People Won’t Pay Yesterday’s Prices

A report from the Wall Street Journal. “Condos around the country are getting a more critical eye. Prospective buyers are concerned about the possibility of higher bills because of major repairs and rising homeowners’ association dues. The Florida market is especially weak because more condo buildings are imposing special assessments. The median price of a condo or co-op in the state was down 9% in April from a year earlier, far more than the 3% drop for single-family homes, Redfin said. Agent Michael Glenmullen in Cambridge, Mass., recently lowered the price of a two-bedroom condo to roughly $1.99 million from about $2.18 million, after it lingered for over 60 days, despite numerous showings. The high HOA fees of about $1,930 a month raised concerns among several potential buyers, he said. ‘The most important factor in a successful sale in today’s market is pricing competitively versus shooting for the stars and hoping you land on the moon,’ Glenmullen said.”

“Lisa Zeiderman ordered an independent appraisal at a cost of $2,000 because she wanted to know if her New York City one-bedroom was priced correctly. It had sat on the market for more than 90 days with little traffic. During that time, she had lowered the price from around $1.95 million to about $1.89 million. The appraiser’s inspection, comparable sales data and market analysis found that $1.8 million was the realistic price. But Zeiderman found what many sellers are discovering these days: The price in this market is often set by the buyer. Last weekend, she finally received an offer that she accepted. It was for $1.7 million.”

St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. “Good news for buyers comes from a St. Cloud Area Association of Realtors’ April 2025 report that shows new residential listings are up nearly 25% compared to the same month last year. The percentage of original price, meaning what portion of the asking price was the final sale, is currently at 98.3%, which, according to Central MN Realty agent Christina Clifton, is a shift from a couple of years ago. ‘Closer to COVID times, everything was selling drastically over list price,’ Clifton said. ‘So that number, two years ago was probably 101% (so) being at 98.3% is pretty low.'”

“However, home sale negotiations involve more than the price. There are also inspections, timing and contingencies, which are trickling into the negotiation process now that buyers have more options and the seller doesn’t hold all the cards. ‘After being in the house for 15 minutes, (buyers) can think about things,’ St. Cloud Area Association of Realtors President Debbie Niemeyer said. ‘They can have inspection contingencies. It’s a better market for buyers than it has been. That was a very stressful market to try to remove contingencies and make a decision without getting a chance to really think about it.'”

Covering Katy in Texas. “The Katy-Fulshear real estate market is navigating a noticeable shift this spring. While home sales remain healthy, a sharp rise in inventory, softening prices, and longer time on market suggest buyers are gaining leverage. Buyers now have more choices than at any point in the past two years, and it’s impacting pricing. The average home sold for $437,017 in April, down 4.6% year-over-year. Compared to the fast-paced spring markets of recent years, 2025 feels more measured. Homes are still selling, especially in the lower price ranges, but buyers are cautious. With more listings hitting the market each month, buyers are in no rush.”

The Los Angeles Times. “Southern California home prices are barely budging. For now, Zillow is forecasting the economy avoids a recession and for home prices to decline only slightly. By April 2026, the real estate firm expects home prices in the Los Angeles-Orange County metro region to be 1.5% lower than they are today. Kara Ng, a senior economist with Zillow, said the expected small dip can be attributed to a rising number of homes for sale. ‘Sellers are coming back more so than buyers,’ Ng said.”

From Marketplace. “Soon after the firestorms in Southern California this year, some folks got calls, texts and visits — not from venture capitalists but what many considered ‘vulture capitalists.’ ‘Predatory investors, more outside financial interests start offering folks cents on the dollar for their houses at a time when a lot of people are desperate,’ said California State Representative John Harabedian, a Democrat who represents Altadena. ‘It is incumbent on us to figure out, how do we get them a humane exit at fair market value so they get every dollar and every cent that they’re owed for their house — at a time that ‘fair market value’ is very questionable,’ he said.”

From CBS Bay Area. “A California real estate mogul has been arrested and is facing multiple federal charges for allegedly running a 15-year Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors out of nearly $30 million. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, 63-year-old Kenneth W. Mason of Sonoma was arrested Thursday. A federal grand jury charged Mattson with seven counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice. Mattson was the president of LeFever Mattson based in Citrus Heights, in Sacramento County. The company controlled several limited partnerships that owned and managed commercial and residential properties.”

“Mattson obtained millions of dollars in investments from hundreds of people many of whom were nearing retirement or were retired. According to prosecutors, Mattson claimed the money was going into ‘legitimate and safe’ partnerships that owned real estate, but in reality, were ‘off-books investors’ that never became owners in the partnerships. ‘Instead of delivering the investment returns he promised, Mr. Mattson is charged with cheating these investors out of their hard-earned money and, in many cases, out of their life savings,’ Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins said in a statement. ‘Mr. Mattson will now be held to account on charges of perpetrating a scheme that he kept afloat only by using new investors’ money to pay obligations to earlier investors—a classic Ponzi scheme.'”

Storeys in Canada. “Most development projects that face insolvency are ones that are in the early stages, which makes the Chloé project that’s now under receivership something of an anomaly. The Chloé project is a four-storey mixed-use project located at 2096 W 47th Avenue in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood of Vancouver. The project consists of 46 strata units and 11 commercial retail units and was completed last year. The receivership proceeding was initiated by Peterson Investment Group, the real estate developer that also frequently acts as a lender and/or partner to other local developers. Peterson — the North American arm of the Hong Kong-based company of the same name — has been the lender in numerous local insolvencies in recent years, including Coromandel Properties, Create Properties, and Landmark Premiere Properties.”

“According to Peterson, those additional charges were registered without approval from the senior secured lenders, which represents a default under the mortgage agreement between Peterson and Lightstone. Peterson says Lightstone also made ‘side deals’ with third-party lenders and purchasers. Those side deals allegedly included selling units that had already been pre-sold to other parties at prices lower than fair market value, as well as allowing purchasers to pay for their units directly to the developer, without approval from the senior secured lenders. Peterson says that Lightstone / Matchpoint is ‘facing an ongoing liquidity crisis and may be unable to continue operations.'”

“Court documents do not address the reasons why more closings have not occurred, but macroeconomic conditions have resulted in countless condo purchasers across the country foregoing closing on presales they made years ago when the value of the units were higher than they are now. ‘In light of a history of continuously moving deadlines for both residential and commercial closings and a history of Borrower project mismanagement to-date, Peterson does not have faith in the Borrower’s ability to consummate these transactions and questions the legitimacy of the [purchase agreements],’ said Peterson.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “199 Drake St., No. 13C, Vancouver. Asking price: $1,299,000 (April 9). Sale price: $1,333,000 (April 13). Days on market: Four. ‘My clients had looked at everything in that area,’ said the buyers’ agent, Ian Watt. The listing went into multiple offers because the listing agent, Jessica Chen from Oakwyn Realty, had priced it correctly, said Mr. Watt. He noted that there is another unit in the building that hadn’t sold because it was priced too high for the market. ‘That’s the thing, if you list it right, it will sell. People won’t pay yesterday’s prices,’ he said. ‘Real estate has gone back to regular people. People move out, they downsize. Life changes. That’s what real estate is about now. It’s not like a stock that you buy and sell any more.'”