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Austin, Oakland, San Francisco, Detroit, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Mesa. Tampa is almost there, as are other markets.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Here are 10 big cities where condo prices have dropped by 10% to 22% from their respective peaks. Most of those peaks were in mid-2022. They’re examples of home prices coming unglued in many markets, while they’re still rising in other markets. Every market dances to its own drummer, as we can see in the charts below.

The city of Austin leads the pack with condo prices down by 22% from the peak in July 2022, followed by Oakland, with a decline of 20% from the peak in May 2022.

Not on this list yet is Tampa, which is a top runner-up, lacking just one small additional month-to-month down-tick to get to -10%, which would then qualify it for this list.

We’re looking at seasonally adjusted three-month average prices of “mid-tier” condos. Limiting the choice to “mid-tier” minimizes the impact of shifts in the mix. The data are from the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), which is based on millions of data points in Zillow’s “Database of All Homes,” including from public records (tax data), MLS, brokerages, local Realtor Associations, real-estate agents, and households across the US. It includes pricing data for off-market deals and for-sale-by-owner deals.

If these charts look absurd, it’s because the housing market became absurd in the early 2000s, when the Fed kept interest rates too low for too long, creating the enormous Housing Bubble 1 that then turned into the enormous Housing Bust 1, which turned into the Financial Crisis, upon which the Fed used zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP) and QE to restart this process all over again.

But nothing compared to what the Fed did during the pandemic, which led to below-3% mortgages further fueled by its trillions of dollars in QE and by the federal government’s trillions of dollars in annual deficit spending. And all this turned the housing market into an absurdity that is now coming unglued.

Austin, City, Condo Prices
From Jun 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-22%	-0.6%	-5.7%	122%

Oakland, City, Condo Home Prices
From May 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-20%	-0.6%	-6.7%	183%

San Francisco, City, Condo Prices
From May 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-14%	0.2%	0.1%	144%

Detroit, City, Condo Prices
From Sep 2021 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-13%	-0.4%	-5.0%	270%

New Orleans, City, Condo Prices
From Jun 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-11%	0.1%	-5.5%	102%

Jacksonville, FL, City, Condo Prices
From Nov 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-10%	-0.6%	-6.9%	176%

Denver, City, Condo Prices
From Jun 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-10.0%	-0.4%	-4.7%	152%

Portland, City, Condo Prices
From May 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-10%	-0.3%	-3.1%	118%

Seattle, City Condo Prices
From May 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-10%	0.0%	-1.2%	148%

Mesa, City, Condo Prices
From July 2022 peak	MoM	YoY	Since 2000
-10%	-0.3%	-3.5%	218%

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ENB Pub Note: I hope it Bankrupts Greenpeace. They are not the same organization founded years ago by Dr. Patrick Moore. I had two great podcasts with him and he is a great resource for the environment. He is a great environmentalist, and during his first 15 years of involvement, Greenpeace had a mission for the environment. They lost their way and became a paid protesting group for profit. Ultimately doing more damage to the environment through their protests. Why were they protesting on the side of wind farms when the science shows that they are not good for the environment or animals? Almost like the Democrats and the Tesla protestors today. They are not standing up for American values anymore. 

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A North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for millions in damages for its role in months-long protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

​North Dakota jury on Wednesday found Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars [over $660 million] in damages over its role in months-long protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017. [emphasis, links added]

After two days of deliberation, the New York Times reported that the jury had returned the verdict.

Energy Transfer, the owner and operator of the pipeline, filed the lawsuit in North Dakota state court against Greenpeace and Red Warrior Camp, which Energy Transfer claimed was a front for Greenpeace, and three individuals.

The lawsuit alleges that Greenpeace had engaged in a misinformation campaign with mass emails falsely claiming that the Dakota Access Pipeline would cross the sovereign land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

In court filings, Energy Transfer claimed protesters engaged in a campaign of “militant direct action,” including trespassing on the company’s property, vandalizing construction equipment, and assaulting employees and contractors.

In testimony at the trial, Greenpeace maintained that it played only a minor role in what were protests led by indigenous groups.

The organization argues, CNN reported, that the lawsuit is an effort on the part of the company to violate Greenpeace’s free speech rights.

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The Biden admin buried a detailed report showing no link between LNG exports and higher emissions or energy prices.

​The Biden administration buried for more than a year a final draft report that failed to prove that an increase in U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals was linked to a meaningful impact on greenhouse gas emissions, according to a copy of the findings, exclusively previewed to Fox News Digital. [emphasis, links added]

The Biden administration stalled the release of the information, senior Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital, delaying sharing the data with House Oversight Committee Republicans.

