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I’m Stuck In This House I Can Barely Afford

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “‘Homes in the less-populated areas between [Florida] metros are sitting on the market for weeks, leading sellers to lower prices,’ Sasha Dookhoo, a Florida homeowner who purchased her house in 2021 ‘before the housing frenzy began,’ tells Fortune. ‘In Florida, I can’t drive anywhere without seeing a new community popping up,’ says Dookhoo, who lives in Gainesville, which is about two hours north of Orlando. ‘I travel to Orlando often and the number of homes popping up along the way in the most remote areas has been surprising to me.’ ‘Now is the time to get a deal in the south,’ Erin Sykes, chief economist with Nest Seekers International, tells Fortune. ‘Our transaction volume has picked up, but most properties are going into contract 10% to 20% below asking price.'”

“More homes are coming on the market in southern Colorado, and prices are starting to fall in some places. The number of closed deals on houses in Pueblo and Fremont counties during April dropped nearly 20 percent and 37 percent respectively from the same time last year. ‘Buyers just aren’t out there looking,’ Pueblo-area broker David Anderson said in the report. ‘For those that are, lenders are seeing more and more who can’t qualify with interest rates still in the 7 percent range.’ ‘The market is giving us mixed signals,’ said Colorado Springs-area broker Patrick Muldoon in the report, noting values went up in April ‘which might lead you to believe things are great in the Pikes Peak region. But we need to address the elephant in the room. What is selling is upper-end homes. This gives an appearance of price increases despite the 6.6 percent drop in units sold and a 23.5 percent increase in active listings. I believe this is beginning to signal a market shift.'”

“‘Sellers know that high mortgage rates mean they should expect negotiations, expect offers to come in under list price, and be ready for some back and forth on things like repairs and closing costs,’ said Marsha McMahon-Jones, a Redfin Premier agent in Palm Springs, California. ‘Buyers may not be able to get a lower mortgage rate, but they’re often getting homes for slightly less than the asking price.'”

“When Sarah bought her first home last year in the Chicago suburbs, she thought she was making a smart investment in her future. But just a year into homeownership, Sarah is filled with regret over her decision to buy — for several different reasons. ‘My real estate agent told me not to worry about the high interest rates and that I could always refinance later. The mortgage broker I was working with made everything seem so simple,’ she recalled. ‘It seemed like the right move … all of my money would be going towards owning something rather than just paying rent every month. As soon as I moved into the house, things started breaking.'”

“‘I super regret locking myself into a 30-year mortgage with massive monthly payments at such a young age,’ she said. In just the first year, Sarah estimates she has spent over $10,000 more than she budgeted for. This extreme financial burden has led to serious doubts that she made the right choice buying a home. ‘Now, I cringe every time I see mortgage rates go up, knowing my friends who are still renting can easily move or downgrade apartments. I’m stuck in this house I can barely afford.'”

“An NPR Planet Money podcast with a segment covering the trial behind the NAR lawsuit included a snippet from a previous interview with Allan Dalton, head of Real Living Real Estate. In the clip, Dalton explains his best practices for keeping a big commission, a technique he learned from one of his top Realtors. The Realtor had a client ask to reduce her commission by $10,000. The technique is profanity-based, Dalton warns, but he decided to bleep out the swear words. ‘Here’s the technique,’ Dalton says. ‘There’s no bleeping, bleeping way I’m going to cut my bleeping, bleeping commission. What do you think, I’m a bleeping, bleeping hooker standing outside the Lincoln Tunnel at 3 o’clock in the morning giving bleeping, bleepings to sailors? If you think I’m going to cut my bleeping, bleeping commission, you can take this home and shove it up your bleeping, bleeping, and I know that it will fit.'”

“When retirees Kathy and Pat Button started renovation plans for their Beaches home, they reached out to their neighbours in hopes of avoiding construction conflict. Instead, the amicable relationship has soured. Alex and Tata Shifrin, whose Waverley Road house was separated from the Buttons’ by a shared party wall, initially supported the project, which the city approved in 2022-23. But after construction started last fall, the Shifrins say it went beyond what they thought they’d agreed to, jeopardizing their own plans to sell their house and sense of safety — something the Buttons dispute, though the project has failed two city inspections and was hit with a permit violation. ‘When you get into a semi, this is the worst-case nightmare that you can imagine,’ Alex Shifrin said in an interview.”

