The Crux Of The Issue Is The Misalignment Between Buyer Expectations And The Current Pricing

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “While there’s no collapse in the Washington-area housing market right now, you may be asking: Why are so many for sale signs popping up? ‘Everybody I’m talking to is scared, uncertain, and there’s no predictability. That’s going to impact all Americans,’ said Kate, a former federal worker. That sentiment is the kind that can slow down a housing market, especially in the D.C. metro, where an estimated 20% of the federal workforce is based. If you’re worried about defaulting or going into significant debt, here are some options to consider: Contact your lender to request a deferment period. Consider loan modifications. Review whether you need to sell if you’re already in behind on payments, at risk for foreclosure. Bic DeCaro, a real estate professional with more than 24 years of experience emphasized that now is not the time to panic-sell.”

“The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce says vacation rentals are currently slow for July and August. They say now is the time to book as prices may begin to drop. Brian Calhoon owns Brasswood Inn in Provincetown. Often, guests book for the following year before they leave. ‘It is unusual this year that we are seeing some of those folks who rebooked end up canceling, and saying, ‘I am not getting to Provincetown this year,’ said Calhoon. ‘It’s weird for us to have two rooms available for Bear Week right now. Normally, Bear Week is full a year prior.'”

“The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce believes part of the issue is due to a lack of price adjustments. After the pandemic, there was a surge in rental activity on the Cape. Prices went up across the Cape and stayed up. ‘I think you’re going to see some of the prices start to come down a little bit,’ said Paul Niedzwiecki, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. ‘We’re certainly seeing some emails from some of our Canadian visitors, that have told us by email at least that they are not going to be visiting this Summer,’ said Niedzwiecki.”

“Michael Milillo thought his home in the Flagler House condominium in West Palm Beach would be his last. Coastal breezes drift through the 74-year-old’s unit hugging the Lake Worth Lagoon. ‘And we thought we were set,’ Milillo said. ‘Then they show up.’ Milillo’s aging condominium — a three-story art deco artifact from the early 1960s — is one of an untold number of South Florida buildings developers are soliciting as they hunt for waterfront deals in the wake of new laws that followed the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse. ‘I love my unit and don’t want to be thrown back into the real estate market and have to live out west,’ Millilo said. ‘Even though they are giving a sizable amount of money, it’s not enough to replace what we have.'”

“Milillo, who didn’t want to disclose how much he was offered for his unit, said he doesn’t want to sell but signed the purchase agreement because he was told he was one of the lone holdouts. Milillo’s neighbor, John Pavlos, said he also doesn’t want to sell. Attorney Jeff Margolis with Berger Singerman law firm in Fort Lauderdale said just hiring the engineers or architects to do the milestone inspections can be expensive. ‘Although the intention was to bolster the structural integrity and increase the safety of older condominiums, the owners will be faced with increased financial burdens, and the only option may be to sell,’ Margolis said. ‘Developers will come in and take advantage of that.'”

“In a Tuesday night meeting, residents of unincorporated parts of Pinellas County told their commissioners the same thing, one after another. ‘If anybody walks out of here not thinking this is an issue for the citizens and the community and this state, then they’re missing the boat,’ one of the speakers, Dan Autry, said. Autry and the others believe short-term vacation rentals, like Airbnbs and VRBOs, are destroying the peace and tranquility in their neighborhoods, and they brought examples to the meeting. ‘Kids and adults jumping off the roof into the pool,’ Autry told commissioners. ‘Teenagers from Tampa partying with beer — liquor. Overflowing trash from the trash cans,’ another speaker added. ‘They’ll block people into their driveways, block mailboxes, park on lawns.'”

“Yasmine Acebo makes her living by hooking up renters with deals on Austin apartments. In recent months, they haven’t been hard to find. ‘Nearly all apartments in Austin are doing some sort of specials for move-ins,’ said Acebo. ‘It was inevitable once you noticed how many apartments were going up.’ Nowhere in the country have rents declined as much as they have in Austin — now 22% off the peak reached in August 2023, according to Redfin. The median asking rent is $1,399 per month, down $400 in less than three years. ‘The rental market here is saturated with availability,’ said Jody Lockshin, a veteran Austin broker and the owner of Habitat Hunters. Landlords have almost no leverage, and she has seen buildings offer three months free to new tenants and rate reductions to keep ones already in place.”

“Home prices have also dropped from pandemic heights, down 23% since May 2022 as interest rates climbed, but like apartment rents remain well above pre-pandemic levels. The median sale price last month was $515,000, up about 34% from the median of $383,380 buyers paid in January 2020, according to Redfin.”

