be seen as a bellwether for the value destruction in the urban office market nationally,’ he said, ‘especially those markets that are more technology and financial services-centric.'”
“About $80 billion worth of loans backed by U.S. office buildings come due this year, according to data firm Trepp Inc. Most will need to be refinanced, at a time of higher interest rates and lower occupancy, threatening lenders with losses. Wells Fargo & Co. recently said the volume of its office-building-backed loans that are classified as ‘nonaccrual’—meaning the bank no longer expects full interest and principal payment—jumped to $725 million in the first quarter from $186 million in the 2022 fourth quarter.”
The New York Post. “New York City has come a long way since the dark days of 2020. But if we’re really ‘back,’ as Mayor Eric Adams claims, why are there so many empty lots and unfinished building projects? It’s depressing that large development sites sit empty, with no work being done, on Fifth Avenue, East and West 57th Street and all over the map in FiDi. Other projects ground to a halt when new buildings were halfway done. With no firm completion dates in sight, they stand as rude reminders that big-ticket real estate is a risky business even for the wealthiest and savviest professionals.”
“Whether hostage to feuds between partners, neglected by absentee foreign ownership, or in need of new funding thanks to improbable budgeting, here are some of NYC’s most ‘cursed’ building sites.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “The number of property owners willing to list their homes for sale is edging up in the Greater Toronto Area but a chill remains. Patrick Rocca, broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., says phone calls from potential sellers picked up during the week of March break in Ontario, he says, as some homeowners began looking for opinions of value. Some are still hoping for a return to the peak price of early 2022, he says. ‘I think that’s a drastic mistake. We’ve come back quite nicely but we’re nowhere near last year.'”
“Mr. Rocca says one source of new listings may be homeowners with fixed-term mortgages who are required to renew those agreements in the coming months. He has talked to owners seeing their monthly mortgage payments double or triple. But while some homeowners are able to reduce their other expenses or work out agreements with their lenders, others may be under more pressure to sell.”
CBC News in Canada. “A major Ontario home developer is facing startling allegations from one of the big five banks that it orchestrated a ‘highly sophisticated,’ year-long fraud totalling over $37 million. TD Bank has filed a lawsuit against StateView Homes, based in Woodbridge, Ont., north of Toronto, and headed by brothers Carlo and Dino Taurasi, alleging the company carried out a ‘cheque-kiting’ scheme from April 2022 to last month.”
“The lawsuit also names as defendants 25 associated corporations, five directors of those companies and StateView’s former chief financial officer Daniel Ciccone. TD alleges the defendants wrote thousands of bad cheques for large sums of money from both corporate and personal accounts at other banks, according to its statement of claim, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. TD alleges the defendants would cash the cheques into TD accounts and TD would conditionally release the money before the cheque cleared. The bank says the defendants would quickly withdraw the funds and then cancel the cheque to prevent the money from actually being transferred to the TD account.”
“To avoid detection, the defendants were routinely doing these ‘sham transactions’ across 22 accounts to create the illusion of fresh funds coming in, TD alleges. These court actions raise questions about the future of about 1,400 homes StateView has planned across the Toronto area, many of which have already been sold but not yet built. Stateview and its subsidiaries are facing another financial challenge. The lenders Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation and Dorr Capital Corporation earlier this week filed a claim against Carlo, Dino and Stateview’s Nao Towns II corporation — seeking immediate repayment of a $24 million loan for the 96-unit project under construction in Markham. It’s also one of the many StateView properties TD is eyeing.”
“Insolvency lawyer David Schatzker, who is not involved in the case, says if lenders succeed in getting a receiver to take control of StateView properties, there’s not a lot concerned buyers could do. The receiver may allow the project to finish and the buyers would be able to complete their home purchases, he said. However if a receiver orders the projects sold to repay lenders, those buyers may never see the homes they bought, or their deposits.”
“‘Ultimately they may suffer a loss if the project is not completed,’ Schatzker said. ‘They might theoretically at some point sue the developer but the likelihood is that, after the receivership is completed, there’s probably not going to be a lot of money left over.'”
From CNN. “One of China’s poorest and most indebted provinces has admitted defeat in trying to sort out its finances and is appealing to Beijing for help to avert default. Guizhou, located in a mountainous region of southwest China, has hired a top state-owned distressed debt fund, China Cinda Asset Management, to resolve its ‘urgent’ problems. Its total debt, including the ‘hidden debt’ issued by the government’s financing arms, had reached 25 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) by the end of 2021, according to the most recent available data.”