“The Shifrins filed a statement of claim at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking $200,000 in damages. Tata said she was shocked when she came home one day in October 2023 to find most of her neighbour’s house being torn down. ‘What we were sold on and what happened are very different things,’ Alex said. ‘A renovation and an addition became a demolition and excavation.’ ‘The children were afraid to sleep in their own bedroom because raccoons were tearing squirrels apart,’ Tata said. The Shifrins, who separated prior to construction beginning, say they plan to sell.”

“The number of apartments for sale in the Northeastern Estonian of Narva has increased exponentially, however demand is low. Real estate agents believe that behind this are worsening quality of life as well as people’s exodus from the border city. Vadim Senitšenkov, director of real estate agency Arco Vara’s Narva office, noted that a lot of apartments owned by Russian residents have come on the market as well, but believes that the problem isn’t too many apartments on the market; it’s lack of demand. ‘Not many transactions are happening,’ Senitšenkov said. ‘It’s about consumer confidence. People lack confidence, especially here in Narva, about what’s going to happen next, both in macroeconomic terms and geopolitically. People are afraid to invest in their future right now – end of story.'”

“The housing market looks set for a winter of discontent with a surplus of listings and a lack of urgency among buyers. Residential property values have largely plateaued across New Zealand in recent months, with sales volumes expected to drop in the coming months. The national average value is now 2.7 percent higher than at the same time last year, but still 12.9 percent ($136,993) below the market’s peak in late 2021. Cities are losing momentum with Auckland’s three-month rolling average negative for the third straight month. Vendors with unsold properties face a nervous winter and some big decisions. QV operations manager James Wilson said sellers will have to either readjust their price expectations or move to the sidelines. ‘There will be some vendors who if they need to sell, will have to realign their sales price,’ he said.”

“Ivy Zhang figured she had it made. She joined one of China’s biggest property companies in 2016, as the country’s real estate market was taking off. Money was so plentiful that she didn’t have to think about it much. ‘The bank account was just a series of numbers,’ Zhang says. Everybody wanted what Zhang and her colleagues were selling. Prices never seemed to fall, so condos served the combined functions of wealth storage, insurance and retirement savings. But those heady days didn’t last. Many homebuyers were left waiting on stalled construction, sparking angry protests across the country.”

“Zhang, 30, who says she helped sell almost 1 billion yuan ($139 million) worth of apartments for Country Garden, has resorted to peddling health supplements on social media to pay the bills. So far she’s earning nowhere near enough, selling three items a month. It’s a far cry from the days when she earned as much as the equivalent of $83,000 a year. She and her husband have postponed having a baby, and she scours the web for discounted offers, cooks her own meals to avoid takeout and minimizes socializing to cut expenses. ‘If you still want to live like before, you’re basically dreaming,’ Zhang says. ‘If I spent 3,000 yuan in the past, now I’m looking to see if I can cut it down to 2,000. Then I’ll see if I can cut it to a thousand. As long as I can survive.'”

“Charlie Zeng, a former worker at developers including China Vanke Co., who in a good year earned the equivalent of more than $250,000, spent a year looking for work. In his most desperate moment, he volunteered to take a 90% pay cut. After 70 interviews he received a few offers, only to have them all rescinded. Although he eventually found a job, he remains pessimistic about real estate. ‘There’s no future in this industry,’ Zeng says. ‘The sector’s been abandoned.'”

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This Post Has 51 Comments

  1. ‘Sarah is filled with regret over her decision to buy — for several different reasons. ‘My real estate agent told me not to worry about the high interest rates and that I could always refinance later. The mortgage broker I was working with made everything seem so simple’

    We got another rate dater.

    2. “…My real estate agent told me…”

      Said the wolf in sheep’s clothing to Goldilocks….

  2. ‘Our transaction volume has picked up, but most properties are going into contract 10% to 20% below asking price’

    Gosh Erin, it’s a good thing everybody put 30% down!

  3. ‘Now is the time to get a deal in the south,’ Erin Sykes, chief economist with Nest Seekers International, tells Fortune.

    I can appreciate your need to Always Be Closing, Erin, but I think I’ll just sit tight in my cozy rental and let the carnage play out before I even think about buying a shack.

  4. ‘Buyers just aren’t out there looking,’ Pueblo-area broker David Anderson said in the report.

    Pueblo is a dangerous, gang-infested, barrio city that is circling the drain. Shack prices there have a lot further to fall.

    1. The only jobs there are with the FedGov and the CSU satellite campus, the school district and the hospital. All the rejects that can’t get into CSU Fort Collins go to CSU Pueblo.

