TITLE: New Homeowners Lose $122,000 as Housing Prices Drop
https://www.newsweek.com/housing-market-drop-new-homeowners-loss-equity-freefall-1850573
EXCERPT: With recent data showing an average loss of $122,000 in home value in some areas, the American Dream is showing signs of wear.
The past year has seen the American housing market shift, and property values are now in "freefall," according to a November study issued by Point2Homes. Owners who battled historic mortgage rates to purchase their homes are now facing a market in retreat as single-family homes shed up to $223 daily in value.
In 2022, a wave of over 5 million homes were sold in the U.S., with a quarter of the purchases made by first-time buyers, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.
Some of those new entrants to homeownership now find themselves underwater as the market value of their homes recedes.
Fifteen large markets in the U.S. were most affected on a year-over-year basis, according to Point2, for both single-family homes and condos. Single-family homes in Memphis, Tennessee, saw drawdowns of 17.1 percent, while homes in Chandler, Arizona, saw a more modest loss at 0.6 percent, but still ranked in the most affected category. The ripple effect of the losses is potent enough to threaten homeowners with negative equity, the report said, a precarious financial position that turns the asset of home ownership into a liability.
It's not just those 15 markets that were hit. Looking at the top 100 markets in the U.S., Point2 analysts charted smaller year-over-year price drops that deflated values in 36 cities for condo owners and 25 for those with single-family homes. By dollar amount, the analysts said that deflation is most evident in San Francisco, where condos lost $122,500 in value over the last year, a number that echoes the city's median income of $126,187.
Markets that once seemed immune are buckling as well. New York City's boroughs, long touted for their resilience, are seeing value slip in both condos and single-family homes. In Manhattan, condo owners face the prospect of selling for nearly $70,000 less than last year's purchase price, and in the Bronx, homeowners would sell for nearly $40,000 less than last year's purchase price.
TITLE: Lifestyles of the Blessed & Famous: Preacher Homes Sold in 2023
https://julieroys.com/lifestyles-blessed-famous-preacher-homes-sold-2023/
EXCERPT: Pastors once lived in modest parsonages, which allowed them to survive on a meager salary. However, in the age of megachurches with mega-salaries, big-name pastors and ministry leaders often live in extravagant mansions and beach homes, according to new analysis by The Trinity Foundation.
Based on real estate records, the list below reveals homes of prominent pastors, televangelists, and ministry leaders that were sold in 2023.
It is the policy of The Trinity Foundation not to post current addresses of living religious leaders to avoid doxing them. However, this article links to real estate website listings for pastors’ former homes. In some cases, these pastors have lived in homes financially unobtainable by most of their church members.
For comparison, the lowest priced property on this list is $778,000, which is more expensive than most homes sold in America. According to real estate website Redfin, “The median price of a home in the United States is currently $414,633.”
Note that each of the beach houses and beach condos on this list were secondary homes for their owners.
Hillsong
Hillsong Property Holdings LLC acquired a home in Newport Beach, one of America’s most expensive cities, in 2015 for $2,180,000 and sold it in 2023 for $3,525,000. Hillsong, the evangelical-charismatic powerhouse global church which reportedly draws 150,000 people in about 100 locations worldwide, did not disclose the occupant of the home.
Redfin describes the property: “A true live/work residence. Downstairs includes a large open Commercial Office Space that has its own separate entrance and its own full bathroom. Parking for 6 cars including an attached 2-car garage.”
Theresa Cerullo – Morris Cerullo World Evangelism
Theresa Cerullo, the widow of televangelist Morris Cerullo and mother of INSP president David Cerullo, died in 2022.
The Cerullo family lived in a ministry-owned home located in the exclusive gated community Del Rayo Estates in southern California. The home can be described as a mansion, as it is 11,402 square feet.
Redfin reports the 7-bedroom home was sold for $6,273,200.
Touré and Sarah Jakes Roberts – One Church
Touré Roberts and his wife Sarah Jakes Roberts, the daughter of Pastor T. D. Jakes, lead One Church in Los Angeles. (The church previously included a campus in Denver, Colo., which closed in late 2021.)
In 2020, the Roberts purchased a 9,473 square-foot home in Calabasas, California for $4 million.
Redfin described the home with flowery praise: “Sited on nearly 10 bucolic acres, this opulent 6 bed, 7 bath main residence captivates you from the moment you step through the double entry glass doors.”
The Roberts were careful to conceal their ownership. Their names did not appear on the deed. However, a journalist writing for entertainment newspaper Variety learned of the Roberts’ home purchase and reported the news.
In 2022, the home was listed on real estate websites for sale with a price tag of $9,495,000 attracting more news coverage. After a price drop, the home was sold in August.
According to Redfin, the home was sold for $6,400,000.
Currently for Sale – Pat Robertson – Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network founder and long-time 700 Club host Pat Robertson died in June. His home in Hot Springs, Virginia, is for sale with a reported price of $4,250,000.
Redfin describes the property as being a “palatial country estate located on a magnificent 27 acre mountaintop setting at 4,100 ft. elevation, offering a peaceful, quiet setting with 360 degree long ranging views of mountains, valleys, and forest.”
David Turner – David Turner International Ministries
Faith healer David Turner sold his Bonita Springs, Florida, beach house in October. Redfin reports the sale price as $12,250,000.
Before becoming a preacher, Turner was a successful entrepreneur. His websites notes, “At the age of 19, David, driven to be a success, poured himself into a restaurant business. Over the next 30 years, he built two other companies from start-up to over 100 million in sales.”
Turner also travels the country in a Cessna 525A private jet.
TITLE: New Legislation Proposes to Take Wall Street Out of the Housing Market
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/realestate/wall-street-housing-market.html
EXCERPT: If signed into law, the legislation, called the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023, could upend a growing sector of the housing market, and potentially increase the supply of single-family homes available for individual buyers. Homeownership, long a cornerstone of generational wealth in the United States, is increasingly out of reach for Americans as home prices and interest rates soar.
“You have created a situation where ordinary Americans aren’t bidding against other families, they’re bidding against the billionaires of America for these houses,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who introduced the bill with Representative Adam Smith of Washington. “And it’s driving up rents and it’s driving up the home prices.”
In separate legislation, Representatives Jeff Jackson and Alma Adams of North Carolina, both Democrats, introduced the American Neighborhoods Protection Act on Wednesday. That bill would require corporate owners of more than 75 single-family homes to pay an annual fee of $10,000 per home into a housing trust fund to be used as down payment assistance for families.
With a divided Congress, the bills are unlikely to pass into law this session. But Mr. Smith said legislators needed to start a conversation.
The bills were introduced three months after The New York Times published a story examining the impact of corporate-backed investment on Charlotte, N.C., where, in 2022, investors purchased 17 percent of the city’s homes in cash, often outcompeting first-time buyers who rely heavily on mortgages.
In a pattern repeated in cities around the country, corporations focused on modestly priced houses, frequently in neighborhoods with large Black and Latino populations, and converted the properties to rentals. In one neighborhood in east Charlotte, Wall Street-backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022. On one block, all but one home that sold during that period sold in cash to an investor who rented it out.
Wall Street entered the single-family rental market in the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis, plucking up homes in foreclosure. Its influence has been growing ever since. By June 2022, institutional investors owned 3 percent of all single-family rentals nationwide, but in more affordable markets they owned a considerable market share; in Charlotte, they owned 20 percent, according to the Urban Institute. Even as the housing market slows, investors have remained active, buying 26 percent of the single-family homes that sold in June 2023, according to CoreLogic, a data analytics company.