“According to research from the Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Portuguese Bend landslide has been moving for more than 250,000 years. Today, unstable land movement has left hundreds without power or gas and dozens of homes are unliveable, according to officials. In recent years, multi-million-dollar homes perched atop oceanside bluffs in the Portuguese Bend area have started to succumb to geological forces that — despite millions of dollars and years of efforts — cannot be stopped. In fact, those forces were accelerated by heavy rains in 2023 and 2024, pulling apart structures, cutting gas and power lines and severing roads. NASA imagery shows that land was sliding at a rate of 4 inches a week during a four-week period last year.”

“Portuguese Bend is clearly on borrowed time. As property owners wait for funding for the buyouts, others are trying the real estate market. On Zillow, a home on Vanderlip Drive is listed for more than $2 million with a note that states: ‘The home is offered for a fraction of its pre-movement value…and will offer a buyer a unique blend of elegance, comfort and breathtaking beauty, making it a true treasure to be loved by the next family lucky enough to call it home.’ According to the listing, the homeowners have ‘fought back’ against the land movement by installing helical piers, or foundations screwed into the ground.”

“This year’s Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial Real Estate Finance conference in San Diego was upbeat overall. This points to a receptive climate for borrowers in the year ahead. Almost all lenders are prioritizing multifamily allocations at the top of their desired asset classes for loans. For borrowers that pursued extensions in the rate climate of 2022, 2023 and 2024, my initial takeaway from lender conversations is that the era of extend-and-pretend is over. Expectations are that rate- challenged assets that kicked the can on maturities but were unable to achieve enhanced performance or secure additional equity will ultimately have to become distressed sales, with the majority these assets being class C properties. Projects that were underwritten for rent growth that didn’t anticipate or plan for a rising interest rate climate are especially vulnerable as short-term debt is resetting and rate buydowns expiring.”

“580 Kingston Rd., No. 104, Toronto. Asking price: $999,900 (November, 2024). Previous asking prices: $1,099,900 (Late September, 2024); $1,149,900 (Early September, 2024). Selling price: $980,000 (December, 2024). This three-bedroom condo near Glen Stewart Park had a layout unlike most others in the building. Its asking price started out at $1,149,900 in early September but buyer apathy forced price reductions of first $50,000 and then another $100,000 in the following months. ‘For the last year, you’d get showings, but 99 per cent of the people coming through said they just started looking,’ said agent Jenelle Cameron. ‘It made no sense; buyers were just non-committal.'”

“Housing Minister Mona Keijzer said it is ‘worrying’ that more property investors are selling off their rental housing, and she is considering measures to address the issue. Figures from the Kadaster, the national land registry, show that landlords put more than 50,000 rental properties up for sale last year, up from just over 30,000 a year earlier. ‘The figures from the Kadaster show once again that the investment climate for Dutch rental properties has deteriorated enormously,’ said major housing investor Heimstaden.”

“‘People are currently looking for good quality at a reasonable price in the housing market,’ Juho Kostiainen, an economist at Nordea, summarised in the housing market review of the financial group headquartered in Helsinki. Kostiainen on Wednesday estimated that a ‘major change’ has taken place in the housing market over the past year. The sales of newly built homes, it added, are ‘extremely sluggish.’ ‘The consolidation of housing and the slowing growth of the number of households is slowing down growth in housing demand. The oversupply of housing will be worked out slower than expected,’ commented Kostiainen.”

“Saudi Arabia faces growing challenges in its residential real estate market as soaring prices and high borrowing costs cool appetite for home ownership, according to the real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Many home-buyers believe prices are too high, need more time to save and want more financing options, according to Knight Frank’s 2025 Saudi report. ‘The crux of the issue is the misalignment between buyer expectations and the current pricing or market realities,’ Faisal Durrani, head of Middle East research at Knight Frank, said in an interview in the Kingdom. ‘There is a very real risk of an oversupply of luxury housing in the kingdom over the next five years unless new sources of demand are identified or tapped into, chiefly, international buyer demand.'”

“A woman has been charged over an alleged multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud to launder funds on behalf of a crime gang selling black market tobacco. Xiaoli Xue, 36, has been accused of fraudulently inflating her income to secure 10 home loans worth almost $7 million since 2020. She then allegedly laundered funds from organised criminals in the illegal tobacco trade via the repayments. Following her arrest at Berala in the city’s west, police raided two properties, seizing $2.5 million worth of cigarettes as well as loose tobacco, more than $100,000 in cash and a luxury SUV. NSW Police Financial Crimes Squad Commander Gordon Arbinja said the use of fraudulent mortgages showed the lengths organised criminals would go to conceal their activities. ‘We will not tolerate criminals who undermine the integrity of our financial system,’ he said.”

“In November, state police revealed there had been a string of attacks on tobacconists in northern NSW, sparking fears Victoria’s cut-throat turf war over the illicit cigarette and vape trade had spilled across the border. More than 100 arson incidents in the southern state have been linked to Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates and outlaw motorcycle gangs fighting to control the black market.”