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There Simply Is A Huge Oversupply Of Property

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “The housing market in New Bern remains tight, but things are slowly cooling down, according to Scott Allenspach, a realtor with Keller Williams. ‘We’re starting to see a trend where buyers are starting to get a little bit more,’ he said. ‘Prices are coming back down to normalcy. It’s higher, but it’s still we don’t have to pay $25,000 over asking right now and we’re not having a hundred offers.’ As for Greenville, the housing market appears to be on its way to stabilizing, says Khristi Dixon, owner and broker of Emerald City Realtors in Greenville. ‘Well, it’s definitely a seller’s market still, but we are seeing price reductions more so than we have in the past because I don’t think everybody has slowed down their pandemic momentum,’ Dixon said. The median home price in Greenville dropped 2% in July compared to a year earlier, according to Redfin. That does signal more homes are selling below asking price.”

“As the post-pandemic real estate market in Peoria continues to evolve, this summer has provided a softer, gentler experience for buyers who, last year, faced stiff competition for a limited number of houses. The market is not the same as last year — a fact sellers need to take into consideration, said Realtor Suzanne Monen-Miller. ‘There are homes out there that are on for a few weeks, they are having open houses, and they are taking longer to sell. That to me says the home is overpriced,’ she said. “We have had sellers who were like, ‘Well, my neighbor’s house sold for X back in 2021 — they got ten offers and it went way over asking price,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s a different market.’”

“According to the latest data from the Space Coast Association of Realtors, Brevard’s single family median home price saw a fairly negligible year over year increase in July at $370,000 compared to $369,900 in 2022. The median price for townhomes and condos however did see a drop in July by 12.4 percent year over year to $265,000 compared to 2022’s $302,450. It also represents a more than $35,000 drop from June’s median price of $301,950. There were 835 closings compared to 890 in July 2022, a 6.2 percent year over year drop. And while it’s the third straight month for drops in closings, it’s also the first time in three months that closings have been under 1,000 units.”

“Home-insurance companies are trying to claw back steep underwriting losses by hiking rates, or pulling back from disaster-prone areas such as Cape Coral. The average annual home-insurance premium for Floridians has tripled in five years, from $1,988 in 2019 to $6,000, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group. There are signs that buyers are growing more cautious. In a recent survey, almost a third of house builders in Florida said buyers’ concerns about home insurance were ‘somewhat slowing sales.’ The proportion in Southern California was very similar, at 29%, the survey by John Burns Research & Consulting found.”

“‘Insurance is absolutely having an impact on house purchases—and that’s going to continue to happen,’ said Alexandra Glickman, the Los Angeles-based global head of real estate and hospitality at insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher. She cited an example of a client who was considering buying a $13.5 million home in the Pacific Palisades, an affluent region of Southern California. The home-insurance premiums quoted were $100,000 to $300,000 a year. As a result, the client decided not to go ahead with the deal, Glickman said.”

“The flood-insurance program’s new pricing system ‘will have devastating consequences for the Louisiana housing market,’ said Nicholas Hebert, chairman of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce in the southeastern part of the state. Hebert said the premium for his own home, which is more than 30 miles from the coast, is set to rise the maximum permitted of 18% a year until it hits $7,000, from the current $790. Local lender Gulf Coast Bank & Trust has ‘already experienced sales contracts being canceled before the loan application was even complete,’ due to higher flood-insurance costs, according to Louis Uzee, head of its residential-mortgage division. He fears sky-high insurance rates will lead to more people being unable to afford to stay in their homes.”

“New apartment construction is plunging in the West Coast’s biggest metro areas. Developers are on pace to start building fewer than 20,000 apartments combined this year in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and Portland — less than a quarter of what those locations together produced a year earlier. Developers haven’t broken ground this year on a single apartment building in San Jose, which by this time last year had 2,272 starts, according to CoStar’s data. Costs are forcing developers to abandon projects right before they’re ready to build, said Joshua Ohl, a San Diego analyst for CoStar Group. ‘Construction financing is extremely difficult right now — even developers with strong balance sheets are having a hard time getting debt for construction,’ Ohl said.”

“Texas multifamily investors have been on a rollercoaster ever since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year. ‘A month or so ago, I went to an office conference, and it was not the same vibe. It was really sad,’ one environmental construction consultant said. Austin and San Antonio have slipped into rent cuts, as rents declined about 3 percent annually in Austin. Rents have shrunk even on a submarket basis in Austin, where every submarket beside San Marcos is in the red on the year. With debt growing more expensive, lenders and developers are coming to the table with vastly different expectations, according to Gary Bechtel, CEO of bridge lender Red Oak Capital. He’s had several conversations with borrowers who recoil at paying more money for smaller loans. ‘Yeah,’ Bechtel said he tells them. ‘The markets move, sport!'”

“The Bank of Canada’s back-to-back interest rate hikes put a damper on the housing market rebound this summer, with sales edging down in July for the first time in six months. New listings have now surged 24 per cent since April, Royal Bank of Canada economists Robert Hogue and Rachel Battaglia note. These changing conditions have brought supply and demand back into balance after tightening surprisingly quickly in the spring, they add. The Teranet-National Bank HPI tracks prices after they have been recorded at land registry offices, which means the numbers lag those of local real estate boards. On a year-over-year basis, the largest declines were seen in St.-Catharine’s-Niagara with a 10.5-per-cent drop, Brantford with 9.08 per cent and London with 9.25 per cent.”

“Some smaller markets have seen sharp drops from their peak prices in the spring of last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Peterborough, Ont. index decreased 16.3 per cent from its peak in May, 2022. Windsor, Ont. fell 15.1 per cent in the same period. Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. slid 14.2 per cent from the index peak in April, 2022.”