“In mid April, Guizhou acknowledged publicly that it was unable to tackle its own debt issues and called on Beijing for help. It was the first Chinese province to do so. ‘The debt problem has become a major and urgent problem for [our] local governments,’ a research team from the provincial government said in an article posted on the government’s website. ‘However, due to limited financial resources, it is extremely difficult [for them] to advance the debt relief work, and it is impossible to effectively solve it only by relying on their own capabilities.’ The article was later removed, but not before it had been widely circulated on social media.”
From Reuters. “Queues stretch hundreds of metres around temples in China on weekends, as despondent young worshippers pray to find jobs in an economy slowly clawing its way back from the coronavirus pandemic. ‘I hope to find some peace in temples,’ said 22-year-old Wang Xiaoning, pointing to ‘the pressure of finding a job’ and housing costs that are out of reach. Mr Wang is among a record 11.58 million university graduates who face a job market still reeling from stringent ‘zero-Covid’ lockdowns, as well as crackdowns on the technology and education sectors, key traditional hirers.”
“‘The threshold for employment keeps rising,’ said Ms Chen, a 19-year-old who was praying for her career prospects at the iconic Lama Temple in the capital, Beijing, despite being years away from graduation. ‘The pressure is overwhelming,’ she added, who gave only her surname for privacy reasons.”
“The one-fifth of young Chinese without jobs among a highly educated generation is a record. Improving their prospects is a major headache for the authorities, who want the economy to create 12 million new jobs in 2023, up from 11 million in 2022. ‘There is a serious oversupply of university graduates and their priority is survival,’ said Ms Zhang Qidi, a researcher at the Centre for International Finance Studies, who added that many have resorted to ride-sharing or delivery jobs.”
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‘This is what happened to the [savings-and-loans institutions] in the 1980s: The cost of deposits rises and the bank has a large portfolio of lower-rate loans or securities. The cost of doing business becomes higher than the return they can realize’
When the S&L’s cratered, shack prices weren’t too high. But they crashed as people lost jobs. It was fraud ridden commercial real estate that brought them and so many banks down. Things look much worse right now than the 80’s.
I’ll say again: Dallas Fort Worth had been the hottest RE market on the planet for 4 years straight and it all fell apart. We’re watching SF and NY city (and others) implode right before us. Oh and shacks are sinking like a turd in a well.
Frisco TX is starting to look like downtown Dallas with all the new office towers and highrise condos. Not sure how bad it will get.
‘Whether hostage to feuds between partners, neglected by absentee foreign ownership, or in need of new funding thanks to improbable budgeting, here are some of NYC’s most ‘cursed’ building sites’
Too many to list, read the article for all the crater. Remember the Chinese guy who rode a glass elevator and pointed to buildings saying ‘I want that one, and that one!’ Yep his hotel is there. He’s serving time in a Chinese prison.
‘Prices are also significantly lower than what they were at the peak of the market — the median sale price in Palm Beach County was $620,000, while in Broward County, it was $600,000’
Typical Florida media. It’s to the moon Alice! but sneak in a line saying otherwise. With no numbers of course.
‘Its total debt, including the ‘hidden debt’ issued by the government’s financing arms, had reached 25 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) by the end of 2021, according to the most recent available data’
China is in a world of sh$t. Their unemployment would embarrass an African country. I watched a video I wish I had posted here about demographics. The combination of one child policy and wages going up 800% since 1990 has left them behind Mexico for production advantages. All the while they try one hair-brained scheme after another to ‘fix’ one crisis after another, and the road has run out. Poo bear really put the icing on the cake with the CCP virus insanity. Lots of loans are never going to be repaid.
I’ve often thought that’s one of the main reasons why he wants to take over Taiwan….. is for the money.
Money can’t fix what’s wrong with China. Anyway, just what would a Chinese takeover of Taiwan look like? You’re going to make millions of people into slaves? That’s not going to work.
China’s model is broken. They earn too much to be the worlds factory. The population is aging rapidly. They’ve ruined the environment. They are shackled to a central planning dictatorship that is too rigid to innovate and the central priority is to stay in power at all costs.
Young couples don’t want to bring children in a CCP “socialist utopia.”
Take a cursory glance at Chinese produced porn; that will tell you all you need to know.
glance at Chinese produced
You watch it so I don’t have to. Thanks!
For those of us who haven’t and don’t want to, can you provide insight to give your comment context?
Patriarchal and rough.
“Money can’t fix what’s wrong with China.”
