The People Who Were Buying These Types Of Properties Were Investors, And We Don’t Have These Investors Anymore

A report from the Business Observer. “Home and condo prices across the west coast of Florida fell in April, continuing a steady downturn from just a year ago. Michelle Rumore, senior director of market analytics at the CoStar-owned Homes.com, says properties are sitting on the market longer. That is leading to sellers making concessions, especially in new construction, and price cuts on existing homes. But buyers are not rushing out. ‘Despite these pricing improvements, mortgage rate volatility over the past 45 days has kept some buyers on the sidelines, dampening demand,’ Rumore says. According to the data, in Tampa Bay, the average median home price in the market declined in Tampa by 2.7% over this time last year to $365,000. Fort Myers saw a 7% year-over-year drop to $376,000. Sarasota/Bradenton and Naples saw far steeper drops, with the median home price falling 13.8% from a year ago to $405,000 in Sarasota and 14% from a year ago to $620,000 in Naples. The median price of condos fell 10.9% from this time last year to $205,000 in Tampa. Fort Myers saw a 20% drop from a year ago to $300,000 while both Naples and Sarasota saw 20% drops.”

Rough Draft Atlanta in Georgia. “We talked to four seasoned real estate agents to get their take on the Intown market. Realtor Maggie Jones said Atlanta continues its love affair with single-family homes, but said condos and townhomes are getting more attention. Buyers specifically looking for condos in the 30308 and 30309 zip codes are definitely in luck, since the supply of units currently exceeds demand. Jones said there’s a 10-month supply of inventory in Midtown, which is ‘great news for buyers as they have more negotiating power when it comes time to make an offer on condos.’ An associate broker with Engle & Volkers Atlanta, Adam Ballenger said while he’s seen uncertainty among clients due to the economic woes, some see it as an opportunity especially with the uptick he’s seeing in inventory. ‘I have more listings now and ones coming soon than I ever have before,’ Ballenger said. ‘Rising costs of HOAs and certain insurance deductibles are making condos more difficult to sell,’ he said.”

Vail Daily in Colorado. “Mark Gordon, the current chair of the Vail Board of Realtor, added, in times of economic distress, ‘If someone needs to sell a Vail property, and they sell it at a perceived value, it sells.’ Still, he added, people are adjusting prices, and buyers are becoming ‘careful.’ But, reflecting the push-pull of the market, ‘sellers are not willing to give up their leverage.’ Matt Fitzgerald, the Vail Valley market president for Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate, said that price is becoming a ‘key consideration’ for buyers, both in resort and downvalley areas. Buyers, he said, are scrutinizing comparable sales data, with price and property condition again being ‘paramount’ in decisions, as opposed to the land-rush days that started in the second quarter of 2020, lasting into 2022.”

“The year-to-date median sale price for townhomes and condos from January through April of 2024, through the same period this year, has declined by nearly 14%. Still, sellers are receiving, on average, more than 95% of their asking prices for both single-family and multi-family homes. With something like a balanced market, Fitzgerald said we’re seeing some ‘normalization’ in the marketplace. ‘There are some great opportunities for buyers and sellers. If they price correctly, they will sell,’ Gordon said.”

Cache Valley Daily. “Logan has been identified as one of the top U.S. markets experiencing significant home price declines in early 2025, but real estate experts say the local housing downturn shouldn’t cause panic. According to the latest report by the National Association of Realtors, Logan ranked fifth nationally among cities facing the sharpest price decreases. In Logan, the median home sales price dropped 5.8% year-over-year to $410,900. The situation in Logan mirrors wider trends seen in other popular markets, including St. George, Utah, which experienced a 5.5% drop in median home prices, down to $524,400. Nationwide, about 17% of U.S. markets saw price declines in the first quarter of 2025, a notable increase from 11% in the previous quarter.”

The Palm Springs Post in California. “Palm Springs experienced the greatest price decline of any valley city in April, with the median price for an average-sized detached home dropping to $1.32 million, down about 3.8% compared to last year, according to the latest Desert Housing Report. Housing inventory has increased significantly throughout the valley, with 3,799 units available as of May 1 — representing 1,349 more units than the same time last year. Palm Springs leads the valley in available inventory, with 872 homes for sale as of May 1, compared to 630 last year. The report notes that seasonal patterns suggest inventory could hit its peak this month, as the desert operates as a seasonal market where median prices typically reach seasonal highs in April or May and drop to lows during fall and winter months.”

“Lower sales combined with increased inventory mean supply is beginning to exceed demand. ‘This should not cause a problem for home prices unless it begins to extend average selling times,’ the report notes. The report indicates that while inventory has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, market conditions point to a need for intervention. ‘The housing market needs lower mortgage rates,’ the report said.”

Cybernews on California. “Highly paid IT jobs in San Francisco and the northern part of Silicon Valley began to vanish in the second half of 2022 – just as OpenAI unveiled its viral ChatGPT chatbot. The tech giants kept saying that hiring will pick up as AI will need to be supervised by people in positions that haven’t even been created yet. Despite all this hoopla, however, the trend of people losing their jobs has continued. Per the employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the area’s IT industry held 107,700 jobs in April, having shed 25,400 jobs, or 19% of its total, since August 2022. According to Bloomberg, it’s obvious that AI and its continuing boom is beginning to suppress hiring in the Bay Area.”