“Developers broke ground on roughly 14,550 homes in the first half of 2023, according to fresh data by number-crunchers Statistics Sweden. That represents a 57 percent fall on last year and the lowest number of new builds since 2012, painting a worrying image for Sweden’s housing supply. The situation is even more dire if you look at some of the big metropolitan areas. In the Greater Stockholm region, construction started on roughly 3,180 apartments and terraced or semi-detached homes in the first six months of 2023. That’s down from 8,046 in the same period last year – or in other words an estimated 60 percent drop. Greater Gothenburg’s declining construction rate was somewhat less bad than the national average, with a 44 percent drop in new builds. But Greater Malmö saw a 66 percent drop, with only an estimated 734 homes built in the first six months of the year.”

“A fabrication company has collapsed into liquidation just months after shutting down its phone lines, letting staff go and ghosting tradies. On Tuesday, Sydney-based YME Metal Projects Pty Ltd, which subcontracted to building companies completing metalwork such as ballustrading and handrails, went into voluntary liquidation. Jason* is the owner of one small business owed around $30,000 from its collapse and he is fuming. ‘You try to take people at their word. It means nothing,’ the Sydney tradie told news.com.au. ‘I dropped some material off at the end of the month, I heard a conversation between a staff member, they had the phone on speaker, when I walked in, what I heard made me realise that they had serious cash flow (issues),’ he said. Growing concerned, he rushed back to the site to try to get some of his material back several months ago. ‘I got a little bit back but hardly anything,’ he lamented.”

“Another creditor, Max*, who also did not want to provide his real name, is owed around $26,000 from YME’s demise. ‘They’ve been a client of ours for a number of years,’ Max told news.com.au. ‘There came a time where there was a mad rush to get all these jobs finished (which is) a telltale sign they were going broke.’ When he chased them over his money, he said YME had ‘disappeared off the face of the earth.'”

“China is attempting to defuse risks from its $9 trillion pile of off balance-sheet local government debt, without resorting to major bailouts. At the center of this dilemma are local government financing vehicles, companies set up across China to borrow on behalf of provinces and cities but not explicitly in their name. Several companies haven’t been able to generate enough income to pay interest on loans. Banks are unwilling to lend, investors are shunning their bonds, bonuses are being cut and it’s becoming harder to find viable investment projects, the employees said. Some regions have been frozen out of the bond market entirely. ‘We’re in a total mess right now — no one would like to buy our bonds,’ said an accountant surnamed Yang, who works at a LGFV in western China. Salary levels at the company have been frozen since 2016, and staff are leaving, she added.”

“Just two years ago, Yang Huiyan was the mysterious majority stakeholder of a sprawling real estate empire worth billions of dollars. But in a stunning reversal of fortune triggered by China’s ongoing property woes, she is now locked in a desperate battle to prevent the collapse of the company founded by her father, Yang Guoqiang. Country Garden is one of the largest developers in China, operating across a range of sectors including construction, property investment, and hotel management. Unlike Evergrande, Country Garden’s woes largely came as a surprise.”

“‘It had always been seen as less risky property developer,’ said Victor Shih, director of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego. ‘The belief was that for Country Garden, because the distribution of [its] land bank tended to be in favourable places, their sales would not suffer, and they should be able to repay their debt. But I think one of the underlying dynamics that’s very interesting here is that unlike in previous downturns in the real estate market … we are seeing prices drop even in Shanghai, and Shanghai property prices have basically been on an upward trajectory without any interruption.'”

“Less than two years ago, Ms Yang was worth an estimated $US30 billion, making her Asia’s richest woman by a long shot, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. But her fortune has been cut by more than half in a matter of months, after Country Garden sought to raise cash by selling discounted shares last year, as China was gripped by a mortgage boycott. At some sites construction has slowed or completely stopped, with workers telling Reuters they haven’t been paid since January – although a statement from the company disputed this.”

“With many cash-strapped Chinese developers now on shaky footing, there are fears this may have knock-on effects on ongoing builds of pre-sold housing projects, exacerbating an already diminishing confidence among the wider public. While this is yet to play out, the Chinese cultural belief that money would be safe in houses is being put to the test, according to Fraser Howie, an independent analyst who specialises in the Chinese economy. ‘Where we now find ourselves after 20 plus years of this [economic growth is] there simply is a huge oversupply of property, particularly in the lower tier cities, where building has well outstripped demand,’ he said. ‘[Now] you’ve got people who don’t necessarily have enough money to spend or are wanting to save their money, a job market that is much tighter, you simply don’t have the demand you had before. And so the previous model of selling properties to new buyers, and that will fund the future development is starting to fall apart.'”

“There have been various predictions of a stimulus announcement by the CCP, but so far any responses have been conservative. ‘I think the capacity for China to have a big stimulus is much more limited than it was in the past,’ says Mr Howie. ‘You also have the problem that stimulus no longer works in the way it once did, if you’ve got too many roads, bridges and houses, building more of them doesn’t solve any of your problems.'”

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This Post Has 116 Comments

  1. ‘With debt growing more expensive, lenders and developers are coming to the table with vastly different expectations, according to Gary Bechtel, CEO of bridge lender Red Oak Capital. He’s had several conversations with borrowers who recoil at paying more money for smaller loans. ‘Yeah,’ Bechtel said he tells them. ‘The markets move, sport!’

    That’s the spirit Gary, make em beg!

  2. ‘There are homes out there that are on for a few weeks, they are having open houses, and they are taking longer to sell. That to me says the home is overpriced,’ she said. “We have had sellers who were like, ‘Well, my neighbor’s house sold for X back in 2021 — they got ten offers and it went way over asking price,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s a different market’

    2021 was an anomaly Suzanne, we’re not supposed to talk about it anymore.

    2. Suzanne @ 0%: “Everything I touch turns to Sold!”

      Suzanne @ 7.5%: “Would you like to upgrade that to a meal?”

  3. ‘Developers haven’t broken ground this year on a single apartment building in San Jose, which by this time last year had 2,272 starts’

    That’s some shortage.