I guess one possible solution is to use money to pay all those unemployed young people to stay home and make babies. I bet Chen(19) and Wang(22) would be willing to pop out four or five if you give them food and housing. And of course the kids would receive a solid CCP edu-indoctrination.
Young Chinese are too practical to believe that government cheese is going to take care of them in the long-run. The government has tried all sorts of schemes around housing subsidies to promote births but they don’t work.
If the CPC was smart they’d import Latin Americans. They are easily bribable.
I watched a video I wish I had posted here about demographics. The combination of one child policy and wages going up 800% since 1990 has left them behind Mexico for production advantages.
That was almost certainly a video where they interviewed Peter Zeihan. Demographics are his bailiwick.
‘Some are still hoping for a return to the peak price of early 2022, he says. ‘I think that’s a drastic mistake. We’ve come back quite nicely but we’re nowhere near last year’
Did that narrative work too well Pat?
‘Mr. Rocca says one source of new listings may be homeowners with fixed-term mortgages who are required to renew those agreements in the coming months. He has talked to owners seeing their monthly mortgage payments double or triple’
Is that a lot?
And here comes the fraud:
‘Ultimately they may suffer a loss if the project is not completed,’ Schatzker said. ‘They might theoretically at some point sue the developer but the likelihood is that, after the receivership is completed, there’s probably not going to be a lot of money left over’
A reader sent these in:
Stop everything you’re doing! New album out!
💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1650961611304103966
SoCal bosses in #realestate industries cut staff by 4,600 in March amid wet weather and sluggish property sales.
https://twitter.com/jonlan/status/1651062549192798211
3M announces mass layoffs as manufacturing slows
https://twitter.com/ssun5555/status/1651087039540985857
I love the comments from the “housing shortage” crowd – size of households is falling, they aren’t in the right location, quality is bad, etc.
Where was the shortage in 2019 driving up prices…3.5% annualized? There is no shortage.
https://twitter.com/trader_mtg/status/1651068723174969345
Real estate is too leveraged for banks to absorb these losses. It’s also worth noting that real estate prices lag, and the declines so far have occurred without a material crack in the labor market…
https://twitter.com/EPBResearch/status/1651205814500065282
“…. about her decision to purchase a house in Palm Springs, California, with her sister and list it as a short-term rental. In 2022, the rental brought in $81,861 but cost $94,967 to run, including a property-management fee.”
https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1651275159431696384
She bought in 2020 so caught the explosive appreciation of 2021 even if it was cash flow negative. Now, it’s gotta feel different when both appreciation and cash flow are negative.
https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1651329268084011008
Stupid Fed Res bubble-tricks…
2001 to 2007
Seattle home prices +80%
Seattle employees +6.4%
2020 to 2022
Seattle home prices +63%
Seattle employees -0.9%
https://twitter.com/Econimica/status/1651344490114981888
Correct. Makes inflation look like child’s play FOR ANY INDEBTED ENTITY. If you’re flush with dry powder, it’s another story altogether.
https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1651344055891111936
The “immense distortion in the distribution of mortgage rates” being paid by homeowners in the US may be laid directly at the feet of the Fed during QE4 when $3.1 trillion in newly created credit was poured directly into the mortgage sector | Christopher Maloney, BOK Financial.
https://twitter.com/rcwhalen/status/1651205691959394305
Ummm… might be a little early to make that call.
https://twitter.com/TrishaFLsun/status/1651269156006666240
Flippers finishing projects heading into 2023
https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1651299436474302464
I can’t 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1651305706891489280
The data with which the Federal Reserve is making decisions has too much latency
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1651453301639069697
Trying to force a bailout hey? 🚨 🤡 🌎 They took the risks and the bonuses, now demand public save them. Same old playbook.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1651203843055599616
There is no housing shortage unless we have open borders
“3M announces mass layoffs as manufacturing slows”
They were scrambling just two years ago to crank out N95 masks ’round the clock!
“love the comments from the “housing shortage” crowd – size of households is falling, they aren’t in the right location, quality is bad, etc.”
@ibie43 –
Similiar to the toilet paper shortage just a lot more expensive.
“After shedding half their value on Tuesday, First Republic shares tumbled nearly 30% to close at $5.69, with the New York Stock Exchange halting trading in the stock several times because of volatility. Since January, the shares have shed 95% of their value.”
First Republic stock offers a new opportunity each day to catch a falling knife.
“‘Investors got a sharp reminder on Tuesday that the U.S. banking crisis and broader credit crunch are not over,’ wrote Will Denyer of Gavekal Research in a research note.”