  5. ‘Here’s the technique,’ Dalton says. ‘There’s no bleeping, bleeping way I’m going to cut my bleeping, bleeping commission.
    If my UHS said anything like this to me his a$$ would be replaced immediately and he would get zero commission.

  6. “I believe this is beginning to signal a market shift.’”

    Little late to the game, partner. There has been signals present for a long time now.

  7. ‘Buyers may not be able to get a lower mortgage rate, but they’re often getting homes for slightly less than the asking price.’”

    It’s the price, not the rate. And when this finally really sinks in you’re not gonna see “slightly less”, but rather mucho less!

  8. What do you think, I’m a bleeping, bleeping hooker standing outside the Lincoln Tunnel at 3 o’clock in the morning giving bleeping, bleepings to sailors?

    Hookers outside the Lincoln Tunnel at 3 a.m. have grounds to sue for defamation after being compared to realtors.

  9. “‘I super regret locking myself into a 30-year mortgage with massive monthly payments at such a young age“

    Wait how locked in you’ll feel when you’re home loses half its value? Here’s some advice Sarah – mail in keys and walk now. Better this reality now than later after years of suffering.

    1. To the grammar/spelling freaks, my apologies for the misuse of you’re. Caffeine deficiency

  10. “My real estate agent told me not to worry about the high interest rates and that I could always refinance later.”

    Technically it’s true…she can refinance any time she wants, just not necessarily at the historically low interest rates she wants.

    1. Financial Times
      Fund management
      Investors shun real estate as higher for longer fears bite
      Global fund managers cut their property allocations to lows not seen since 2009
      Manhattan skyline
      The commercial property market has undergone a painful shift away from ultra-low interest rates, compounded by uncertainty over the future of offices fafter the pandemic
      Sally Hickey and Joshua Oliver in London
      May 14 2024

      Global investors have slashed their allocations to real estate to a 15-year low as the sector struggles under the pressure of high interest rates.

      A net 28 per cent of managers were underweight the real estate sector in May, down 13 percentage points on the previous month, according to Bank of America’s latest global fund manager survey.

      The commercial property market has undergone a painful shift away from ultra-low interest rates, compounded by uncertainty over the future of offices following the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent concerns that borrowing costs in big economies are set to remain higher for longer have weighed further on the sector.
      …

    2. Fed’s Powell says high interest rates may ‘take longer than expected’ to lower inflation
      Paul Davidson
      USA TODAY
      May 14, 2024

      – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that “it may take longer than expected” for high interest rates to lower inflation.

      – He also reiterated, however, that a rate hike is unlikely.

      – His remarks largely echo those he made at a news conference after a Fed meeting earlier this month.
      …
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/05/14/powell-interest-rates-higher-longer/73683558007/

    3. Stocks Fall Back on Concern Interest Rates to Stay Higher for Longer
      Rich Asplund – Barchart – Thu May 16, 3:36PM CDT
      Wall Street – NY Stock Exchange -mHdATQY9fIU-unsplash

      The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) Thursday closed down -0.21%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) closed down -0.10%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed down -0.21%.

      US stock indexes gave up an early advance on Thursday and closed lower. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials, and Nasdaq 100 initially posted new record highs Thursday on speculation the Fed will be able to cut interest rates this year. Stocks and bonds also found support after weekly initial unemployment claims fell less than expected, a dovish factor for Fed policy. Other weaker-than-expected economic reports included housing starts and manufacturing production.

      However, stocks gave up their gains and turned lower as comments from Cleveland Fed President Mester and Richmond Fed President Barkin pushed bond yields higher when they said interest rates should stay higher for longer. Also, signs of persistent price pressures weighed on stocks after the Apr import price index ex-petroleum rose by the most in 16 months.

      Hawkish Fed comments Thursday kept bond yields higher and weighed on stocks. Cleveland Fed President Mester said, “Holding our restrictive stance for longer is prudent at this point as we gain clarity about the path of inflation.” Also, Richmond Fed President Barkin said he believes inflation is coming down, and the Fed needs a “little bit more time” to lower inflation to its 2% target, citing higher prices in the services sector.
      …
      https://www.barchart.com/story/news/26265091/stocks-fall-back-on-concern-interest-rates-to-stay-higher-for-longer

    4. Once she’s underwater (which I’m sure is now) refinancing is off the table. The only ones refinancing will be the ones who put a massive amount down. All the rate daters who put in minimum down payments will on the outside looking in.

    5. Technically it’s true…she can refinance any time she wants, just not necessarily at the historically low interest rates she wants.