    1. Wonder how many months are there between financing being approved and the construction actually beginning?

  4. ‘Several companies haven’t been able to generate enough income to pay interest on loans. Banks are unwilling to lend, investors are shunning their bonds, bonuses are being cut and it’s becoming harder to find viable investment projects, the employees said. Some regions have been frozen out of the bond market entirely. ‘We’re in a total mess right now — no one would like to buy our bonds’

    They’re junk Yang. I mean, high yield.

  5. #DoNotComply

    CNBC — CDC expects new Covid vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to be available in mid-September (8/25/2023):

    “Officials from the CDC and FDA said the agencies will encourage Americans to receive an updated Covid shot and other key vaccines ahead of the fall, when respiratory viruses typically begin to spread more widely.

    “Our goal, our imperative, our task is to make sure we’re using those tools,” the CDC official said. “Vaccination is going to continue to be key this year because immunity wanes and because the Covid-19 virus continues to change.”

    The arrival of updated vaccines offers some reassurance to Americans as the U.S. sees a slight uptick in Covid cases and hospitalizations.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/25/covid-vaccines-cdc-expects-new-shots-to-be-available-in-mid-september.html

    Reassurance?

      1. The PTB need to trot out a few movie stars getting boosters.
        I wonder if LeBron James will be one of the celebs getting trotted out.

    4. Covid coming back.
      I have heard a tip from Doctors, that you just swig mouthwash twice a day, and that prevents infections from getting a start.
      I never got Covid, or whatever was going around. I took vitamin D,C, zinc, and other recommendations from the censored Doctors.
      I never subjected myself to the bogus PCR testing, so if I got it, I didnt have symptoms other than a runny nose for a couple of days.
      So, shortly I expect that they will start the “go get tested” nonsense, so they can declare a Panademic of Covid mutations.
      The elephant in the room is that 195 Countries, including US, are in the process of making final a Treaty with United Nations WHO, that WHO has power to call the response to whatever emergency they call.
      Obama while President signed a treaty on the Climate Change madness.
      This set up to supersede Constitutions and sovereign Countries by Treaties, by Presidents selling out to One World Order Powers is the plan.
      Can a US President by Executive Order sign away Citizens rights in this very sneaky manner?
      So, Bill Gates funds the WHO in a big way, WEF is aligned with WHO, and China is their model for emergency response.
      So, Im just saying that the WHO is a body of corrupt Entities , who want Global powers to dictate global response , that doesn’t recognize freedoms or human rights.
      Climate Change is the other fraud that is designed to change humanity into enslaved and deprived victims of this enforced power grab by homicidal powers.
      Just saying they have revealed their stupid take over , and the plan to partner with Governments to implement this New World Order. Hard to believe, but eat bugs, own nothing, no freedoms, mandated vaccine poisons, starve and freeze, is the agenda. Control of fake news is necessary to pull off this take over.
      Do you want to comply with this insane power grab by the most psyopathic and genocidal group of anti-humanity greedy control freaks, that want a utopia designed for them.

      1. +1 on this and related posts.

        Emphasis on how all of this is an ASSAULT on our freedoms.

        It was never about an alleged virus. It’s not about the alleged climate. It is about subjugation.

        The United States is the last free nation on the planet. If we lose it, there’s nowhere left to go…

      2. It was Dr Peter McCullough who said the gargle with mouthwash or peroxide twice a day to prevent covid infects from moving from your nasal cavity and mouth down into your lungs. It works for all types of respiratory viruses. I do it anytime I start to get the sniffles.

        For flu season:
        zinc & quercetin
        vitamins C & D

        Keep some horse paste medicine handy. Nattokinase and bromelain destroy the toxic spike proteins if you get covid or got to close to a jabber.

        1. “For flu season:
          zinc & quercetin
          vitamins C & D

          Keep some horse paste medicine handy. Nattokinase and bromelain destroy the toxic spike proteins if you get covid or got to close to a jabber.”

          +1
          Also Budecinide nasal spray. Over the counter.

        2. I keep a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide in the shower and swig around a little sip while taking a shower. Don’t gargle though as it is a little rough on the back of the throat. Pretty simple stuff. YMMV.

      3. Article II Section 9 is pretty clear that Biden would need 2/3 to make any Treaties. The WHO is not a sovereign nation, but I would definitely classify as a foreign power of some kind.

  6. ‘I think one of the underlying dynamics that’s very interesting here is that unlike in previous downturns in the real estate market … we are seeing prices drop even in Shanghai’

    How the mighty have fallen. It looks more and more like the globalist scum media have turned on pooh bear.

      1. They’ll have to borrow one from the Russians.

        Trump/Tucker: 250M Views on Twitter

        Fox debate: 12M

  8. The post on X at 9:39 p.m. ET shows President Trump in a booking photo at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, taken Thursday after he presented himself to authorities around 7:36 p.m. local time and underwent a 20-minute booking process, after which he was released.

    The accompanying text to the social media post includes “MUG SHOT — AUGUST 24, 2023,” “ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” “NEVER SURRENDER!” and “DONALDJTRUMP.COM.”

    The post received 200,100 likes and 7.1 million views after just 24 minutes. As of the time of this report, President Trump has 86.5 million followers on the Twitter/X platform.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/trump-back-on-twitter-with-a-defiant-message-5480427

      1. Stolen, you say? But the globalist scum media tells me such claims are, and I quote, “baseless.” Just like all those “died suddenly” folks who are stricken by climate change or “Post-Pandemic Stress Disorder.”

