Wall Street financiers are pressing elite schools to condemn criticism of Israel. Amid pressure, the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday issued a statement referring to Hamas’s attack as terrorism.

Country Garden, once China’s largest homebuilder, is buckling under the pressure of the escalating Chinese real estate crisis, signaling its inability to repay a loan and expecting to default on a debt load of around $187 billion.

This announcement, which came via the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, marks one of the most significant casualties in the country’s deepening property market turmoil, following in the footsteps of Evergrande’s bankruptcy, the New York Times reported.

Over the past few months, Country Garden has been struggling to avert a complete collapse, resorting to asset sales and negotiations with creditors to restructure debts or delay payments. However, the relentless decline in apartment sales has limited the firm’s cash flow to less than it needs to meet debt obligations.

For the sixth consecutive month, presales of unfinished apartments — a crucial gauge of future revenue — plummeted to 6.17 billion yuan ($862 million) in September, an 81 percent drop from the previous year. Over the first nine months of 2023, presales were down by 44 percent.

The firm cited unfavorable market conditions as a hindrance to securing sufficient cash in the short-term to enhance its liquidity. It admitted that there had been no significant industry-wide improvement in property sales, and unloading assets to boost liquidity remained fraught with “significant uncertainty.”

Country Garden’s heavy exposure to China’s less-developed third- and fourth-tier cities has intensified its financial woes, as these areas have experienced more pronounced real estate slowdowns than major cities.

Despite being considered a fiscally responsible Chinese real estate firm over the past two years, Country Garden’s financial pressure escalated as the economy struggled to recover following the easing of Covid restrictions, and the property market continued to languish.

The firm had previously managed to make a vital interest payment to avoid default. Still, it acknowledged the need to repay nearly $15 billion in debt over the next year, including bonds, notes and bank loans.

With a scarcity of funding options and a sharp decline in sales, analysts don’t expect the firm’s liquidity to improve much in the near term. Country Garden anticipates missing overseas debt payments, even after local creditors agreed to delay the maturity of nine corporate bonds worth approximately $2 billion.

The firm’s top operational priority now is ensuring the delivery of unfinished apartments, a plan emphasized by the Chinese government. As of the end of September, Country Garden reported the completion of 420,000 units in 2023. To navigate its financial troubles, the company has enlisted the services of China International Capital and Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank specialized in debt restructuring.

— Sam Lounsberry

Read more

The post Country Garden’s growing debt woes intensify Chinese real estate crisis appeared first on The Real Deal.

The United States federal government has an enormous glut of unused office space on its hands.

The Government Accountability Office found that 17 of the 24 federal agencies it sampled were using an estimated 25 percent of their headquarters, Facilities Dive reported.

In one case, the GAO found that only 67 percent of one agency’s office space would be used, even if all of its employees came into the office.

That’s “not a sustainable or fiscally responsible way to manage our federal real estate,” Sen. Tom Carper said during a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on the matter last month.

The General Services Administration manages more than 360 million square feet of office space across 8,000 buildings.

“Each year, it costs billions of taxpayer dollars to operate and maintain these federal buildings, regardless of their utilization. This is simply unacceptable,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said during the hearing.

Along with being a waste of money, it’s also a waste of energy, she said.

“Committees have done a lot of legislative work to support policies that will reduce emissions. I would be interested to know the emissions associated with heating and cooling these buildings that are unoccupied,” she said.

The bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provided funding that is supposed to be used to make government buildings more energy efficient and resilient to climate change. 

At least some of the government’s office buildings are completely empty, Public Buildings Service Commissioner Nina Albert testified.

“We hardly have any buildings unoccupied. We have buildings that are underutilized, but buildings that are unoccupied usually move to the disposition list,” she said.

Federal agencies need to identify their current and future office needs so the government can determine where to invest and where to divest from its real estate, Capito said.

The agencies need to be given “benchmarks” to determine their office space needs, David Marroni, acting director of physical infrastructure at the GAO told the senators.

More than half of the leases that the GSA manages are set to expire by 2027, providing an opportunity to offload some unneeded space.

Read more

The post The U.S. government has too much office space appeared first on The Real Deal.

One of the most popular real estate social media accounts belongs to Zillow Gone Wild. The social phenomenon boasts more than 2 million followers on its platforms.

Zillow Gone Wild has gained enough popularity to make the leap from the internet to television. HGTV has commissioned a nine-episode series featuring zany listings, capped by a one-hour finale.

Its social media success isn’t necessarily a surprise. People found themselves increasingly obsessed with scouring properties on Zillow during the pandemic, dreaming of living out lockdown anywhere but where they were. Zillow Gone Wild, which launched in 2021, felt like a natural extension of that desire, taking it to its logical extreme.

