Prices Have Been Dropping As Sellers Are Forced To Compete With The Glut Of Other Listings

A report from the Herald Tribune in Florida. “Scores of Manasota Key homes and businesses were severely damaged after Hurricane Helene landed on Sept. 26. Then last Wednesday came Milton’s much higher storm surge. A yellow Adirondack chair flew through the air from a local business and landed hundreds of feet away, plopping in the front yard of Jim and Theresa Legnante’s ruined second home. The Legnantes, like many owners in the 16-apartment ground-level HOA community, were in the process of restoring their place after Hurricane Helene when Milton hit last Wednesday. Legnante, whose year-round home is in upstate New York, said he and his wife feel they have no choice but to start renovating anew. He added: ‘What choice do we have? I think many people would like to sell. But if we flood the market with all these depressed units, what are you going to get?'”

“Addie Granob, a south Florida native, said she and her husband Mikey bought on Manasota Key in 2020, knowing they needed a house on stilts. Where neighbors’ homes were ripped off their foundations, the Granebs’ home suffered only cosmetic damage, including lost siding, after Milton. ‘I hope all these neighbors learn not to build on ground level,’ Addie Granob said. ‘But most of them are from up north.'”

WFLA in Florida. “With hundreds being displaced after back-to-back hurricanes and many across the Tampa Bay area being denied aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), folks are struggling with who to trust as they search for help. Kirk and Violeta Nowery were out of the country at the time Hurricane Helene hit. Kirk Nowery and his wife Violeta Nowery contacted their insurance agent, were put into the FEMA process and were declined with no explanation. Kirk Nowery said, ‘The entire house is a loss inside, the only thing we have left is the roof — which is damaged — and the exterior walls. How can you be denied when you have lost everything? This is not a game. It’s not like let’s re-apply again and get approved. No. This is not a game.'”

“Elieen Bedinghaus, a broker-associate in Tampa Bay has been contacted by clients for weeks who have lost everything and don’t know how to recover. She shared that her friend said there was a ‘real estate agent’ going house to house in Shore Acers, offering them money for their house, saying they could give them a contract right here, right now and get it all done. ‘Vultures is what they are,’ Bedinghaus said.”

Asheville Citizen Times in North Carolina. “Two days after the Buncombe County Courthouse’s post-storm re-opening on Oct. 14, dozens of protestors on Wednesday called for a 90-day eviction and foreclosure moratorium to protect residents already coping with damaged homes, disabled utilities and potential joblessness. Miranda Escalante of Asheville Food & Beverage United, which also helped organize Wednesday’s protest, stood among the protestors. ‘There’s so many people that their homes have just been absolutely devastated,’ Escalante said. ‘I mean, I have so many friends who can’t even live in their homes and are still paying mortgage, still paying rent.'”

WWLP Springfield. “Last year ended with the lowest volume of single-family home sales in 12 years and persistently high prices, both of which contribute mightily to the affordability and access problem that Massachusetts is now trying to address. Cassidy Norton, associate publisher at The Warren Group, said September showed ‘a slight cooling in sales.’ ‘Elevated interest rates and limited inventory are likely key factors slowing the pace of transactions, despite continued demand,’ Norton said. ‘At the same time, prices remain robust … However, the rapid rise in prices appears to be flattening compared to previous years, signaling a potential shift in market dynamics.’ The condominium market cooled way down in September as high prices and high interest rates change the calculus for buyers. ‘The Massachusetts condo market saw a significant slowdown in September, with just 1,490 transactions—a 10.7 percent decrease compared to last year,’ Norton said. ‘This marks the fewest number of condo sales for the month since September 2011.'”

The Review Journal in Nevada. “The median price for a house in Las Vegas currently sits at $433,975, according to Redfin, and the average home price in Los Angeles, the city that makes up most of the migrants to the valley, is $1 million. The median Nevada household makes $76,364 while the median Californian household income is $91,905. Las Vegas finds itself in the middle of a housing crisis as home prices are close to setting a record high that was previously set in 2022. The valley’s housing market has seen a flood of new listings coming onto the market as it leads the country regarding that metric, however this has not translated into higher sales as prices remain elevated and homes are sitting without offers.”

Times of San Diego in California. “Single-family home sales dropped 14% in September compared to August, even as average home prices remained steady at around $1 million, it was announced Wednesday. While the median home price remained around $1 million, the price for attached properties declined 4% last month and was slightly less than in 2023 at $646,000. ‘The inventory of homes on the market continues on a positive trend, and we’re still bullish on the prospects of lower interest rates,’ SDAR President Spencer Lugash said. ‘Hopefully buyers will recognize that the tide is turning and that they should connect with a realtor who knows the neighborhood and has their eye on what’s available in this shifting market.'”

Silicon Valley in California. “Housing sales are being completed in a San Jose condominium complex that’s one of several properties mired in a massive Bay Area real estate fraud case, raising hopes for investors who lost money. The residential sales are being conducted in a 96-unit condo development known as Almaden Terraces, located in south San Jose at 1853 Almaden Road. As of Sept. 30, seven of the condos had been sold to owners at prices that averaged $768,000, according to this news organization’s analysis of documents filed with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office. The condo sales raise hopes — however faint — that those who were allegedly swindled in a vast fraud case might recover at least a fraction of what they lost when they invested in properties developed by Bay Area real estate executive Sanjeev Acharya and his company Silicon Sage Builders.”