  9. A reader sent these in:

    every time I open my crypto portfolio

    https://twitter.com/EnronChairman/status/1694741882335588825

    These macaroons told us bottom was in over a year ago.

    https://twitter.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1694843145660268558

    What happens when greatest share of Canadian GDP collapses?

    https://twitter.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1694537274023649754

    But from 2008 to 2022 Canada offered close to ZERO Interest Rates
    The ultra low cost of Development Lending and Home Mortgages covered up the rising cost disaster in New Home Building
    Then Rates Tripled or Quadrupled
    And the party is OVER

    https://twitter.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1694708243434512481

    BETTER. COM A MORTGAGE COMPANY BACKED BY SOFTBANK WENT PUBLIC VIA SPAC TODAY
    THE STOCK PRICE ENDED THE DAY DOWN 93%
    THE COMPANY WENT FROM BEING WORTH OVER $4 BILLION DOLLARS TO ALMOST NOTHING OVERNIGHT

    https://twitter.com/gurgavin/status/1694814496324300819

    Because the entire economy is a Ponzi scheme of houses and holes.

    https://twitter.com/rationalaussie/status/1694840319274017193

    The housing market hasn’t crashed in terms of prices, but when do we say volume has crashed? I’m not trying to be sensational, but sometimes an obsession with prices is obscuring what’s happening with volume. Locally, 7 out of the past 9 months have been lower than 2007 levels.

    https://twitter.com/SacAppraiser/status/1694805263155667030

    Yes Mr. Market.. what say you?

    https://twitter.com/GratkeWealth/status/1694783004802240601

    Thieves apparently broke into a vehicle just around the corner from where San Francisco law enforcement officials were setting up a news conference to tout “new strategies to address auto break-ins.”

    https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1694768022354022552

    Realtor/ Uber driver- He writes notes on the delivery & attaches his card. How many realtors are now uber drivers with the recent downturn? #ToRE

    https://twitter.com/RE_MarketWatch/status/1694562103372251317

    “Powell will save my bags, real estate, and manage a soft landing”

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1694795289243091419

    Bob Iger doubled down on woke as $DIS CEO and Wall Street gave him the finger. Time for Margaritaville Bob!

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1694790038209380786

    This article explains a lot of what happened and why a crash is eminent- the wealthy aren’t getting a return so they will unload houses and put it in bonds and bills.

    https://twitter.com/CrackaNyc/status/1694787840994087033

    Housing prices dropping in Dallas. The market is shifting again.

    https://twitter.com/akm515/status/1694712051585966123

    62% plan to “boycott” Student Loan payments in October

    https://twitter.com/DisruptorStocks/status/1694677099343188178

    Median single-family home price fell by 8.7% year/year in July … still in recessionary territory for now

    https://twitter.com/LizAnnSonders/status/1694646139193024868

    Ray White Brisbane’s ‘No. 1’ real estate agent mocks renters as ‘nobodies’ and boasts she pays ‘twice their wages in tax’: ‘They are envious of me’

    https://twitter.com/samstrades/status/1694581803846451589

    “Total listings have jumped as much as 41% in some Sydney and Melbourne suburbs since the start of winter, in an early sign stock may be starting to pile up” It’s going to be interesting to watch these suburbs closely where listings are piling up.

    https://twitter.com/AvidCommentator/status/1694536757419917684

    New home builders seeing margins reduce w prices dropping and subsidizing mortgage rates.

    https://twitter.com/DisruptorStocks/status/1694366489774576015

    Charles Schwab Plans To Cut Staff, Reduce Real Estate Footprint In Latest Cost-Cutting Push

    https://twitter.com/Bisnow/status/1694479738868277622

    “Following Hurricane, California’s Homeless Begin The Hard Work Of Re-Pooping All The Sidewalks” Funny because it’s true 🤔

    https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1694319701763993640

    “Much of the work lowering inflation is done.” – Nick Timiraos
    WTF are you talking about, Nick?

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1694428001507615182

    IMF reports Canada has the riskiest mortgage bubble of all OECD countries after 8 years of Trudeau.

    https://twitter.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1694483151379124690

    1. “62% plan to “boycott” Student Loan payments in October”

      Have fun boycotting any future IRS tax refunds, or Social Security.

      “They’re not sending their best”

      2. Have fun boycotting any future IRS tax refunds, or Social Security.

        There will be a lot of feet stamping early next year.

        1. “There will be a lot of feet stamping early next year.”

          Sooner than that; no kids toys for Christmas, oh my!

        1. The number of Americans rolling credit card debt from month to month is now higher than the number of people paying their bills in full for the first time ever.

          Americans are buried under more than $1 trillion in credit card debt. Credit card balances increased by $45 billion between April and June alone. Meanwhile, credit card interest rates have climbed to 20.6%. With both balances and interest expenses rising, more and more people are struggling to pay the bills.

          According to a JD Power survey, 51% of US credit cardholders now carry revolving debt. To put that into perspective, from 2018 to 2022, the percentage of those rolling over balances ranged from 40% to 50%.

          The average balance on a credit card was $2,573 in June. That represents a 6.5% increase from a year ago.

          What we have not seen in the past is there are more revolvers than transactors,” JD Power managing director of payments intelligence John Cabell told Yahoo Finance. “It’s inflation, it’s savings dwindling, we’re also seeing rising interest rates, which makes it harder to pay off that balance because it’s getting bigger.”

          The rising number of delinquent accounts also indicates people are having a hard time keeping up with credit card payments. The number of accounts past due by one cycle has increased 42.6% over the last two years. Delinquencies have crept up to the highest level since 2017.

    2. “Ray White Brisbane’s ‘No. 1’ real estate agent mocks renters as ‘nobodies’ and boasts she pays ‘twice their wages in tax’: ‘They are envious of me’”

      That’s actually a pretty slick marketing ploy for that upcoming OnlyFans.

    3. 62% plan to “boycott” Student Loan payments in October

      Yeah, that’s nonsense. All those college wienies lined up like lemmings to get their shot. They’ll pay because they are the NPC’s they have been building for 30 years.

