We Had To Price It Ahead Of The Market, Not What Things Had Previously Sold For

A report from the Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch. “By the end of May, home sales had spiked in Nottoway County. The same is true of Amelia and even a slight uptick in nearby Brunswick, according to the Virginia Realtors. It’s the opposite in Lunenburg, Charlotte and Prince Edward. Virginia Realtors’ Chief Economist Ryan Price said it’s mainly just a slow market in some places. ‘Most places have seen a decline in sales,’ Price said. ‘It’s been pretty uniform across Virginia.’ That includes rural counties. Compared to 2024, the 2025 market has shown less overall activity across much of the state, with fewer closings despite an increase in listings. What is certain is that housing inventory is up. ‘We’re seeing an increase in listings everywhere,’ Price said. ‘Rural, suburban, urban– it’s happening across the board.’ That increase in listings gives buyers more room to negotiate, and more homes to choose from. Sellers in these counties are receiving slightly less than asking price on average– indicating a softening in competitiveness.”

The News & Observer in North Carolina. “Nine months ago, Hurricane Helene swept Bob Tatum’s house down the North Toe River and smashed it underneath a bridge, and while he stood there in his tiny hometown of Minneapolis, staring at the pieces in the water, he confessed a broken heart and asked the world for a favor: ‘Don’t forget about us.’ FEMA granted $42,500 for their lost house and $9,000 for everything inside – the maximum amount allowed for rebuilding but only about a tenth of the median home price in Avery County. ‘Which was a joke,’ said Tatum, 75. ‘Which was an insult.’ NC Farm Bureau Insurance denied their claim outright, paying nothing, noting their lack of flood insurance. ‘We paid 30 years and never filed a claim,’ said Tatum. ‘We’re just dirt under their feet.’ One especially jagged pill for the Tatums came, they said, when their insurance company sent a letter denying their claim only four days after the storm and without ever visiting the property.”

A press release. “The Central Florida housing market is shifting—and buyers eyeing Volusia County may be in a better position than they’ve seen in months. According to Brenden Rendo of The Homes in Orlando Team, over 250 homes across Volusia County have experienced price reductions, signaling a softening in seller expectations and a renewed opportunity for buyers to act. ‘We’re seeing a clear pattern in Volusia—homes sitting on the market longer and sellers starting to blink,’ said Rendo. ‘That creates leverage for buyers who’ve been waiting for better deals or have been priced out of the last two years of craziness. This isn’t a fire sale, but it’s definitely a chance to buy smart.'”

Community Impact. “With 440 homes on the market by the end of April, the Sugar Land real estate market had more than 4.5 months of inventory available for the first time since May 2020, according to the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center. The Missouri City real estate market stayed stable with 405 homes on the market by the end of April, staying above 360 homes available for the eleventh consecutive month, the first time since 2019. ‘I think that while a lot of times it’s easy to look at the last five years and feel like that is the way it is, that’s normal; if you look on a historical timeline, I think what we’re actually seeing right now is a normalizing of the market,’ said Shae Cottar, chair of the Houston Association of Realtors. ‘We’re getting it back to something that’s more sustainable because those 3.5% interest rates … and those price points of $50,000 and $100,000 over asking—those things are not sustainable.'”

CBS Bay Area in California. “San Francisco Bay Area communities are beginning to see how President Trump’s recently passed ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will impact health care and food assistance programs. In Santa Clara County, 30% of the county’s budget is funded federally to cover a wide range of medical and social services. The county estimates it will lose about $1 billion right off the bat. Betty Duong is one of the newcomers on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. She never imagined that six months into the job, the county would be facing a huge shortfall that would put residents’ health care and food assistance programs at risk. ‘This is unacceptable,’ said Supervisor Duong. ‘This is not where we balance the budget. Not on the lives of the innocent. Not at the cost of generations to come because we’re going to allow 450,000 people in Santa Clara county and 14 million nationwide to be pushed off a healthcare cliff. We’re going to have to cut services in other parts of the county to make sure our emergency departments stay open, beds remain available and people who need care continue to receive care.'”

“A big challenge for Santa Clara County is how to preserve its public hospital system. It’s the second-largest in the state, and 70% of its funding comes from the federal government through Medicare and Medicaid. Duong’s rich and diverse heritage gives her a unique perspective on how the federal funding cuts will impact the immigrant community in the South Bay. She heard from community members who are scared of what’s to come. Kaitlyn Madrigal joined an organization called Latinos Contra Cancer to fight back against the cuts and to fight for her family’s health care. ‘We are of lower socioeconomic status,’ said Madrigal. ‘We are an immigrant family, and all of these cuts raise a lot of concerns for my family.'”