It’s a slow motion crisis playing out in dribbles and drabs, just like the 2008 banking crisis was, up until when the panic bells sounded and the wheels fell off the bus in September 2008.
“Since January, the shares have shed 95% of their value.”
My turn…is that a lot? 🙂
Is now a good time to invest in CRE?
The Financial Times
Commercial property
European commercial real estate dealmaking falls to 11-year low
Rising interest rates, banking turmoil and enduring shift to working from home put pressure on sector
There were €36.5bn worth of deals in the first quarter, down 62% from last year
Joshua Oliver 2 hours ago
European commercial real estate dealmaking hit an 11-year low in the first quarter of the year, according to MSCI data, as rising interest rates, banking turmoil and fears around economic growth made investors more cautious.
There were €36.5bn worth of deals in the quarter, down 62 per cent from last year, as the sharp rise in interest rates left buyers and sellers struggling to agree on the true price of properties.
Falling commercial property values and anxiety in the banking sector after the collapse of Credit Suisse have fuelled concerns that overstretched real estate investors or lenders could be the next source of major financial distress.
…
The Financial Times
Property sector
US banks on alert over falling commercial real estate valuations
Lenders increase provisions for losses on property loans as office values drop
Newly constructed towers in New York’s Hudson Yards. Commercial real estate loans account for about 40% of smaller banks’ total lending, against about 13% of the books of the biggest lenders
FT Reporters April 22 2023
US banks are becoming increasingly worried about falling commercial property valuations and the risk they pose to lenders’ balance sheets, senior executives said this week.
Office valuations in particular have been pummelled by rising interest rates and many employees’ preference for working from home since the coronavirus pandemic.
However, financial executives sought to reassure investors that they did not foresee significant systemic risk because holdings are broadly distributed among banks and other institutions.
…
Another instructive example.
One building, a 22-story glass and stone tower at 350 California Street, was worth around $300 million in 2019, according to office broker estimates.
That building now is for sale, with bids due soon. They are expected to come in at about $60 million, commercial real-estate brokers say. That’s an 80% decline in value in just four years.
This is how dire things have become in San Francisco, an extreme form of a challenge nationwide. Nearly every large U.S. city is struggling, to some degree, with reduced office-worker turnout since the pandemic spurred remote work. No market was hit harder than San Francisco, for reasons including its high costs, reliance on a tech industry quick to embrace hybrid work, and quality-of-life issues such as crime and homelessness.
there is 0 inventory due to the crazy influx of Ukies here in North Sacramento. specifically the Antelope area.
what I’d like to know is, how do all of these “religious refugees” get the cheddar to afford the average priced home of half a mill? hot money from home?
and they all have the newest shiny cars.
that’s a status symbol.
along w/blonde wife.
and 4 kids.
the mexi immigrants could only afford the used shiny-rimmed chevy trucks they envied that el hefe drove in old mehico.
this was happening before zelensky but has really picked up lately.
People from crooked countries learn how to be crooked, as it’s the only way to keep your head above water back home. I’m sure they are not the legal owners of the shacks and cars, which are probably in the name of relatives, meanwhile they get SNAP/EBT, WIC, Medicaid, and maybe even Section 8, which is paid to their relatives posing as their landlords, and the rent money is funneled back to them.
And if they work, it’s under the table.
Not sure why Ukrainians are concentrated in Sacramento. I can’t say I’ve seen any in my little burg.
People from crooked countries learn how to be crooked…
I spent several years in a crooked country and acted accordingly. I had to remind myself to act civilized when I returned to America. But now that I watch what is becoming of the good old USA, I’m glad I know how to be crooked. It could be a great survival skill in the coming decades.
Casey Serin is teaching them all how to get sweet passive income thru the power of leverage. Don’t worry, it’s free money and no charges will ever be filed. 🙂
“…crazy influx of Ukies here in North Sacramento.”
Ukrainian refugee population:
1. Sacramento, CA
2. Soap Lake, WA
“…along w/blonde wife.”
You forgot, busty.
The Financial Times
US economy
US growth slowed sharply in first quarter as Fed pushed rates higher
GDP climbed 1.1% on annualised basis as consumers spent heavily in face of elevated inflation
Sephora signage outside a store in the SoHo neighbourhood of New York, US
Strong US consumption growth offset a drag from inventories in the first quarter
Colby Smith and Harriet Clarfelt in New York 2 hours ago
US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2023 despite strong consumer spending, as the Federal Reserve ploughed ahead with its historic monetary tightening campaign.