  10. MarketWatch — Retailers are raising the alarm about theft (8/25/2023):

    “Lots of big retailers this summer are talking about theft, and how it’s hurting profit. But when an analyst asked department-store chain Nordstrom Inc. JWN, -8.56% about the subject on Thursday, following a massive late-afternoon robbery at one of its stores this month in California, executives said levels of theft haven’t been beyond what they expected.

    “Certainly what happened at our Topanga store is disturbing to all of us,” Chief Executive Erik Nordstrom said on the retailer’s earnings conference call on Thursday, referring to the robbery, at the Westfield Topanga shopping center northwest of Los Angeles. “The loss is a concern. Losses from theft are at historical highs. We find it unacceptable and it needs to be addressed.”

    The Los Angeles Police Department estimated that 30 to 50 people participated in the Topanga heist this month, armed with bear spray and taking off in cars without license plates, according to the Los Angeles Times. That store suffered a similar incident in 2021, the Times said.

    When asked about the subject last week, the nation’s biggest retailer, Walmart Inc. WMT, 0.24%, suggested it was complicated.

    “Shrink has increased a bit this year,” John Furner, CEO of Walmart U.S., said on the company’s earnings call. “It’s increased last year. It’s uneven across the country, it’s not in every market. Some markets are higher than others.”

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/retailers-are-raising-the-alarm-about-theft-for-this-chain-its-been-within-our-plans-b59c9bea?mod=home-page

    1. “The loss is a concern. Losses from theft are at historical highs. We find it unacceptable and it needs to be addressed.”

      We’re talking about it, so shuddup and pay ‘yer taxes!

    2. It’s uneven across the country, it’s not in every market. Some markets are higher than others.

      No kidding? Let me guess, it correlates with Soros backed DAs, lax shoplifting laws and the percentage of the populace who fall into demographic groups that remain unnamed.

    3. Stealing from WalMart does not produce the same resale value as selling Gucci bags to the vibrant community.

      WalMart accepts EBT.

  11. I hope this mess hits Charlotte so hard. The driving here sucks! They are still building like crazy….everywhere. I still see a bunch of A holes moving here….it’s been over 100 per day for years…..I hope the next trail of tears are these A holes loading everything and packing back up. Sick of it. I sit a red lights I just count the out of state plates. I’ve never noticed Texas until 2 years ago. Please make it stop! Lol

    1. I’m in DFW and see plates from all over the country, including Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Maine. Lots of Florida and Arizona plates, which I never saw before.

    2. FWIW I was in the Raleigh and Winston-Salem areas a couple of months ago and I can’t say that out of state plates were conspicuous.

      1. FWIW I was in the Raleigh and Winston-Salem areas a couple of months ago and I can’t say that out of state plates were conspicuous.
        I am in W-S and I see a lot of Virginia plates but not much else. Of course VA is only about an hour north.

        1. Cheyenne is about an hour north of us, and you do see the occasional cowboy license plate here.

  12. House Loses $116,000 in Value in 3 Months!
    Honest real estate talk 🇨🇦
    18 hours ago

    Toronto real estate market continues to tank. A townhouse in Burlington loses $116,000 in value. Similar house sold for $116,000 more only 3 months ago. Greater toronto area home sales are down around 40% in only 3 months and now home prices are starting to drop as well.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vzwJSCkzo

    4:32.

    1. “Toronto real estate market continues to tank.”

      I’m sure Fall has arrived, yellow leaves are scattered everywhere, and the kiddies are back in school. Indeed commission junkies, the summer selling season is over!

  13. Lane in SC

    we got the same problem right here in River City! (Sacramento)
    so many gottdamn SF people have moved to this area & have brought their driving habits with them. of course.

    * MOVE! hoi poloi, Me & My TESLA are sooooo above all you local yokels we’re just gonna whip back n’ forth because, well, we CAN, in our expen$ive high-torque mario carts.
    * Oh MYGAWD will you Boomers STEP ON IT ALREADY?! I’m late for my gaming session. don’t you realize all the years playing Need 4 Speed, GTA, etc, have made me a driving expert!?
    * oh hell naw dogg! this here Dodge (insert sports car name) ain’t gonna be draggin behind yo’ sorry azz.
    * I LOVE America ! Drive fast / No rules! No police who beat crazy drivers! USA ! USA !!
    * Tradie Trucks Tailgate Today. call 1-800-eat-shyte&leave-a-message

    I could go on forever but the weather this morning is too good to be inside for this key warrior. rock-on, HBB’rs

    2. “* MOVE! hoi poloi, Me & My TESLA are sooooo above all you local yokels we’re just gonna whip back n’ forth because, well, we CAN, in our expen$ive high-torque mario carts.”

      Got the same damn problem in my part of Region IV. Only when I’m driving my late model Chevy Silverado RST though, when I’m driving my 2004 beat up but still capable 4 x 4 long bed F-250 even the Woke Betters know enough to steer clear of a 60 yearold man delivering material who doesn’t care if he has a Tesla racing stripe on his bumper, fender or bed.

      In that case I find myself saying… Go ahead snowflake, take a bite out of that bumper if you want. But the Big Faded red beast drives the rules of the road into them everytime.

      1. That’s what I love about driving my beat up, 22 year old Dodge diesel pickup. It screams I could give a rats a$$ about another dent and if we collide you will lose. So yeah, play at your own risk.

    3. “so many gottdamn SF people have moved to this area & have brought their driving habits with them. of course.”

      Pretty tough to top Los Angeles’ freeways, six to eight lanes each direction all going 80-mph until a wreck happens.

  14. Zillow Extends Lifeline: New Down Payment Aid Targets Struggling Homebuyers

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/zillow-extends-lifeline-new-down-payment-aid-targets-struggling-homebuyers

    On Thursday, Freddie Mac’s average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage topped 7.09%, the highest since 2002, in yet another blow to homebuyers and a sign the housing affordability crisis worsens. On the same day, Zillow Home Loans published a press release about its new “1% Down Payment program to allow eligible home buyers to pay as little as 1% down on their next home purchase.”