There’s always going to be an appetite for consumers to gawk at wacky home listings, even if they have no desire to actually buy said homes. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of bizarre homes on the market at any given time.

With that in mind, here are some of the most interesting listings that recently caught our eye.

461 Silvernails Road | Pine Plains, NY | $25 million

This Hudson Valley estate has been on the market for months, but recently received the Zillow Gone Wild treatment. The heiress of late hotelier Sol Kerzner put the 130-acre Columbia County estate on the market in the spring, hoping to get a county record $25 million in a deal. Among the 7,500-square-foot home’s features are 26-foot high ceilings in the living room, perhaps leaving residents feeling like they’re watching the NFL or “Real Housewives” in a palace. Compass’ Leonard Steinberg shares the listing with Byron Anderson.

22072 Pine Lake Road | Battle Creek, MI | $5.8 million

On the surface, nothing seems particularly odd about this home in Battle Creek, completed only five years ago. It’s certainly luxurious: a 13,500-square-foot mansion overlooking a lake, a greenhouse and three other homes on the property, which spans an unfathomable 319 acres. A stroll around the grounds, however, unveils something even more extravagant: a 5,000-square-foot bunker. The hidden structure includes living space for up to 20 people, two kitchens, a grow room and a shooting range, according to the Detroit News. If the zombie apocalypse arrives, there will be at least one prepared homeowner in Michigan. Five Star Real Estate’s Mary Noneman is marketing the property.

765 Price Canyon Road | Pismo Beach, CA | $3.4 million

Welcome buyers to the old saloon. This canyon retreat in Pismo Beach spans nearly seven acres, dominated by its 5,000-square-foot main residence. The home is less than a mile from the beach and there are five dwelling units on the property, which has many different features to enhance its private nature, including a yoga platform. It’s a home that wouldn’t be possible to construct under contemporary zoning laws. Century 21 Hometown Realty’s Blake Chaffee has the listing.

4101 Humphrey Street | St. Louis, MO | $2.5 million

Was this what Hozier was referencing in his hit song, “Take Me to Church?” The St. Louis religious building is nearing one year on the market, but still lacks a buyer, even after it gained notoriety from Zillow Gone Wild. It was built in 1929 but was recently renovated. There’s 11,000 square feet in the church itself, plus 5,000 square feet in an attached rectory. An advertising agency has taken up residence in the church while Ted Wight of Sotheby’s International Realty markets the property.

85 East Canyonview Drive | Ransom Canyon, TX | $2 million

Robert Bruno died before he could finish the Steel House, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a vacation rental and fodder for Zillow connoisseurs everywhere. As the name suggests, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home is made of heavy steel and is styled in a fashion reminiscent of something out of “Star Wars” or the Pixar animated universe. The 2,400-square-foot home has appeared on Zillow Gone Wild. Monument Realty’s Courtney Bartosh has the listing.

160 Johnson Dairy Road | Rockwell, NC | $675,000

For reasons that aren’t hard to surmise, this property is named “The Pyramids,” according to the listing. It looks like someone stepped straight out of Egypt and onto the field-covered streets of North Carolina. Both of the pyramid-shaped buildings are livable spaces and are connected by a breezeway with a sunroom, screened porch and covered deck. If a buyer can cope with their 3,700-square-foot home being pyramids, they can surely embrace the 18-acre plot with six pastures and a creek. DM Properties & Associates has the listing; no word if Cleopatra was an agent for the firm in the past.

26 Coastline Drive | Inman, SC | $595,000

Once again, the shape of a home is the most interesting feature it has. There’s a strange quality to this 2,000-square-foot home in South Carolina, which has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It looks like it could explode if it tries to drink just one more glass of water. Or maybe it was cast in “Rolie Polie Olie.” There’s 73 feet of water frontage with a dock and a nearby patio. Leslie Horne and Associates has the listing for the property, which was originally listed at $650,000 last June, according to Zillow.

2569 North 46th Road | Somonauk, IL | $475,000

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a spaceship doubling as a home! That’s what someone might think of 2569 North 46th Road in Somonauk, built 20 years ago for the late Chicago radio psychic Joe Tufano, who hosted a show under the name Joe Who. The four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot home is essentially circular, curved all around. At one point, a Canadian firm added a motor to help the home rotate, though it’s not operational. The home isn’t currently on the market, but has been floating on and off listing services for months, so it may zoom back on to the public scene soon. Ro Malik, an agent at Keller Williams One Chicago, represents the seller.

