For A Long Time, The Market Was So Hot And Easy To Sell With A Significant Amount Of Profit That People Thought That Train Was Going To Continue To Roll Along

A report from the Baltimore Sun. “Baltimore City resident Jeanne Hyatt was surprised to see a sudden 30% surge in her condominium fees after three decades of only gradual increases. ‘Who can afford this?’ asked Hyatt, a retired school teacher, speaking this week at a Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing in Annapolis about a bill proposed to address the fees. The skyrocketing fees stem from a Maryland law passed in 2022 in the wake of a devastating condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, that killed 98 people. ‘It’s a little frustrating to have these large financial burdens suddenly in the past two years … and you hear experts, who do not live in the condos and don’t live this law, saying how we should have these burdens put on us for our protection,’ Hyatt said.”

From WFLA. “Redfin announced that Florida ended January with a record number of homes for sale. At the end of January, there were 172,209 homes for sale, which was the highest inventory of any month on record, Redfin’s report showed. ‘With so many options for buyers to choose from, a lot of homes for sale are sitting on the market for months at a time, causing stale inventory to pile up. Listings are also piling up because homebuyer demand has been cooling; pending home sales in Florida fell 9.3% year over year in January,’ Redfin said in a news release. Redfin reported that active listings are at a record high in eight of the state’s 31 metropolitan areas: Cape Coral, Deltona-Daytona Beach, Homosassa Springs, Lakeland, North Port-Sarasota, Ocala, Port St. Lucie and the Villages.”

“Florida Redfin agents said the state is in a buyer’s market, meaning ‘sellers may need to offer concessions to woo bidders, and should also make sure their homes are in tip-top shape. The report said home prices are even falling in some Florida markets.’ ‘Bidding wars are very rare these days,” said Bryan Carnaggio, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Jacksonville. ‘With this many houses for sale, a home basically needs to look like it’s out of a magazine—and be priced fairly—to get multiple offers.'”

The Palm Beach Post in Florida. “More Palm Beach County homes sold in January than the previous year and at higher prices, but some Realtors said the increases reflect a post-election ‘Trump bump’ and a more challenging market may lie ahead. ‘There’s really nothing in the area where we focus in the lower price ranges,’ said Compass Realtor Keisha Moore, whose listings are mostly south of downtown West Palm Beach east of Dixie Highway. ‘Millionaires and billionaires are still buying and when I see people putting their money here, I feel like you cannot go wrong.’ There was a 5.5 months supply of homes for sale in January, an increase of 31% compared to the previous year.”

“The pent-up demand led to more homes going under contract in the weeks following the election, but interest may be waning, said Echo Fine Properties owner Jeff Lichtenstein. ‘Every deal is a grind,’ Lichtenstein said. ‘You are just working to try and keep deals together.’ Lichtenstein said he’s had agents whose buyers disappeared after making an offer or bowed out after seeing the homeowner association fees. Homes he calls ‘problem childs’ will have to lower their prices to sell, but even those that have been remodeled need to make adjustments, such as trimming hedges to get a water view. Palm Beach County’s condominium and townhome market clearly gives buyers an upper hand with nearly 10 months supply of inventory available in January, which is a 67% increase from the same time in 2024.”

The Montana Free Press. “The Missoula area’s housing market appears to be stabilizing after years of declining sales and rising prices. The Missoula area has an oversupply of homes listed for $1 million or more and an undersupply of homes priced from $300,000 to $750,000, said Brint Wahlberg, a Realtor with Windermere Real Estate. Housing priced below $300,000 has ‘virtually vanished’ from the market, with 34 sales recorded last year, he said.”

Mansion Global. “Once asking $60 million, a Palace of Versailles-like Colorado castle has just gotten a $10 million price cut. Developer Chuck Bluth, who bought the palace in the town of Evergreen in 2021, put it on the market late last year, Mansion Global reported at the time. He’d purchased it from the original builders in a partially completed state, and spent the last three years bringing his vision to fruition. It’s now asking $49.988 million. Bluth’s work, which cost $5 million, involved transforming the lower level of the four-story castle into an entertainment suite and updating the stonework. ‘The launch price was based on replacement cost,’ said listing agent Jean Merkelbach of Engel & Völkers via email. ‘The current price reflects the owner’s realistic expectation.'”

CultureMap Austin. “A new statewide real estate report has shown a slow decline in new home sales across Texas, including in the Austin metro area. The latest New Home Sales Index by HomesUSA.com discovered that Austin saw the fewest new homes sold in January out of the four biggest metros in Texas. Housing prices were was also lower in January, with the average new home in Austin dropping to $483,056. That’s nearly $12,000 less than the average prices in December, which came out to $494,714.”

“While these declines may seem atypical, a sales slump is actually normal during the winter season, according to HomesUSA founder and CEO Ben Caballero. ‘January sales are often lower than December in Austin as builders push hard to close the year with as many sales as possible, as I mentioned in last month’s report,’ Caballero said. ‘Austin builders were offering discounts, buyer incentives, and Realtor bonuses for December closings.’ Active new home listings in Austin flattened from December to January, with 5,640 active listings on the market last month. The report found new home sales dropped not only in Austin, but also in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. January housing prices fell in Houston to an average $395,515, and San Antonio’s average new home price fell to $337,414.”

Mountain Democrat. “California home sales retreated in January as the effects of elevated interest rates depressed housing demand to the lowest level in more than a year, the California Association of Realtors recently reported. Eighteen counties recorded a drop in their median prices from a year ago, with Mono falling the most at 62.8%, followed by Marin (-12.6%) and Siskiyou (-7.9%).”