    With the 1% Down Payment program, borrowers who qualify can now save just 1% to cover their portion of the down payment and Zillow Home Loans will contribute an additional 2% at closing. The 1% Down Payment program can reduce the time eligible home buyers need to save and open homeownership to those who are otherwise ready to take on a mortgage.

    Zillow aims to lower the downpayment barrier and increase activity in the frozen housing market. The highest 30-year fixed mortgage rate since 2002 has sent mortgage applications to the lowest levels since 1995

  15. unfinished business.
    @nori-
    Curious, what is your cursory view regarding NATO expansion into the former Soviet satellite republics?

    Reply

    nori
    August 25, 2023 at 9:08 am
    To answer you question, the Soviets had no right to have satellites (other than the right of a boot to your stomach). Those were not allies but countries held by force against their will. your question should be, what is your opinion about all those states that finally gained their independence and freedom from a thug empire than never brought anything good to those satellites other than war, famine, backwardness, darkness, poverty, and the rule of the boot, raiding and extracting all the wealth of those countries to move it to Moscow.
    All these new countries admitted in the NATO would have done, and did everything in their power to join as a way of protecting themselves against the new Mongols.
    Ask the people of those countries about it, and you’ll be amazed!

    That empire needs to be disintegrated for the good of all the regular people in it and around it. It never brought anything good to anyone, except to their oligarchs and their acolytes.

    1. ^Neocons gonna neocon.

      Maybe you should mail Zelensky a check and let the rest of us United States taxpayers keep our money in this country.

      1. I don’t believe those are any better than the Russ, but they do a good job right now. As for your taxpayer money, you have to pay if you want to keep you privileges like all those other countries in EU. Unless you believe USA is the center of the universe, and there is nothing left if US doesn’t do it.
        It wasn’t European’s choice to set thing the way the are after WW2. It’s a playbook written by USA. USA dictates the sizes of European armies and what kind of guns they could have. Same with Japan.
        Not that those are lazy incompetent states, but they still play by the agreements for to keep things going.

        1. “they do a good job right now”

          Russia Claims Ukraine Shoots 23 Deserters as US Pushes for More Casualty-Intense Attacks (8/25/2023):

          “Commanders from the 123rd territorial defense brigade “have shot 23 of their own fighters for attempting to desert from their positions near Kherson,” Sputnik News reports, citing a source with the Ukrainian armed forces.

          “Information was obtained from sources in the armed forces of Ukraine on the execution of 23 servicemen of the 123rd brigade of the territorial defense of the armed forces of Ukraine on August 11 in Kherson because they decided to desert and abandon their positions,” a Russian security source said”

          https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/meat-grinder-russia-claims-ukraine-shoots-23-deserters/

          You’re not an American are you?

          The United States does not need Europe. The United States does not need NATO.

          And there’s nothing stopping you from traveling to Ukraine, enlisting, and dying on the front lines. What are you waiting for?

          1. You are so wrong! Go ahead….let Europeans pull the thousands of their companies out of the US…..and go ahead and kick out all the euro,Indian,Israeli and many other nationalities phd,scientists business owners out of the us. You seem to be a bigot. You might need to check into how we got the moon…..I’ll just say we had some help!

          4. You are so wrong! Go ahead….let Europeans pull the thousands of their companies out of the US…..and go ahead and kick out all the euro,Indian,Israeli and many other nationalities phd,scientists business owners out of the us.

            Hey Einstein, all those foreigners who make it to America from Europe, Asia and India got here because they wanted to leave their home countries. And a HUGE proportion of them made it here because they were educated and had skills that America needs. I literally know dozens and dozens of immigrants like this.

            These folks have no interest in leaving America and America has absolutely no reason or motive to have these immigrants exiting our borders. Besides, they all have Green Cards or are American Citizens.

            And for the other genius on this thread, American lost 400,000 men killed in WW II. And million more were wounded and permanently scared by fighting in places that had absolutely no interest to any American. America didn’t want to fight in another European war OR in Asia against Japan. Unlike the colonial countries in Europe, America never went to distant lands and claim them and call them colonies. And don’t try and compare Puerto Rico with India. America certainly never acted like Japan did in the first half of the last Century. You know, invading Mongolia, China and Southeast Asia.

            Idiots like you never had to pay the price for the wealth and luxury that America enjoys. It was paid for with the blood of a whole lot of American G.I.s. My dad was one of them, and he like the rest of his men, never recovered from the War.

            The reason why idiot humans always start wars is that the people clamoring for war have never experienced it themselves or were affected by it because they had family members (i.e. dads) who fought in one.

            Europe is just a mess–it’s ALWAYS been a mess. Little tiny countries some of which have fewer people than L.A. County. And no one can get along. Just look at the U.K. A tiny insignificant island and they still argue about sovereignty between England and Scotland. Or Ireland and the U.K. That’s a poster child for lunacy.

            So screw Europe, America will survive quite well without them. Our relations with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the rest of Asia are far more valuable. And we may even end up friendly with China, but that’s not going to happen until they sort out the mess within China.

        2. It’s neat how Zelenskyy suspended elections and free speech for muh democracy. I prefer ethnic Russians having peace in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine vs Khazarian Gangsters and their NAZI friends shilling for dollars and murdering Ukraine.

      2. “And for the other genius on this thread, American lost 400,000 men killed in WW II. And million more were wounded and permanently scared”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

        All the loses are significant because those are human lives, but the US numbers are insignificant compared to other countries. Even some of the smallest participants(Hungary, Romania) had suffered more.

        But the magic, USA ran away from that conflict with an financial empire. Don’t believe they did it for free.