      How long until those ultra low rates are but a fading memory?

      On the bright side, rising rates mean better returns on annuities. Of course, you need savings to buy an annuity.

  13. https://x.com/GRomePow/status/1790157258296524879
    Darth Powell 🦈🇺🇲🇺🇦🇵🇱🇫🇮 @GRomePow

    Reminder:

    Affordability -> [sales] volume -> new homes [sales] -> existing [home sales] [-> Price (follows sales volume)] [Existing (resale) home price next 🪓]

    5:08 PM · May 13, 2024 · 2,274 Views

    \\

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNfqJXOa0AA72QS?format=jpg&name=medium

    \\

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxHsuV83KA
    The Rolling Stones Time is On My Side
    BLUES AND SOUL
    37.7K subscribers
    1,134,735 views Oct 31, 2020
    LP ” No. 2 ” Decca Records 1964

    \\

    – U.S. housing is unaffordable, and not to mention Middle Class life in general, but I will. High prices + high mortgage rates. High median house price to median income. High median house price to median rent. The U.S. housing market is FUBAR, courtesy of federal .gov, GSEs, the Fed. The (Keynesian/Socialist) economy needs ever inflating debt and asset bubbles, but asset bubbles always burst. How inconvenient in an election year. 🤔 And they wonder why no one is having children anymore… You will literally own nothing.

    – But go ahead. Catch yerself a falling knife. 🔪 🩸 Not medical advice. Not investment advice. Sarcasm only. Everything is awesome!

  14. ABC News
    Home prices are soaring. Is this another bubble?
    “It’s a strange market that seems like an anomaly,” one expert said.
    By Max Zahn
    May 11, 2024, 5:06 AM ET • 6 min read
    Is the US in another housing bubble? There was a slight uptick in the number of homeowners under serious financial strain between the end of last year and the beginning of 2024.
    STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

    Roughly 15 years after a housing bubble triggered the worst U.S. financial disaster since the Great Depression, some observers are voicing concern that the industry has fallen into another bubble.

    Home prices are soaring, despite high mortgage rates that in theory should crimp demand and push down prices.

    The share of U.S. homeowners under serious financial strain, meanwhile, jumped slightly at the outset of this year when compared with the final months of 2023, real estate data-firm ATTOM found in a report this week.

    Despite these trends, experts who spoke with ABC News largely rejected fears of a housing bubble.

    The frothy prices and the strain they place on prospective homebuyers are a cause for concern, they said, but the price hikes owe to an old-fashioned imbalance between supply and demand rather than the frenzied speculation characteristic of a bubble.
    …

    1. “Home prices are soaring. Is this another bubble?”

      \\

      – Yep! It’s a bubble alright. The following article is from an expert on asset bubbles, and this one’s a doozy! Lessons learned from 2008 and Housing Bubble 1.0? Zero. 5 stages of grief. You are here: Denial.

      \\

      https://www.gmo.com/globalassets/articles/viewpoints/2023/gmo_after-a-timeout—back-to-the-meat-grinder_1-23.pdf
      AFTER A TIMEOUT, BACK TO THE MEAT GRINDER!
      Jeremy Grantham | January 24, 2023

      “One important factor is that the bursting of the global housing bubble, which is only just beginning, is likely to have a more painful economic knock-on effect than the decline inequities is having, for extreme bubble pricing in stocks has been confined to the U.S. only.
      Other equity markets vary from fair price to normal or moderate overpricing. In real estate, by contrast, even though 2021’s near 20% gain in U.S. house prices – the largest annual gain in the record books – left the house price multiple of family income in the U.S. (now 6x, up rom 4.5x in 2011, according to Census Bureau data) above its previous record in 2006 at the height of the housing bubble, that ratio is still way below the 10x to 20x multiples in cities from Vancouver, London, and Paris to Shanghai, Sydney, and Taiwan.”

      “Housing busts seem to take two or three times longer than for equities – from 2006 for example it took 6 years in the U.S. to reach a low – and housing is more directly plugged into the economy than equities through construction starts and associated expenditures. Housing is also much more important for the middle class, whose wealth is often mainly in housing, who use far greater leverage through established, traditional mortgages than they ever do in stocks, and who are these days sitting on large gains resulting from 40 years of falling mortgage rates pushing up housing prices. Many of them see their houses as a major store of value and the bedrock of their retirement plans, and to see that value start to melt away will make them very nervous. (Mortgage costs expand to fit the available affordability. Thus, as interest rates fall you take bigger mortgages because you can and as the mortgages grow in size house prices rise too.) So don’t mess with housing! But we have. “

      “And real estate markets that had come to be thought of as impregnable, Australia and Canada for example, have finally started to decline, with Canada down a shocking 13% last year. Other overpriced markets on mainly variable rates are very likely to follow.”