“In late 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Acharya and Silicon Sage that claimed they defrauded an estimated 250 people — many of South Asian ethnicity — who paid about $119 million to invest in projects that Acharya launched. One of the key challenges facing the receiver and the defrauded investors is that Acres Loan Origination provided an affiliate controlled by Acharya and Silicon Sage with a $41.9 million construction loan in 2018 to build the project. Prior court filings have indicated that at least some of the proceeds from condo sales would be used to repay at least a portion of that loan.”

Bloomberg on Illinois. “Billionaire Ken Griffin has found a buyer for one of his luxury properties in Chicago, after cutting the asking price to half of what he originally paid. The Citadel founder’s penthouse at No. 9 Walton went under contract for an undisclosed amount, according to Zillow. The 7,500-square-foot (670-square-meter) unit on the 38th floor, a residence that Griffin never lived in and was marketed as unfinished, was listed for $11 million in July. If the deal closes at or near that price, it would mark a loss for Griffin, who paid roughly $21 million for the property in 2017, according to Cook County records.”

“He previously sold properties in the Park Tower and Waldorf Astoria, each at losses exceeding $3 million. At No. 9 Walton, Griffin spent a total of nearly $59 million on the penthouse he’s now selling and three other units in the largest residential real estate transaction in Chicago’s history. He later tried to unload two of those units but they were pulled off the market after unsuccessful attempts to sell.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “In a Toronto condo market awash in inventory, it can be difficult to stand out, says broker Davelle Morrison of Bosley Real Estate. The sellers, meanwhile, are often investors who have decided to exit the market because a tenant has recently moved out. In some cases, buyers are testing the sellers with offers far below the asking price. In the affluent Beaches neighbourhood in Toronto’s east end, broker Rochelle DeClute of Union Realty says the prices of condos have been dropping as sellers are forced to compete with the glut of other listings. ‘We’re definitely reducing on condos,’ she says.”

“Christopher Bibby, broker with Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group Realty, has not been keen on buying condo units in the preconstruction phase for many years, since the price-per-square foot began to surpass the price of a unit in the resale market. But many people were bullish on real estate and they were counting on capital appreciation. ‘Younger parents were buying in pre-construction,’ Mr. Bibby says. ‘They thought, ‘we’ll just hold it for their future.’ These days preconstruction sales have taken a deep dive. He adds that the city still has a lot of condo inventory to work through. ‘From an investment standpoint, I think this is not the time. I don’t think anyone thinks this is the bottom.'”

Blog TO in Canada. “An Ontario home sold at a massive loss this month shows just how much real estate prices tend to fluctuate throughout the province, especially in the face of interest rate cuts. According to its listing, the three-bedroom, four-bathroom home, located in a serene neighbourhood in Kitchener, boasts nearly 4,200 square feet of living space. The property was first sold for $1.62 million in January 2022. Two and a half years later, the home was re-listed for just shy of $1.35 million but failed to attract any buyers. The home was put back on the market for a second time in September 2024 for just under $1.2 million and eventually sold for $1.16 million — representing a loss of $460,000 when compared to its price just two years earlier.”

News.com.au in Australia. “Anthony Albanese has insisted he still knows what it’s like to live on struggle street despite plonking down $4.3 million for a clifftop mansion on the NSW Central Coast. But the Prime Minister has insisted he’s not planning for retirement. Taking advantage of falling property prices as a result of rising interest rates, Mr Albanese snapped up the architecturally designed house with uninterrupted ocean and Sydney skyline views in a private sale last month. The four bedroom house on nearly 800 sqm last sold in November of 2021 for $4.65m, which means the current owners sold at a loss.”

From ABC News. “Staring at a third recession in just two years, Kiwis are moving across the ditch to Australia in substantial numbers, seeking a sunnier economic climate. ‘The cost of living was just getting out of control,’ says Alex Cashmore, who moved to Melbourne this year. He and wife Taya bought a house in Auckland as prices peaked in 2021 and just before the official cash rate skyrocketed from 0.25 per cent to a peak of 5.5 per cent. ‘Double-shafted,’ he laughs, grimly. The interest rate on repayments is higher than the cash rate set by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, so when their introductory offer expired, repayments went from ‘two point something’ on their mortgage to 7.15 per cent. ‘I’ve got friends who bought at the same time as me. They’ve sold their houses,’ he says.”

Associated Press. “A Vietnamese real estate tycoon was convicted Thursday of fraudulently obtaining property worth billions of dollars and sentenced to life in prison, in a case that has been a centerpiece of the government’s crackdown on corruption. Truong My Lan was already convicted in April by the same Ho Chi Minh City court of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s gross domestic product — in a separate case and sentenced to death by lethal injection. The trials were broken into two parts due to the number of allegations against her, and Thursday’s verdict adds to Lan’s legal troubles as she awaits the appeal of her death sentence to be heard.”

“‘Standing here today is a price too expensive for me to pay. I consider this my destiny and a career accident,’ the VNexpress online newspaper quoted Lan, the chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat, as telling the judges in her closing statement last week. ‘For the rest of my life, I will never forget that my actions have affected tens of thousands of families.'”

“Nguyen Hieu, a schoolteacher whose life savings of $36,000 is tied up in illegal bonds issued by Lan’s company, said the life sentence was fair. ‘She deserves the punishment,’ he said, adding that he hoped the death sentence from the first trial is commuted so that Lan has the opportunity to pay back her victims.”