It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to retain 'limited and tailored government support' after they are freed from U.S. control, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter to lawmakers. Mnuchin’s…
A report from the Times of London in the UK. "Almost 1,000 days after the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people, the fallout from 20 years of failed building regulations that allowed the disaster to happen is affecting every flat…
A report from the South China Morning Post. "China's residential property market has come to a standstill as sales offices are ordered to shut amid the coronavirus outbreak. Some agents are bracing for a slump in sales of as much…
Two reports from the Wall Street Journal. "A flock of vulture investors is circling China: large money managers including Blackstone Group, Lone Star Funds and Oaktree Capital as well as Bain Capital. In the past few years global investment firms…
It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "John Bryan was one of dozens of investors spending thousands of dollars to buy properties from a Florida-based company that flipped homes in Johnstown, promised to manage the properties and pay them…
It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "New York City is coping with a nationwide exodus of residents from big, expensive cities. In addition, foreign buyers have retreated from the market. 'The thing is, you don't have the Chinese…
A report from ABC News in Australia. "Doc Davey purchased his home in a booming West Australian mining town for $560,000 in 2009, but today the same home is close to worthless after ongoing vandalism by local youths. 'I've rebuilt…
A report from the Lethbridge Herald in Canada. "Lethbridge Land released its annual report earlier this week, and the picture it paints of the city’s current home-building slowdown couldn’t be more clear. 'Over the past two years the amount of…
A report from the Irish Independent. "A glut of new houses for sale has led to builders cutting back on the construction of homes. Goodbody economist Dermot O’Leary said there is now a rising inventory of unsold stock forming for…
A report from the Wall Street Journal on China. "When she was a teenager in the 1970s, Zhou Xiaoguang peddled trinkets city to city and slept on trains, a formative chapter in her creation of the world’s largest costume jeweler,…