“Now, the infamously expensive San Francisco housing market is reacting. Prices of mid-tier condos, seasonally adjusted, are down by 14.6% from the peak in May 2022, according to the seasonally adjusted Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). Condo prices are back to where they were in May 2015, which was, of course, ten years ago. Of course, over the decade from 2012 through the peak in May 2022, condo prices doubled, so the present deflation is not that significant. Still, to potential homeowners, this is actually good news. A long-term drop in home prices may eventually undo the damage that the mindboggling ten-year price spike has done to the economy.”

CTV News in Canada. “Although it may be faring better than Toronto, the downtown Montreal condo market is facing headwinds. ‘One developer was telling me as a joke that his biggest competition in the new condo market was not other developers, but it was a condo he built five years ago,’ Francis Cortellino, an economist with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said. Recent numbers from the CMHC show just how tough the downtown condo market is. The CMHC says 25 per cent of recently built condos in downtown and Griffintown would now sell at a loss. If the owner decides to rent it out, the CMHC says the majority of landlords would not cover their expenses. ‘If you take into account monthly mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, condo fees, the rent that you’re asking on the market would not be able to cover those losses,’ Cortellino said.”

“Real estate broker Amy Assaad says there are a number of reasons for that, one of them is the ban on foreign investors. ‘The people who were buying these types of properties were investors, and we don’t have these investors anymore, and that’s what’s affecting the market,’ Assaad said. Not to mention oversupply, with a lot of units looking exactly the same. ‘You’re competing with thousands and thousands of units that are on the market at the same time,’ Assaad said. ‘A condo that was selling 10 years ago is selling for less sometimes than what the person paid for it.'”

The Tirana Times. “In recent years, Albania—particularly its capital, Tirana—has witnessed a real estate boom of unprecedented proportions. Tower cranes dominate the skyline, new developments sprout at every corner, and record-breaking building permits have become the norm. At first glance, this might seem like a sign of economic vitality. But beneath the surface lies a troubling paradox: population decline, stagnant income levels, and questionable sources of capital raise serious doubts about the sustainability and legitimacy of this explosive growth. The 2023 national census recorded Albania’s population at just over 2.4 million—a decline of 420,000 since 2011, driven largely by emigration. In Tirana, the demographic shift is even more revealing: the capital’s population grew by only 9,000 over 12 years at the county level, or 3,300 annually at the municipal level. This modest growth hardly justifies the scale of new housing projects being greenlit year after year.”

“Interest rates offer a partial explanation. Since 2021, new bank credit has expanded significantly, with loans for construction increasing by 23% in 2023 alone. Yet while credit has flowed freely, it has done so in a way that risks pricing out both low-income and middle-class families. Property values in Tirana have risen roughly tenfold compared to wage growth since 2015, according to Monitor.al. The result is an affordability crisis that no longer affects just the vulnerable, but is creeping up the socioeconomic ladder.”

“Much of this growth has been actively encouraged by government policies. Foreign real estate investors enjoy favorable tax rates, and the municipality of Tirana has rapidly increased the volume of building permits issued. In 2024 alone, the city approved more than 1.9 million square meters of new construction—the highest on record. That same year, municipal revenues from construction-related taxes reached €130 million, double the forecasted figure. These revenues are expected to remain elevated through 2027, largely on the back of inflated property valuations and a steady stream of high-rise developments, including many under public-private partnership arrangements.”

“This is not organic urban development; it is politically engineered construction. What makes this particularly concerning is the growing body of evidence that suggests a portion of investment capital originates from illicit sources—drug trafficking, money laundering, and political corruption. Albania’s real estate laws are riddled with loopholes, allowing third-party and anonymous ownership with minimal oversight. Meanwhile, regulatory and enforcement bodies are either under-resourced or ineffective. Until this is effectively curbed, any prediction about the inevitable bursting of the real estate bubble remains speculative. But the longer the correction is delayed, the more severe its impact on the Albanian economy and society will be. In sum, Albania’s real estate boom is not a reflection of national prosperity—it is a consequence of political expediency, unchecked speculation, and financial opacity.”

From Realnoe Vremya. “In Tatarstan, overstocking of the primary housing market is growing, and it is only a little bit away from the critical mark. This was stated by participants in a round table talk of the Russian Guild of Managers and Developers dedicated to real estate problems and the results of the first quarter of 2025. ‘April was the worst in the last five years in terms of registered equity participation agreements — only 1,476 transactions. Only January was worse — traditionally not very good for primary housing sales. If you look at transactions on the secondary market, there is nothing to be happy about there either,’ said managing partner of Perfect RED Yelena Stryukova outlining a bleak picture of the new and secondary housing market.”

“All this is happening against the backdrop of a decrease in the number of new projects and an increase in glut in the primary market. ‘The situation in Tatarstan is such that we are about to cross the critical line, when we will have a glut on the market and the percentage of unsold housing will be like in Bashkiria. We are currently in eighth place — our sellout rate is 0.75. When it reaches 0.65, that is a critical point, and there will be significant glut on the market,’ warned Head of the Happy Home real estate agency Anastasia Gizatova”