360 Beach 59th Street | Queens, NY | $225,000

This listing in Rockaway Beach offers something much more unique than a house — a houseboat. The funkily-designed home was built in 1968 and has a spacious lower level with a full kitchen, living room and office. The deck has a bedroom with French doors opening out to a “roof” deck. The boat is docked at Marina 59 via a lease, but would need to be towed to another marina if desired, as the boat is immobile. Naruetai Tongsomboon of Re/Max Elite holds the listing.

Read more

The post Nine bizarre home listings that will shock and surprise appeared first on The Real Deal.

The billionaires are hunting for more waterfront real estate in South Florida. 

The continued slowdown in sales, and price adjustments affecting the greater market have little to do with billionaires’ spending habits. They’re buying up portions of entire islands in Miami Beach, or just expanding their properties as they plan larger estates to replace the homes they’ve purchased.

Tech billionaire Eric Schmidt (worth $20B, per Forbes) and his wife Wendy have collected up to seven homes on the Sunset Islands, to the tune of almost $140 million over the past three years, I reported last week. At least five of the houses are on Sunset Island II, the largest of the four man-made and gated islands in Miami Beach, and all are waterfront. Two of those sales closed in September, and they include Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer’s former home. 

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin bought back a waterfront Star Island lot that’s next to his large assemblage from retired Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Though Griffin, who’s worth more than $35 billion, paid $45.5 million for the property, the true price is not entirely clear. The lot was part of a land swap the two arranged in 2020 when luxury real estate began to take off during the pandemic. Griffin now controls about 6.5 contiguous acres on Star Island. He’s also assembled a massive portfolio of residential land in Palm Beach over the last decade-plus. 

Last but not least, Jeff Bezos, the second richest person in the world, paid $79 million for a 2-acre waterfront (obviously) estate in Indian Creek Village. The home is next to the property he purchased this summer for $68 million. Together, they total 4.6 contiguous acres of land acquired for almost $150 million. 

What we’re thinking about: Will more attention and awareness of alleged fraud across condo and homeowners’ associations push potential buyers away? Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com. 

CLOSING TIME 

Residential: Indian Creek #1 LLC, an entity managed by Brazilian toy company mogul Leo Kryss, sold the 2-acre waterfront mansion at 12 Indian Creek Island Road to Bezos for $79 million. 

Commercial: The Pérez family’s Related Group and Tony Cho’s Metro 1 sold the Wyn 28 apartment complex at 2819 Northwest First Avenue for $135 million. Berkshire Residential Investments and Bayshore Global Management paid about $544,000 per unit for the mixed-use apartment building, which includes retail and parking. 

— Research by Adam Farence

NEW TO THE MARKET 

An oceanfront mansion in Golden Beach is asking $42 million. The nearly 12,000-square-foot, nine-bedroom and 10-and-a-half-bathroom home at 263 Ocean Boulevard hit the market with Nelson Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. The half-acre property includes a three-story house with a rooftop, two summer kitchens, a guesthouse, pool, spa, cabana and 75 feet of beach frontage.

A thing we’ve learned 

The Trump Organization received a letter of interest from controversial New York real estate investor Adam Hochfelder to purchase Trump National Doral Miami, according to court filings included in the New York civil fraud case. Hochfelder wrote in his letter that he wanted to move forward with a potential $1.5 billion offer for the sprawling golf resort, which is one of Trump’s most valuable properties. 

Elsewhere in Florida 

Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the state’s emergency management division to charter flights for Florida residents stranded in Israel and to deliver supplies to Israel. His order came hours after the Biden administration said it would charter flights to bring Americans back, Politico reports. 

At least two possible tornadoes touched down in Florida early Thursday, damaging  homes, cars and businesses in Clearwater Beach, as well as Crystal River. 

Climate change is resulting in stronger hurricanes forming much earlier in hurricane season, the Miami Herald reports. Category 4 and 5 storms are occurring about two weeks earlier on Earth than they were four decades ago. That increases the chance for stronger flooding. 

The post The Weekly Dirt: Billionaires take over luxe Miami real estate  appeared first on The Real Deal.

The movie made an estimated $95 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, giving a big boost to theaters suffering from strike-related delays.

Much of the coverage from the right has focused on the Biden administration’s decision to transfer $6 billion to Iran in a deal to secure the release of five Americans.

The service formerly known as Twitter told Australian regulators that its automated detection of abusive material had declined after Elon Musk bought it.

The service formerly known as Twitter told Australian regulators that its automated detection of abusive material had declined after Elon Musk bought it.

Surging interest expenses are wiping out profits for some issuers of risky loans.