The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported that the Biden administration “intentionally buried” the study.

The impact that new U.S. LNG exports had on the environment and the economy had been reviewed by U.S. Energy Department scientists and federal contractors, who by September 2023 had completed their work and had a draft final report ready for publication.

Fox News independently reviewed a copy of that draft study, titled, “Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports.”

That report and its findings were slated for publication in 2023 — months before then-President Joe Biden, who was still seeking re-election at the time, announced a pause on all new U.S. LNG export terminals in January 2024, citing the need to better consider environmental and economic impacts.

The draft report found that across all modeled scenarios, an increase in U.S. LNG exports and natural gas production did not change global or U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, nor did it correlate with a strong uptick in energy prices for consumers, Trump administration officials said.

“​​Secretary Granholm and Biden White House told Americans that the increase in LNG exports would disproportionately increase prices for American consumers as well as from the environment,” an official said.

“And both these claims were refuted in the report that the Biden administration hid from Congress and the American public,” the official said.

A copy of the report was shared Wednesday morning with the House Oversight Committee, which had been requesting the Energy Department to share its findings on LNG since March 2024.

“Biden Administration officials, who religiously claimed to ‘follow the science,’ abandoned it to undermine American-made energy production, appease climate activists, and achieve their predetermined outcomes,” House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. told Fox News in response to the report’s release.

“I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary Wright for providing the transparency the American people deserve and for taking action to restore America’s energy dominance.”

The 2023 findings present the most definitive data to date that the Biden administration, and then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, misrepresented the impact LNG exports would have on the U.S.

At the time, Biden was facing mounting criticism from progressives in the party to scale back LNG exports, which during his term rose to an all-time high.

The U.S. became the world’s largest energy exporter in 2023, underpinned by new demand in the EU, following Russia’s war in Ukraine, and its abrupt cutoff of nearly all piped gas supplies to the bloc.

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ENB Pub Note: This article from City A.M. is about energy entertainment. There is no way that the UK can get to 95% low-carbon electricity by 2030 and remain a sovereign nation. The left’s energy policies are in full deindustrialization mode and will only accelerate. You cannot survive without nuclear and natural gas on their grid, and they cannot provide the electricity they need through the interconnects. This is flat, unobtainable. Watch the GDP in the UK over the next several years, and you will see. A comparison of energy prices vs. GDP is a ratio that has remained constant over the last several decades. Countries with lower energy costs thrive and grow, and those with high energy costs fail. 

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• Ofgem is fast-tracking £4bn of investment into the UK’s electricity transmission network to achieve 95% low-carbon electricity by 2030.
• The Advanced Procurement Mechanism will allow approved projects to begin construction immediately after planning approval, aiming to speed up the process.
• This initiative seeks to reduce reliance on international gas markets and stabilize energy prices by building a modern, clean, and secure energy system.

Ofgem has announced plans to fast-track around £4bn of investment into expanding the UK’s electricity transmission network as it looks to decarbonise the grid by 2030.

The Advanced Procurement Mechanism (APM) will enable signed-off projects to “break ground as soon as planning approval is granted,” the energy regulator said in a statement on Thursday.

It is the latest move by officials to free up the UK’s planning system. The target is to produce 95 per cent of electricity from low-carbon sources by the end of the decade.

The UK’s energy transmission network is currently run by three transmission owners, known as TOs; National Grid ET, SSEN Transmission and SP Energy Networks.

Ofgem has agreed £4bn of “use it or lose it” capital allowances up until 2031 for the 80 transmission projects currently based in the UK, it said.

“This fast-track measure means we can quickly get Britain building the infrastructure we need to deliver clean power by 2030 and an energy system that can bring down bills for households and businesses for good,” Energy Minister Michael Shanks said.

“Giving developers a head start in the global race to secure essential materials and equipment will help to avoid delays by putting shovels in the ground as soon as clean power projects secure planning permission, and protect billpayers by keeping costs down.

He added: “Giving developers a head start in the global race to secure essential materials and equipment will help to avoid delays by putting shovels in the ground as soon as clean power projects secure planning permission, and protect billpayers by keeping costs down.

Akshay Kaul, Ofgem’s director-general of infrastructure, said: “Building a modern, clean and secure energy system is the key to ending our reliance on international gas markets responsible for volatile prices, so we must do everything we can to clear the way for trailblazing projects to move forward.

“The Advanced Procurement Mechanism is an innovative model that could be extended in the future to develop other areas of the energy sector and possibly mirrored by other regulatory bodies supporting the delivery of national infrastructure.

He added: “It’s a significant step on the accelerator as we drive towards net zero and we are committed to working with government, GB Energy and the National Wealth Fund to maximize the economic opportunities of infrastructure investment.

