September 13, 2018

Sellers Are Slashing Prices After Growing Anxious

A report from Bloomberg on China. “Chinese property developers are offering free luxury cars and hefty discounts to lure buyers as lending curbs and funding constraints squeeze their finances. China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings Co is giving away a BMW Series 3 or X1 to buyers of a three-bedroom unit or townhouse at its Shanghai development. The car, or cash equivalent, equates to about a 10 percent discount on the 3.1 million yuan ($450,000) price of the 89-square-meter apartment.”

“At China Evergrande Group’s 646 nationwide projects, a basic 11 per cent price cut widens to as much as 26 per cent once extra perks, such as discounts to buyers referred by Evergrande employees or previous buyers, are thrown in. A further incentive: An initial down-payment of just 5 per cent is required, compared with the usual 30 per cent deposit required by local governments.”

“The giveaways and discounts suggest debt-laden developers are pulling out all stops to raise revenue, with the sector facing a record $23 billion maturity wall in the first quarter of 2019. At the same time, China’s determination to keep a lid on home prices has made it harder for developers to generate swift cash from sales.”

“‘Financing is becoming hard for everyone, even including the giant players,’ said Sabrina Wei, head of northern China research at Cushman & Wakefield Inc in Beijing. ‘They need discounts to boost sales and collect cash.’”

“Developers in neighboring Hong Kong are also offering perks such as free holiday and travel packages and easy credit to lure buyers in a sign one of the world’s hottest property markets may finally be cooling. At China Merchants Shekou’s ‘Harmonious’ development, prospective buyers have signed up for just 25 of the 350 apartments, local land registry filings show. Only eight buyers signed up for Gezhouba Real Estate’s 223-unit ‘Magnolia Garden’ project in Shanghai’s west. In the city’s north, Sanxiang Impression Co’s 161-unit complex enticed just five people.”

“‘Property projects are no longer an easy sale,’ Cushman’s Wei said. ‘We may soon see this prolonged upbeat property season behind us.’”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “Home sellers in some popular pockets of Sydney are slashing their asking prices by more than $150,000 after growing anxious with the long wait to find buyers. New sales figures reveal properties in parts of the Hills District, St George and Canterbury are taking an average of more than four months to sell, with some listed for even longer without finding a buyer. Purchasers are capitalising by negotiating up to 12 per cent off the listed price, in some cases saving more than $150,000, the CoreLogic data shows.”

“Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said buyers were often getting big discounts because they faced little competition. And buyers are cashing in on homes initially listed with ‘unrealistic’ price expectations, Ms Conisbee added. ‘These sellers have to make big drops to their prices to attract buyers because their homes have been listed for so long without selling,’ she said.”

“Among the biggest discounts was on the sale of a four-bedroom Kenthurst house at 241 Pitt Town Rd, which sold for about $300,000 below the listed price after seven months on the market. A few blocks down the road, number 192 recently sold eight months after first being listed. The $1.75 million sales price was well below the initial price guide of $1.93 million to $2.05 million.”

“The typical price in these suburbs was 10-12 per cent below the listed price, but in some cases was even lower. This included on the sale of a five-bedroom house on Adam St in Campsie, which sold for $330,000 below the listed price, and a four-bedroom townhouse on Isabel St in Belmore for $364,000 below the listed price.”

From Domain News. in Australia. “Properties in the affordability heartland of Sydney are languishing on the market, with the time it takes to sell climbing to its highest level in years. Vendors in the west and north-west have taken the biggest hit with houses taking 23 days longer to sell than they did over the same period last year.”

“Among them is Ropes Crossing homeowner Matt Crabbe, whose four-bedroom duplex has been for sale since July. Had he sold this time last year, his sales campaign would likely be over. Instead, his family’s modern duplex has been on the market for 54 days … and counting, and the price guide has been reduced to $620,000 to $640,000 — sitting just above the $618,000 records show it sold for in 2016.”

“‘We knew that we’d probably cop a little bit of a hit [with prices pulling back],’ he said. ‘If [66 days] is what it takes, that’s what it takes,’ Mr Crabbe said. ‘We’re lucky as we’re not desperate and we don’t have a deadline [to sell], so for us it doesn’t matter if it takes 100 days.’”

“‘You’ve got to be realistic … or the property will stay on the market too long and go stale so it just depends on your priorities,’ Mr Crabbe said. ‘[But] we’re also very mindful that we’re not prepared to lose on it, so it’s a bit of a balancing act.’”




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34 Comments »

Comment by Ben Jones
2018-09-13 16:53:55

‘Financing is becoming hard for everyone, even including the giant players’…Developers in neighboring Hong Kong are also offering perks such as free holiday and travel packages and easy credit to lure buyers in a sign one of the world’s hottest property markets may finally be cooling’

Oh dear…

 
Comment by Mortgage Watch
2018-09-13 16:55:19

Arlington, VA Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY As Housing Inventory Surges On Plunging Demand

https://www.movoto.com/arlington-va/market-trends/

Comment by Dave
2018-09-13 18:42:34

Detroit, MI Housing Prices SURGE 48% YOY As The Fed’s QE Program Refuses to Unwind Despite Bearish Prophecies From THBB!!!

https://www.movoto.com/detroit-mi/market-trends/

Comment by Ben Jones
2018-09-13 19:06:03

‘Bearish Prophecies From THBB!!!’