        You are right, when those superpowers in Europe ended up in a conflict, USA profiteered the most from it, and your standard of living is a direct result of that conflict. But to be so disrespectful and so arrogant….
        I mean, I understand, patriotism and propaganda, but reading a book or two once in while will surely open your eyes a bit.

        Nothing is for free, my friend. Nothing. And the benefits compared to the loses were nothing. So, please stop wining. 🙂

        1. I get the arguments regarding mainting US Standards of living via strategies that may seem morally repugnant but this falls short. It falls short when considering the absolute scum bags like Nuland and Kagan advocating for all of thuis. I didn’t profit as a US citizen when Libya and Iraq were destroyed. Maybe we maintained US dollar hegemony and a better standard of living for a short time but the price for these necon war efforts was not worth it. We can see the fruits of that viewpoint via erosion of dollar confidence and the ridiculous results of Afghanistan and now the Ukraine effort.
          I don’t like Putin but I hate Schwab, Biden, anybody affiliated with the top tier of any central bank, most of the usual deep state suspects more. This is simply because they see me as a US Citizen in the same way they see the rest of the world which is to say expandable cattle. They are the psychopaths that can impact my life more than those abroad and they have when considering the Covid scam amd those in the .mil think tanks that wrote the plans beginning with Operation Lockstep.

      1. We have the Monroe doctrine to deal with that issue, and we’re tacitly unwilling to accept the Russians’ version. IOW, we have a double standard.

    1. …per Zillow: “Charming bungalow in central Pensacola!!”

      “If you ain’t lying…you ain’t trying.” —NAR Proverb

    4. Another tear-down. Cosmetically it might be fixable but I suspect there are deeper problems that cost more to fix than the house is worth. The “large lot” is not even a quarter acre. What is land worth in that area? Maybe $30K for the land with the public utilities?

  17. Epoch Times via ZeroSludge — Judge Rejects RFK Jr’s Request for Order Blocking Google From Censoring Him (8/24/2023):

    “A federal judge has rejected a request from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for an order that would block Google from censoring him.

    Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, have removed multiple videos of Mr. Kennedy in recent months because they allegedly contained medical misinformation.

    The removals violate Mr. Kennedy’s First Amendment rights because they were spurred by government policy, Mr. Kennedy’s lawyers said in a motion for a temporary restraining order.

    Evidence from another case has shown that government officials regularly collaborated with Big Tech companies such as Google to censor users, and YouTube’s policy is that information contradicting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance will be censored.

    Google “is using a policy that it developed in connection with (and in response to demands from) the incumbent government to silence one of the government’s most prominent critics,” Mr. Kennedy’s motion stated.

    Google said in response that it is separate from the government and that it has been exercising its own discretion in removing videos.

    “The First Amendment protects Google’s judgment that it will not help spread dangerous anti-vaxx propaganda,” Google lawyers said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/judge-rejects-rfk-jrs-request-for-order-blocking-google-from-censoring-him-5479951?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge

    Covid vaccines are poison.

    1. “U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)”

      The CDC also control all rental property in the United States, and they can order landlords to shelter non-paying tenants indefinitely despite the general idea of the Third Amendment. Meanwhile landlords remain obliged to pay their mortgages and taxes, or face foreclosure.

      1. Eight million independent landlords need to be driven out of business so the Fed’s private equity accomplices can hoover up their properties on the cheap and gain monopoly control over the rental housing market. Note that you will never, ever see “affordable housing advocates” from oligarch-funded astroturf organizations protesting outside the Fed or BlackRock.

    2. So, now some corrupt Judge is going to interfere with a election and block Kennedy from free speech.By the time Kennedy could get to a Appeal Court on this lower Court Decision, he has loss a lot.
      Where does the first amendment give Google right to determine what can be spoken and what truth is, or what can even be disputed.
      If media has this kind of power to censor anything that doesnt agree with the owners of Media, than a extra unconstitutional privilege is given to this Media to violate the first amendment.

    3. As a free market advocate I believe Google violated RFK Jr’s 1st amendment rights because it is a degacto arm of the state. It was started with DARPA funding and is a revolving door with regard to the deep state.

  18. Biden, early on in his Presidency said that the US should lead in the One World Order.
    No reasonable questions were asked by the fake Media on what “US leading in the One World Order” means.
    So does open borders, Treaties giving powers to WHO, transgender Nation, digital currency by Banks controlling your consumption , represent the New World Order?
    A bunch of powerful Corporations under the WEF, Trillionaires, World Banks , the United Nations/WHO, probably the model China, all teaming up with captured Governments, to bring humanity to their knees.
    They rigged the 2020 election to put that corrupt traitor Biden in to do what the One World Order insurrection wants.
    Im guessing any time now, Michelle Obama will be rolled out as the Democrate choice, or maybe the Ca. Governor.
    They have to have mail in ballots, to rig the next election, so they have to call a emergency to do a repeat of 2020.
    Will Trump be able to overcome that many indictments?
    Can’t imagine that Biden even has the poll numbers they claim. If the US has that many people willing to vote for their own demise and enslavement , than what can you say for that type of stupidity.
    They aren’t going to give you a Universal Income and take care of you, and make everything equal. They can’t even afford their current commitments, let alone putting vast amounts of people on Universal Income.
    Oh, and do you think the elimination of 40% of the jobs in 10 years by AI and Robots isn’t going to displace millions of people. They are setting up a World of elimination of human populations, and you can’t conclude anything else, because thats the only thing that could result from their insane programs.
    But, they don’t have to answer to their insane agendas and what the cause and effect results would be. 2+2 equals 5 now.
    They are going to save the earth, you can’t question it. Its the Great Narratives. Fake out people into submission and giving up everything , so they control everything.
    They think so little of you that they want you to eat bird and reptile food and fake chemical food, and fake poison vaccines.
    They are out to break you financially, and than the unthinkable agenda they have.
    Come out of your fog and recognize your enemy that has revealed their true colors.

    1. “so they control everything”

      This.