  15. Prices for the Jeep Grand Cherokee have been slashed by up to $28,000 – or up to 23 per cent – as the US car maker’s sales slump to their lowest levels in nearly 15 years.

    It follows a series of steep price rises across the Jeep line-up during the pandemic which saw a Wrangler Rubicon’s cost climb by $19,000 in 12 months – and the latest Grand Cherokee arrived in showrooms with price hikes of up to $17,500.

    Jeep reported 4634 sales in Australia last year – its lowest result since 2009, in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis – and just 1247 Grand Cherokees, its worst annual result since 2010.

    https://www.drive.com.au/news/jeep-grand-cherokee-price-slashed/

  16. ‘‘The market is giving us mixed signals…values went up in April ‘which might lead you to believe things are great in the Pikes Peak region. But we need to address the elephant in the room. What is selling is upper-end homes. This gives an appearance of price increases despite the 6.6 percent drop in units sold and a 23.5 percent increase in active listings’

    It’s called the mix Pat. When a market is peaking the median statistic will falsely continue up because people with more money are still buying.

  17. ‘Now, I cringe every time I see mortgage rates go up, knowing my friends who are still renting can easily move or downgrade apartments’

    And they are probably stuffing their face with expensive food too Sarah.

    1. Damn Sarah, sounds like you’re living in a Johnny Cash song.

      Folsom Prison Blues

      I bet there’s rich folks eatin’
      In a fancy dinin’ car
      They’re probably drinkin’ coffee
      And smokin’ big cigars
      Well, I know I had it comin’
      I know I can’t be free
      But those people keep a-movin’
      And that’s what tortures me

  18. ‘When you get into a semi, this is the worst-case nightmare that you can imagine…A renovation and an addition became a demolition and excavation…The children were afraid to sleep in their own bedroom because raccoons were tearing squirrels apart’

    Alex, Tata, it is still cheaper than renting.

    ‘The Shifrins, who separated prior to construction beginning, say they plan to sell’

    The good news is UHS say you can always sell.

  19. ‘believes that the problem isn’t too many apartments on the market; it’s lack of demand. ‘Not many transactions are happening,’ Senitšenkov said. ‘It’s about consumer confidence. People lack confidence, especially here in Narva, about what’s going to happen next, both in macroeconomic terms and geopolitically. People are afraid to invest in their future right now – end of story’

    We have an inside joke about ‘end of story’ here Vadim.

  20. ‘sellers will have to either readjust their price expectations or move to the sidelines. ‘There will be some vendors who if they need to sell, will have to realign their sales price’

    That’s the spirit Jim!

  21. ‘Money was so plentiful that she didn’t have to think about it much. ‘The bank account was just a series of numbers,’ Zhang says. Everybody wanted what Zhang and her colleagues were selling. Prices never seemed to fall, so condos served the combined functions of wealth storage, insurance and retirement savings…‘If you still want to live like before, you’re basically dreaming…If I spent 3,000 yuan in the past, now I’m looking to see if I can cut it down to 2,000. Then I’ll see if I can cut it to a thousand. As long as I can survive’

    ‘Charlie Zeng, a former worker at developers including China Vanke Co., who in a good year earned the equivalent of more than $250,000, spent a year looking for work. In his most desperate moment, he volunteered to take a 90% pay cut. After 70 interviews he received a few offers, only to have them all rescinded. Although he eventually found a job, he remains pessimistic about real estate. ‘There’s no future in this industry,’ Zeng says. ‘The sector’s been abandoned’

    Ennio Morricone – the ecstasy of gold
    theItalyWiki

    13 years ago

    Ennio Morricone conducting his own composition, “The Ecstasy of Gold” from the film, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

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

    3:45.

  22. Seller’s Problems Keep Getting Bigger (Peel Region Real Estate Market Update)
    Team Sessa Real Estate

    2 hours ago MISSISSAUGA

    In this episode we take a look at the current Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering Real Estate home prices and market trends for week ending May 8, 2024. We also discuss why some seller’s have it much more difficult than others. If you’re selling your home shortly after purchasing it, most buyers will automatically be discounting your price more than others. It’s important to have a strategy to combat this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WLhOpFVlI

    17:40.