Got a link for that?

 
Comment by Next Shoe to Drop
2018-09-13 19:43:50

Detroit, MI Housing Prices SURGE 48% YOY As The Fed’s QE Program Refuses to Unwind Despite Bearish Prophecies From THBB!!!

So from $100 to $148.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2018-09-13 19:44:42

We’ll let you know when interest rates have normalized. We aren’t there yet.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2018-09-14 07:05:56

Did a Starbucks open in the hood?

 
 
 
Comment by Apartment 401
2018-09-13 17:12:59

It’s daytime in East Asia and Australia.

For any used house buyers there reading this, Realtors are liars.

Comment by Apartment 401
2018-09-14 05:59:11

The Dead Milkmen — Two Feet Off The Ground:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9la5cp5fk

 
 
Comment by qt
2018-09-13 17:36:52

“‘You’ve got to be realistic … or the property will stay on the market too long and go stale so it just depends on your priorities,’ Mr Crabbe said. ‘[But] we’re also very mindful that we’re not prepared to lose on it, so it’s a bit of a balancing act.’”

Mr. Crabbe, Welcome to US 2006! Don’t give away your house HAHAHA. That will happen in 2024 LOL

Comment by Boo Randy
2018-09-13 18:05:10

Hey Mr. Greedhead, you don’t set the price - the market does. And there’s no “balancing act”: you can either chase the market down in a bursting bubble, or watch your losses mount. Buyers have all the time in the world - you don’t.

 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2018-09-13 17:38:09

These guys are so cute, like they’re the ones in charge of the unemployment rate.

Fed fears it may have been too successful at whipping US unemployment
Reuters via CNBC
2018-09-13

U.S. Federal Reserve officials tout a decade of falling unemployment as among their major victories in fighting the economic crisis of 2007 to 2009.

Now they are beginning to worry they have been too successful. When unemployment falls as low as it is currently, Boston Federal Reserve bank President Eric Rosengren said in a new paper released Thursday as part of a review of Fed policy, recession has inevitably followed, with the central bank showing no success in fine-tuning the economy to a stable rest at full employment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/fed-fears-it-may-have-been-too-successful-at-whipping-us-unemployment.html

Comment by Boo Randy
2018-09-13 17:58:48

So now the working poor and the increasingly pauperized middle class have to work three jobs to keep a roof over heads thanks to unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, and the loss of their purchasing power due to the Fed’s debasement of the currency. Heckova job, Ben & Janet.

Comment by Professor Bear
2018-09-13 19:45:57

“…have to work three jobs to keep a roof over heads thanks to unaffordable housing…”

At least employment is high!

Comment by BlueSkye
2018-09-14 07:22:40

Employment is not high relative to working age population, it is abysmally low. Their success is only in driving millions out of the workforce.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Next Shoe to Drop
2018-09-13 19:47:54

U.S. Federal Reserve officials tout a decade of falling unemployment as among their major victories in fighting the economic crisis of 2007 to 2009.

Using which massaged and tweaked goobermint stats that don’t account for anything close to reality?

 
 
Comment by Mortgage Watch
2018-09-13 17:41:47

“94,785,000 Not in Labor Force; At 62.9%, Labor Force Participation Stuck Near 38-Year Low”

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/no-records-set-august-number-employed-americans-drops-participation-rate

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2018-09-13 18:02:40

I watch this guys Australian channel. There’s an FB at the very end, around 14:48.

Why Is This Bank Shifting Staff To Mortgage Distress Area???

Economy Times
Published on Sep 12, 2018
Granted, this is anecdotal however coupled with what ANZ boss is saying, this may well be true for all the big banks in Australia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyube0qsBYQ

The big banks are raising rates when the central bank isn’t. DONG!

Comment by Apartment 401
2018-09-14 05:33:53

Watching it now, this is disturbing.

The Realtor lies in Australia were terrible.

 
 
Comment by Mortgage Watch
2018-09-13 18:56:43

Arcadia, CA Housing Prices Crater 10% YOY As California Housing Industry Pays Media For Favorable News Releases

https://www.zillow.com/arcadia-ca/home-values/

*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

 
Comment by Mr. Banker
2018-09-13 19:49:01

“Global Shipping Rates Collapse As Trade War Spreads”

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-13/global-shipping-rates-collapse-trade-war-fears-erupt

Dry Ships! HELOC everything you own and BUY THE DIP!

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=DRYS&ty=c&ta=0&p=m

 
Comment by CryptoNick
2018-09-13 19:49:28

If someone reading this is the Bitcoin Whale, then fess up!

