Monday October 10 20916 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Vancouver Home Sales Fall 33% in September From Year Earlier - (www.bloomberg.com) Vancouver home sales fell 33 percent in September from a year earlier, and 9.5 percent from the prior month, according to a statement from city’s realtors. Sales were 2,253 in September, down from 3,345 a year earlier and 2,489 in August, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Tuesday. Home sales in the region dipped below the 10-year monthly average for September for the first time since May 2014. The average price of a detached property in Vancouver jumped 34 percent in September from a year earlier to C$1.58 million ($1.2 million).

Subprime Auto-Loan Backed Securities Turn Toxic - (www.wolfstreet.com) Delinquencies of 60 days and higher among subprime auto ABS increased by 22% year-over-year in August, Fitch Ratings reported on Friday – now amounting to 4.9% of the outstanding balances that Fitch tracks and rates. And subprime annualized losses increased by 27% year-over-year, reaching 8.9% of the outstanding balances of auto ABS. Even delinquencies among prime borrowers are rising, with delinquencies of 60 days or more increasing by 17% from a year ago, and annualized losses by 11%, though they’re still relatively tame at 0.4% and 0.6% respectively of the balances outstanding.

NYC Real Estate Bubble Bursts As Apartment Sales Crash 20% - (www.zerohedge.com) New York City apartment owners should take note of the latest 3Q16 "Elliman Report" on Manhattan real estate sales because the market looks to be in free fall.  In fact, the number of apartment closings plunged 18.6% YoY while apartments sat on the market an average of 8.2% longer.  Inventory also spiked with re-sale inventory up 8.2% YoY and new development inventory up a massive 27.2%.  "The number of re-sales has fallen year over year in each of the last four quarters at an increasing rate.  Listing inventory reflected significant differences in the rate of growth between re-sale and new development.  Re-sale inventory expanded 8.2% to 5,290 while new development inventory surged 27.2% to 973 respectively from the same period a year ago."

Maryland's ACA health co-op will switch to for-profit to save itself - (www.washingtonpost.com)  Evergreen Health, Maryland’s version of the innovative nonprofit insurers created under the Affordable Care Act, decided Monday to become a for-profit company to avoid the possibility of a shutdown, according to its chief executive. If the switch is approved as expected by federal and state officials, Evergreen’s unprecedented move will leave standing only five of the 23 co-ops, or Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, which started nearly three years ago. The other 17 co-ops have either collapsed or been ordered to close by state regulators because of their financial fragility, leaving hundreds of thousands of people to scramble for new coverage. Five plans have folded this year or will wind down in December. A co-op in Minnesota announced late last week that it was getting an infusion of money from investors and will remain open as a nonprofit.

Owners at “Leaning Tower of San Francisco” Knock Condo Values to Zero - (www.wolfstreet.com) Now aggrieved condo owners found a way of biting back: 163 – “including tech executives, sports figures, and real estate investors” – have filed property assessment appeals by the September 15 deadline to get the assessed values of their units knocked down, according to the San Francisco Examiner, which obtained the records through the Freedom of Information Act. As part of their appeals, owners must include an estimate of what their unit is currently worth. Before revelations this summer that the tower was sinking and leaning, condos had been valued from $563,084 to $12.6 million, with 141 units valued at over one million, according to the SF Examiner; but now the dynamics have changed: “Some stated figures as low as $0, $1 or $2. Others knocked off a million dollars or reduced the value by half.”

OTHER STORIES:

Wall Street dips in slow start to fourth quarter - (www.reuters.com)
Japan Coalition Leader Says BOJ’s Negative Rates Stir Confusion - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed’s Mester Says Case for November Hike Will Likely Be Strong - (www.bloomberg.com)

This high-yielding sector is a safe haven no more: Traders - (www.cnbc.com)
U.S. suspends Syria ceasefire talks with Russia, blames Moscow - (www.reuters.com)