The world’s largest economy grew by 1.1 per cent on an annualised basis between January and March, according to preliminary data released by the Commerce department on Thursday.
That marked an abrupt deceleration from the 2.6 per cent pace registered in the final three months of last year and came in well below economists’ expectations of a 2 per cent increase.
…
summary from WSJ:
Consumers cut retail spending in February and March. Home sales and manufacturing output dropped last month, and robust hiring growth eased gradually.
Many economists expect the economy to cool even more as the year progresses, with the possibility of a U.S. recession later this year. Analysts are watching to see whether recent banking stress following the failure of two midsize banks leads to tighter lending conditions for businesses and households that weigh on the economy.
Meanwhile, new car inventory is starting to pile up. It’s gonna take some serious sawin’ and slashin’ to move them as demand continues to crater.
Securitized auto loans bundled and sold as junk bonds have been very profitable up to the start of last year. At some point the proverbial levy will break unless the fed swoops in and buys the bad paper at par.
is that 1.1% growth inflation adjusted?
Guizhou, located in a mountainous region of southwest China, has hired a top state-owned distressed debt fund, China Cinda Asset Management, to resolve its ‘urgent’ problems. Its total debt, including the ‘hidden debt’ issued by the government’s financing arms, had reached 25 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) by the end of 2021, according to the most recent available data.
Great find. Very little of the Chinese economy in the past 3 years makes sense. On the West coast – Orange County, Seattle, Vancouver etc. you see a lot of very wealthy Chinese children. And it does not seem possible that this came from just their parents in the manufacturing industries. Another aside – the #1 market for Porsche is China. So common folks in China are/were getting fleeced by the get-rich crowd.
Some tidbits from the article keeping in mind that this is a middling province population wise of 40M. If the world thinks that SVB and First Republic are big problems – wait until the impact from these indebted Chinese provinces and cities start to flow through the system.
The provincial government’s total debt ratio could have reached 245% of its fiscal income and 94% of the province’s GDP, even with a conservative estimate of its overall debt burden, it said the December report.
…
A recent report by a major Chinese credit rating agency, CSPI Credit Ratings, showed that Guizhou’s “hidden debt” alone had hit 1.31 trillion yuan ($190 billion) by the end of 2021. It was the most recent estimate available.
…
But the problem has been exacerbated by the recent collapse in the real estate market, which has caused a plunge in land sale revenues — a significant source of income for local governments.
…
Guizhou Bank, the provincial lender backed by the government, reported earlier this month that the ratio of bad loans in its property book had surged to more than 20% in 2022, from 0.8% in 2021.
…
What is the difference between “negative home price growth” and CR8R?
KNXV – Phoenix, Arizona
Metro Phoenix sees negative home price growth for first time since Great Recession
Metro Phoenix saw a 2.1% slide in year-over-year home price growth
By: Angela Gonzales, Phoenix Business Journal
Posted at 8:39 AM, Apr 26, 2023
and last updated 8:48 AM, Apr 26, 2023
PHOENIX — For the first time since the Great Recession, metro Phoenix has dipped into negative home price growth territory, according to the latest S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Indices released April 25.
Metro Phoenix saw a 2.1% slide in year-over-year home price growth, joining seven other metros across the country in negative territory, including Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
…
https://www.abc15.com/news/business/metro-phoenix-sees-negative-home-price-growth-for-first-time-since-great-recession
The best part of the Deseret News article:
Home prices in Utah’s most populated county, Salt Lake County, jumped nearly 60% from March 2020 to May 2022, during the height of the pandemic housing rush.
That’s a big jump in two years!
I spent a week there in July 2021. It was 103 degrees with 13% humidity every day. I had to go to Mirror Lake up in the mountains to find some decent weather!
Aliens are trying to warn earthlings that realtors are liars.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12020047/Are-aliens-trying-contact-Earth-Astronomers-detect-25-new-fast-radio-bursts-outer-space.html
Drone footage of Ukrainian Bakhmut real estate at about 3 minutes in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es2DNTAo61Q
Ukraine is clinging to one last neighborhood on the western flank of the city and it is being flattened to rubble. The senselessness and catastrophe of this war is Slaughterhouse Six….one level beyond what even Kurt Vonnegut could have described.
We have people like Victoria Newland, who would have a nervous breakdown if she were blocked from social media and forced to write “there are only two genders” on the blackboard 50 times, orchestrating a war against a nation that has fought for a thousand years over this territory and lost over 20 million lives fighting the nazis. What could go wrong?
That you Vern?
No