Cryptocurrencies
Mystery of the $2 Billion Bitcoin Whale That Fueled a Selloff
By Justina Lee
September 13, 2018, 7:20 AM PDT
Updated on September 13, 2018, 6:48 PM PDT
50,500 Bitcoins from early wallet moved in August: Chainalysis
Fears of a large cash-out contributed to latest retreat
Cryptocurrencies Lose $640 Billion in 2018…So Far

When Bitcoin plunged as much as 15 percent over two days last week, a theory emerged — where else? — on the Internet: a whale was on the move.

Speculation mounted that a major holder of cryptocurrency with an electronic wallet that dated back to 2011 — long before anyone had heard of HODL — was moving to sell. His or her wallet had once had as many as 111,114 Bitcoins, which at their peak would have been worth about $2 billion. The rumors that began two weeks ago were that this whale — as big holders are known — was looking to cash out after this year’s plunge in prices.

Debates flared up on Reddit. Galaxy-like graphs were disseminated. And Bitcoin origin stories from Dread Pirate Roberts to Mt. Gox re-emerged.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-13/mystery-of-the-2-billion-bitcoin-whale-that-fueled-a-selloff

Comment by Ghost of Satoshi
2018-09-13 23:48:40

A lot of that BTC was sent to Binance, which has no fiat gateway, and you can only trade BTC for other currencies.

It is interesting that this wallet was dormant for that many years, and all of a sudden there is activity.

 
 
Comment by aNYCdj
2018-09-13 22:52:17

The Vintage car of a lifetime
1929 diesel ESSEX hot rod

https://www.facebook.com/groups/847221632011932/permalink/1919719851428766/

 
Comment by Neuromance
2018-09-14 04:43:20

1) I gotta wonder what the net effect is of a policy of printing money and giving it to failed business cronies. That’s essentially what QE is.

2) The other factor is, how much of that printed cash finds its way back to politicians and helps cement their power.

Worthwhile to ponder the above two points.

The Fed is a tool of the politicians. It has more power than any one politician, save perhaps, the president. But it has less power than Congress.

Comment by aNYCdj
2018-09-14 07:06:41

Why didn’t they bail out CIT which provided loans to small businesses, advances on Accounts receivables and letters of credit to shipping companies? Instead they bailed out AIG which made all those CDO’s and nuclear waste housing loans

 
 
Comment by Apartment 401
2018-09-14 05:38:45

Good Morning, Realtor.

The Velvet Underground — I’m Beginning To See The Light:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wZXc3I5Lc

 
Comment by Boo Randy
2018-09-14 06:08:54

It’s heartbreaking when mortgage brokers who had planned on a long career of mortgage fraud and putting people into houses they couldn’t afford lose everything and have to move to Peru to live on disability.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/mortgage-broker-laid-off-in-2008-financial-crisis-became-homeless.html

Comment by BubblevilleCA
2018-09-14 06:44:32

Very sad for poor mr clune. Prominent RE broker gone used car sales, gone door to door appliance sales, then slanging battery chargers to the homeless. Bet he is glad he got that edumacation he is still paying back on. With all this great work experience I am sure he can hussle up a job in Peru as a vulture to the tourists selling fruit or perhaps some timeshares.

 
Comment by rms
2018-09-14 07:53:47

Gotta laugh at that photo of the alley in Peru, a high wrought iron fence with spiked top to prevent thieves from scaling it, and behind that bars covering the widows and doors too. Where are the pit bulls?

 
Comment by Avg Joe
2018-09-15 09:15:34

“The mortgage industry, which employed roughly 535,000 in 2005 and saw headcount plummet to around 246,000 by late 2010. As of June 30, 2018, it was just over 707,000″

Click!

 
 
Comment by Boo Randy
2018-09-14 06:22:58

A plot of land in Hong Kong is set to go for as much as $13,378 per sq ft. That’s a lot of Yellen Bux perishing in a single transaction.

https://www.scmp.com/property/article/2164283/government-land-parcel-peak-could-be-about-set-new-price-benchmark-city

A multi-week tender process that kicked off Friday for an exclusive government land plot on The Peak is expected to generate an important price signal for the real estate market in the final quarters of the year, and may even result in a new record in the city, according to experts.

The site, located on Mansfield Road on The Peak, with a gross floor area of 404,300 square feet, is expected to go for as much as HK$105,000 (US$13,378.2) per square foot.

That translates to a total price of more than HK$40 billion, making it the most valuable plot on record in Hong Kong.

 
Comment by azdude
2018-09-14 06:26:19

The media keeps cheer leading and saying the economy is booming.

Shack prices going down?

Home and auto stocks going down?

Is this all a bunch of bs like last time?

Comment by BubblevilleCA
2018-09-14 06:38:34

“It’s not a lie if you believe it’s true” realtor 101

https://wrex.com/category/2018/09/14/rockford-area-realtors-say-its-a-sellers-market/

 
 
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