Silicon Valley in California. “With the Alameda County racetrack and stables set to close next month, there is a growing concern about an estimated 5,000 residents and workers, many of them low-income and minority, who could be forced to move. Emmanuel Trujillo, who said his father is a horse trainer at the grounds, said his work has been cut in half, throwing him into a frenzy as he tries to make ends meet. He asked officials to ‘give us a little more time.’ ‘Now everyday I’ve got to worry about if I’m going to make my house payment or not,’ he said. ‘I’m just so fed up … My dad’s probably going to go to Seattle, Washington. I can’t go there because I’ve got to get another job to pay off my loan. My kids are in school.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Mohammad Khan’s two preconstruction homes have been up for sale on the private market for six months. The properties, both nearing completion, are detached houses in a new development in Oakville. According to confidential listings viewed by The Globe and Mail, one house is listed for 12 per cent below the $2.56-million price Mr. Khan agreed to pay the developer in 2022 – a discount of just over $300,000. The second one is listed 6.5 per cent above his $2.5-million purchase price. About a month ago, Mr. Khan received a verbal offer for one of the properties that was $650,000 below the original value, according to his realtor, which he didn’t accept. Since then, no one has shown any interest in buying the rights to his sales contract.”

“Mr. Khan will soon have to secure mortgages and take possession of the properties. He worries he can no longer afford to close on the deals – which would put him at risk of losing his $700,000 in deposits. ‘My concern is, you know, what about my hard-earned money that I have put down for two homes?’ Mr. Khan said. ‘I’m really worried now about what’s going to happen.’ Many preconstruction buyers across Ontario are in a similar predicament, especially those who bought between 2020 and 2022 when the real estate market was booming and preconstruction homes were selling at much higher prices.”

“‘Alarm bells are ringing,’ said Jeff Carr, a realtor with Re/Max Plus City Team Inc., who said his brokerage has received calls from hundreds of preconstruction buyers inquiring about getting out of their purchase agreements. ‘A lot of people went into it blindly. There were a lot of agents out there that didn’t properly explain to purchasers what they were actually getting themselves into.’ He added: ‘I think for a long time, the market was so hot, and it honestly was quick and easy to sell assignments with a significant amount of profit that people just thought that train was going to continue to roll along.'”

“Appraisers say the preconstruction prices of the pandemic years are typically 10 per cent to 30 per cent higher than today’s value. ‘Why would a buyer come onto the assignment market if they can get the same on the resale market?’ said Labeed Butter, a realtor who specializes in assignment sales under his company Assignment Pros. ‘Even though they are willing to lose their entries deposit, their properties are not selling because they are above market value,’ he said. Mr. Khan’s properties are privately listed with Ari Zadegan, who has worked on assignment sales for about 17 year. After six months and no real offers, Ms. Zadegan is hoping for some kind of compassionate resolution with the developer. ‘We recognize that everyone is going through this pain. The builders did not expect this. The buyers did not expect this,’ she said. ‘You’ve got to understand we are in unprecedented times.'”

This Is Money. “The typical home in Britain was worth £268,000 as of December 2024. But the official ONS house price rise may not be the case where you live, as local property markets can perform very differently. Areas in London, the South East and South West are among the 10 worst performing markets with prices falling by close to 10 per cent in some cases. Unsurprisingly, local authorities in London and the south of England, where prices are most expensive, are among the worst 10 performing locations. Kensington and Chelsea saw average prices fall by 9.3 per cent last year, according to the ONS data.”

“Given that the average property is now worth £1,339,540, this represents a fall of £136,570 over a 12 month period. It’s a similar story in the City of Westminster. Prices there fell by just over £100,000 last year. The average property is now selling for £1,048,330, according to the ONS data. Away from London, Dover was the worst performing local authority last year. The average property there fell by 7 per cent on average, finishing the year at £282,410. Stuart Bailey, head of London super prime sales at Knight Frank says that some wealthy central London property owners are choosing to sell in order to put their money to better use in other asset classes that will give them a greater return. ‘Some people are prepared to take a 10 per cent loss in order to go elsewhere for a better investment,’ says Bailey. ‘For those who bought London property as long-term investments, if they are no longer seeing the capital growth or the yields they want, then they’ll trade out of it.'”

The Indian Express. “Our life savings were invested in these flats, but we’re still without a home — the lament echoed at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this week as hundreds of homebuyers of Greenopolis in Gurgaon’s Sector 89 gathered to protest. ‘I invested my entire life savings in buying this flat in the hope that I will spend my retired life peacefully. But I’ve just been running around for the last 10 years without any resolution,’ said Vipin Khanna (59), a homebuyer. Khanna’s predicament is akin to over 1,600 homebuyers who had booked their flats in Gurgaon’s Greenopolis in 2012 but are yet to receive possession after waiting for almost 13 years. What makes their situation even more precarious is the fact that one developer, who was in a joint development agreement, has declared insolvency.”

“‘I dedicated my hard-earned savings to this project. Twelve years have passed, and I still find myself without a home. With mounting medical expenses, it has become increasingly challenging for me to manage the financial burden… the prospect of obtaining the flat seems increasingly bleak,’ said 81-year-old Harvinder Singh Anand. At the protest site, residents dressed in white T-shirts shouted slogans of ‘Nyay do, Nyay do’. Some carried placards, one of which read: ‘Greenopolis housing scam – 13 years of waiting and still no homes.’”