Just Sayin’ Caledon in Canada. “The local real estate market showed some declines in Caledon in June 2025. The median home sale price was $1,070,000 marking a significant 13.5% decrease from May’s median of $1,237,000, and a 17.4% decrease year-over-year from $1,296,000 in June of 2024. In June, 18.2% of listings sold above list price, 2.6% of listings sold at list price and 79.2% sold below list price. ‘The GTA housing market continued to show signs of recovery in June. With more listings available, buyers are taking advantage of increased choice and negotiating discounts off asking prices. Combined with lower borrowing costs compared to a year ago, homeownership is becoming a more attainable goal for many households in 2025,’ said Toronto Regional Real Estate (TRREB) President Elechia Barry-Sproule.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “2220 26 Ave., S.W., No. 3, Calgary. Asking price: $699,800 (May, 2025). Previous asking price: $724,900 (April, 2025). Selling price: $683,000 (May, 2025). This luxury townhouse on an infill site six kilometres from Calgary’s downtown core is one of eight units newly constructed by Crystal Creek Homes This centre unit was advertised for $724,900, but the asking price was quickly trimmed to $699,800 to entice local buyers more used to detached housing. ‘From a buyer’s perspective, for that number, you can live in a detached home in suburbia or buy an older infill for maybe $200,000 more and get significantly more square footage, plus a double garage,’ said agent Kamil Lalji. ‘Prices are trending downwards at the moment, so we had to price it ahead of the market, not what things had previously sold for.'”

Business Matters in the UK. “The Dorset peninsula is experiencing a marked dip in buyer interest – with properties stagnating on the market and developers pulling out, experts warn. According to new analysis and agent testimony, local demand has plummeted since April, when local authorities gained powers to double council tax on second homes. Lola May Massingham, CEO of Prime Coastal Property, said demand has fallen noticeably. ‘There’s a lot of property on the market and not enough buyers. Labour’s double rates are really not helping,’ she said. ‘Buyers are nervous. There’s no good news coming from the government, so people are holding off — or looking to places like Dubai and Portugal instead.'”

“Developer Richard Carr, who last year sold a Sandbanks plot for a record-breaking £16 million, has since closed his development business Fortitudo. ‘You just can’t sell anything without heavily discounting,’ he said. ‘Labour’s double council tax rates have evaporated the second-home market. There’s no confidence, no light at the end of the tunnel. It was bad enough under the Conservatives — now it’s ridiculous.’ Poundland-style price cuts have become common. One four-bedroom home, two minutes from the beach, was recently reduced by £100,000 — now listed at £1.75 million.”

The Hindu in India. “A man was found hanging in his house at Kurumassery in Parakkadavu panchayat in the Ernakulam rural limits in Kerala on Tuesday reportedly in the face of imminent attachment of his house by Kerala State Cooperative Bank following a loan default. The deceased was identified as Madhu Mohanan, 46, was working as a driver after returning from West Asia. He was alone in the house. P.P. Joy, a member of the Parakkadavu grama panchayat, said that Madhu had taken a housing loan for around ₹21 lakh more than a decade ago. The liability had soared to around ₹38 lakh following default. Reportedly, the bank, after giving extended periods to clear the outstanding dues, had warned of attaching his house a day prior to his death. The deceased had been trying to sell his house and property to clear the debts and had asked the bank for another 15 days after he reportedly found an interested party, Mr. Joy said.”

From Think China. “The afternoon heat surged through the overgrown weeds, as a mulberry tree grew unfettered, its branches stretching out towards an abandoned balcony on the second floor. Ma Minzhuang, 91, leaning on her umbrella for support, showed me around her vegetable garden. ‘The saplings I planted when I first arrived have grown so tall in the blink of an eye,’ she shared. This ‘blink of an eye’ actually took 27 years. After retiring from Jinan University in 1998, Ma once dreamt of spending her twilight years in this tranquil, picturesque residential area, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. She never expected that just two years later, due to a multitude of reasons such as the developer’s funding drying up and incomplete construction permits, the project would come to a complete halt. The tranche of residents who moved into the first row of houses at Australia Garden Village, alongside her, left one after another. At the most desolate time, Ma was the sole resident in an entire row of buildings.”

“Today, the mulberry sapling she planted back then has grown into a towering tree. The Australia Garden Village has become the largest unfinished project in Guangzhou, and one of the longest-standing in China’s real estate history. 77-year-old He Yongnian purchased a unit in 1998, but by the time he retired ten years later, wild grass still thrived on the promised building’s foundation. To make up for the delay, the developer offereGd him a vacant shell house of the same size at the foot of the hill. After making simple renovations to the place, he moved in with his wife in 2009. The court ruled that the project’s halt was due to ‘force majeure events,’ so the property still belonged to the homeowner. Subsequently, He stopped paying his mortgage repayments, deciding to ‘resume payments only when the house was delivered.’ Homeowners like He who lost their cases are not in the minority, although some did win. However, since the developer was already insolvent, court rulings became meaningless, and the fight for rights returned to square one.”

“Just adjacent to the estate, a luxury residential complex launched in 2015 now sells for over 20,000 RMB per square metre, with prices exceeding 30,000 RMB during market peaks a few years ago. As a real estate veteran with nearly 30 years in the industry, Huang Tao, Project General Manager, Centaline Property in Guangzhou, has a special connection to the project as he had represented it before early in his career in the 1990s. Every time he drives past the jarring plot of unfinished buildings along Guangshan Road, it always stirs something in him: ‘The estate is left to decay just like that — it’s like a scar.'”