  23. Is a hair-of-the-dog hangover cure a good way to fix an overbuilt housing market?

    Magic eight ball says NO.

    2. Asian Markets
      China to let local governments buy homes, cut mortgage rates to revive property sector
      By Reuters
      May 17, 20241 2:13 AM PDT
      Updated 18 hours ago

      May 17 (Reuters) – China will allow local government authorities to buy some homes at “reasonable” prices to provide affordable housing, Vice Premier He Lifeng told an online meeting on housing policy on Friday, the official news agency, Xinhua, said.
      China will cut interest rates of mortgage loans and down-payment ratios for homebuyers to boost lacklustre property demand, according to three statements released by its central bank on Friday.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-let-local-governments-buy-homes-cut-mortgage-rates-revive-property-sector-2024-05-17/

  24. Autumn Leaves – Yenne Lee plays 2004 Pepe Romero Jr.
    Guitar Salon International

    6 years ago

    Here’s Yenne Lee with her arrangement of the Joseph Kosma standard Autumn Leaves. She’s playing a great 2004 Pepe Romero Jr. classical guitar in cedar and maple. Recorded at the Guitar Salon International showroom in Santa Monica, CA.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxGT5z6d-GA

    7 minutes.

  25. Erin Sykes, chief economist with Nest Seekers International, tells Fortune. ‘Our transaction volume has picked up, but most properties are going into contract 10% to 20% below asking price.’”

    Erin, give me a call when you hit 40% below.

  26. ‘Cut off at their ankles’: Home buyers struggle to become owners, with investors now snatching up nearly 30% of the single-family homes in the US — what lawmakers are doing about it
    A Sale Pending sticker is seen on a real estate yard sign made by the Premiere Property Group outside a newly-constructed home.
    Tada Images/Shutterstock
    While we adhere to strict editorial guidelines, partners on this page also provide us earnings.
    Adam Palasciano to
    Updated May 17, 2024

    Buying a home has become, well, completely out of reach for many. Increased demand combined with dwindling home supply, supply chain issues, and rising mortgage interest rates have all contributed to higher costs that have rendered homes unattainable for the average American.

    To add fuel to the fire, one other major change has affected the cost of homes: the sharp increase in the share of homes being purchased by investors and hedge funds.

    CoreLogic reported that the investor share of U.S. home purchases rose to almost 29% as of December 2023. What’s more? That figure is projected to exceed a whopping 30% in 2024, according to analysts.

    And then there’s the matter of rising interest rates, as the Federal Reserve has hiked rates 11 times since March 2022 to control post-pandemic inflation. One ugly outcome of this has been stubbornly high mortgage interest rates, which has then deterred some hopeful buyers from entering the market altogether. In turn, this has fueled the demand for rentals — and investors are taking advantage.
    …
    https://moneywise.com/real-estate/investors-buying-up-single-family-homes

  27. “Zhang, 30, who says she helped sell almost 1 billion yuan ($139 million) worth of apartments for Country Garden, has resorted to peddling health supplements on social media to pay the bills.”

    The same method for moving homes that won’t sell should work for health supplements: Lower the price, sell more.

  28. R u ready for non-bank mortgage lender bailouts? The incipient crisis is barely coming into view…

    1. Business / Economy
      Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, US officials warn
      By Matt Egan, CNN
      4 minute read
      Updated 7:29 PM EDT, Mon May 13, 2024
      Nonbank mortgage providers like Rocket Mortgage could make the next recession worse, federal regulators warn.
      David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images

      New York CNN —

      US officials worry the next recession could be intensified by a cascading series of failures in the mortgage industry caused by crashing home prices, frozen financial markets and soaring delinquencies.

      The US Financial Stability Oversight Council, a SWAT team of financial regulators formed after the 2008 crisis, sounded the alarm on Friday about an increasingly influential corner of the industry that has largely escaped scrutiny: nonbank mortgage companies.

      Unlike traditional banks, nonbank mortgage companies are heavily exposed to swings in the mortgage market, depend on funding that can dry up during times of stress and don’t have stable deposits to rely on as a safety net. And, unlike banks, these companies are lightly regulated at the national level.

      FSOC warned that these unique vulnerabilities risk a domino effect in a future crisis where multiple mortgage companies fail, borrowers are locked out of the mortgage market and the federal government is left holding the bag.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/economy/mortgage-company-risk-regulation-fsoc/index.html

      1. “…a SWAT team of financial regulators formed after the 2008 crisis…”

        What a horrible metaphor to describe bailout agencies.

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