      It’s worth fighting back, and at some point violence may be the only response left.

      I refuse to be demoralized. I talk to people I know in real life not on the interwebs as often as I can to try to wake them up. Not all are receptive, but it doesn’t hurt to try…

  20. “‘Construction financing is extremely difficult right now — even developers with strong balance sheets are having a hard time getting debt for construction,’ Ohl said.””

    Is it really that construction financing is so difficult to obtain, or is it more that marginal projects that no longer pencil out at higher rates aren’t getting funded now?

  23. No kidding? Let me guess, it correlates with Soros backed DAs, lax shoplifting laws and the percentage of the populace who fall into demographic groups that remain unnamed.

    Of course the CEO of Nordstom’s in downplaying any serious effects these gang banging flash mob attacks are having on his stores. Why? Because if he acts worried, shoppers are going to quit visiting his stores. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen if it isn’t happening already.

    Who shops at Nordstrom? People who have money. You won’t find t-shirt 3 packs for $9.99 there. I think that a lot of Nordstom’s clientele are already avoiding the stores that have been hit.

    Well off women who are the backbone customers of Nordstrom are n’t going to places that targeted by Amish gang bangers Way back in the old days my mom quit going to the Fox Hills Mall when it became more “multiracial” and “culturally diverse”. Which really meant that there were a string of multiracial young males who robbed shoppers in the vast parking lot at night. Now it’s called Westfield Culver City–how it managed to stay open is a miracle.

  24. ‘Well, it’s definitely a seller’s market still, but we are seeing price reductions more so than we have in the past because I don’t think everybody has slowed down their pandemic momentum’

    They have now Khristi.

  25. ‘Developers are on pace to start building fewer than 20,000 apartments combined this year in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and Portland — less than a quarter of what those locations together produced a year earlier. Developers haven’t broken ground this year on a single apartment building in San Jose, which by this time last year had 2,272 starts’

    Wa happened to my labor shortage?

  26. ‘A fabrication company has collapsed into liquidation just months after shutting down its phone lines’

    Always the first thing.

  27. ‘At the center of this dilemma are local government financing vehicles, companies set up across China to borrow on behalf of provinces and cities but not explicitly in their name’

    I was blogging about this sh$tcart when it started and it was a joke from the get go. So it blew up, big serprize!

    ‘‘You also have the problem that stimulus no longer works in the way it once did, if you’ve got too many roads, bridges and houses, building more of them doesn’t solve any of your problems’

    Krugman, Paul? Krugman?

    Bueller?

    via GIPHY

  28. ‘Less than two years ago, Ms Yang was worth an estimated $US30 billion, making her Asia’s richest woman by a long shot, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. But her fortune has been cut by more than half in a matter of months’

    Ennio Morricone – L’estasi dell’Oro (In Concerto – Venezia 10.11.07)
    SelfDistribuzione
    Dec 20, 2011
    Song taken from “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly”, performed in the magical setting of San Marco’s square in Venice and directed by Ennio Morricone himself.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3IlqY1CbI0

    4 minutes.

      1. Apologies. Wasn’t keeping a close eye on the blog yesterday or looking at the links. Went down a YouTube worm hole and came across it. Although maybe the link should be posted daily. 😉

  30. The average annual home-insurance premium for Floridians has tripled in five years, from $1,988 in 2019 to $6,000, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.

    Is that a lot?

  32. #DoNotComply

    White House says all Americans should get boosted against Covid-19 this fall (8/24/2023):

    “The following is from Reuters.

    The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this autumn to counter a new wave of infections, a White House official said on Sunday.

    The official said that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low.

    On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA.O) said initial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans.

    Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax (NVAX.O), Pfizer (PFE.N) and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

    On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA.O) said initial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans.

    Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax (NVAX.O), Pfizer (PFE.N) and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

    Pending approval from health regulators in the United States and Europe, the companies expect the updated shots to be available in the coming weeks for the autumn vaccination season.”

    https://sharylattkisson.com/2023/08/white-house-says-all-americans-should-get-boosted-against-covid-19-this-fall/

    Vaccination season?

    Get the ropes ready…

    1. initial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans

      So they are saying that these ones will actually work, unlike the previous ones?

      Pending approval from health regulators in the United States and Europe

      It’s rubber stamp time! They’d better make sure they have fresh inkpads.

      1. From the Moderna website:

        “showed a significant boost in neutralizing antibodies against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants. These results suggest that Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine may effectively target the expected circulating variants of COVID-19 during the upcoming vaccination season.”

        Take that as you will.

        1. showed a significant boost in neutralizing antibodies against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants

          Inject foreign substance, get immune response.

  33. Law of diminishing return. It seems as if everything the One World Order offers is taking away everything that humans enjoy such as,
    -Family
    -work and purpose in life- to be replaced by AI and robots
    – individual autonomy- replaced by collective attachment to a cloud
    – Enjoyment of food ,unless you like bugs and fake food.
    – Thinking and creativity, not allowed
    -Sex and reproduction replaced with virtual reality or something not real.
    -Travel, not allowed to many carbons
    -Cars, not allowed to many carbons
    -Energy used for comfort and survival, subject to control
    – enjoying nature – off limits
    – Discovery and education, controlled by fake facts and narratives.
    -Freedom and choice, not allowed
    -Private Property rights- you will own nothing and be happy.
    – Religious freedom, not allowed
    – Body and mind privacy replaced for hacked , injected and 24/ 7 surveillance.

    The one world order and the 15 minute prison Cities, with AI and Robots exalted as the new replacement is a technocratic law of diminishing return for improvement for humans. Taking drugs, watching videos , being useless , isn’t advancement for humans, but a backtrack into nothingness,
    And this after millions of years of survival by humans , we are going to go down without a fight by having machines and rich people take all from us.
    I understand the movie Space Odessey now as a prediction.

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