By City AM

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Too-high prices trigger demand destruction, market freezes.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Sales of existing homes – single-family houses, townhouses, condos, and co-ops – that closed in February fell by 5.2% from the abysmally low levels a year ago to 257,000 deals, not seasonally adjusted, down by 27% from February 2022 when home sales began their free-fall after prices had spiked to ridiculous levels, thereby crushing demand.

The blue lines connect the Februarys.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales of existing homes, on a month-to-month basis, ticked up to a rate of 4.26 million, the worst February since February 2009.

From the Februarys in prior years (historical data from YCharts):

• 2024: -1.2%
• 2023: -6.0%
• 2022: -28.2%
• 2019: -20.8%
• 2018: -24.1%

Demand destruction by region.

The charts below show the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales (SAAR) in the four Census Regions of the US. A map of the four regions is in the comments below the article.

In the South, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales rose to 1,190,000 homes, the worst February since 2011. From Februarys in:

2024	-4.0%
2023	-8.2%
2022	-28.7%
2019	-18.0%
2018	-15.9%

In the Midwest, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales remained at 1,000,000 homes. From Februarys in:

2024	+1.0%
2023	-6.5%
2022	-25.4%
2019	-16.0%
2018	-24.8%

In the West, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales rose to 850,000. From Februarys in:

2024	0.0%
2023	-1.2%
2022	-29.2%
2019	-24.8%
2018	-26.7%

In the Northeast, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales fell to 500,000 homes. From Februarys in:

2024	+4.2%
2023	-3.8%
2022	-28.6%
2019	-26.5%
2018	-29.6%

Highest supply for February since 2019, higher than 2018.

Inventory of homes listed for sale rose by 60,000 in February, to 1.24 million, and was up by 17% from a year ago.

At these inventories, supply of unsold homes on the market remained at 3.5 months in February, the highest February supply since 2019 (3.6 months), higher than February 2018 (3.4 months). The months of 2025 are shown as the red squares.

Days on the market.

The median number of days before the home is either sold or pulled off the market because it failed to sell, at 66 days, was the highest for any February since 2020, and up from 61 days a year ago, according to Realtor.com.

Days on the market show the mix of two factors: How motivated sellers are by letting their homes sit on the market when it doesn’t sell right away before they pull it, and how quickly homes sell that do sell.

Median price for single-family houses and condos.

The median price is heavily skewed by changes in the mix of homes that sold. In the spring, nationally, more higher-end homes come on the market and sell, which changes the mix of what sold and skews the median price higher. It then does the reverse in the fall and winter and skews the median price lower. These seasonal ups and downs in prices are at least in part due to this shift in the mix.

Single-family houses: The national median price rose to $402,500 in February, from the downwardly revised January of $398,100 that had originally been reported as $402,000.

This trimmed down the year-over-year increase to +3.7%, and the January gain was downwardly revised to +4.0% (from +5.0% originally reported). December’s gain of +5.9% had originally been reported as +6.1%.

The 50% price explosion over the three years between June 2019 and June 2022, on top of the large price gains in the prior 10 years, was driven by the Fed’s interest-rate repression and money-printing schemes which have created the #1 problem in the housing market today, which is why demand has plunged: Prices are way too high.

Condos and co-ops. Prices rose to $355,100 and were up by 3.5% year-over-year.

But every market dances to its own drummer. I track home prices in the largest most expensive 33 markets, in my long-running series The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America, Feb 2025: The Price Drops & Gains of 33 Largest Costliest Housing Markets. In quite a few of them, prices have dropped substantially from their peaks in mid-2022. Here are two examples:

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• U.S. LNG exporters will continue to focus on reducing methane emissions despite the Trump Administration’s plans to roll back environmental regulations.
• This decision is driven by the need to meet the methane emission standards of their export markets, particularly in Europe and Asia.
• Industry groups and companies have already invested heavily in emissions reduction and remain committed to maintaining these efforts regardless of domestic policy changes.

Despite the Trump Administration’s plans to roll back many environmental laws and regulations, U.S. LNG exporters and project developers will continue to monitor, report, and try to reduce their methane emissions to meet the standards of their exports markets.

U.S. LNG exporters to Europe and Asia are unlikely to see any effect on operations from the plans of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse climate regulations, Fred Hutchison, president of industry group LNG Allies, has told Reuters.

Last week, the EPA initiated a formal review of the so-called Endangerment Finding from 2009 that made the basis for climate change-related legislation. If the finding is dropped, this could have significant implications for future policies.

“The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said.

“We will follow the science, the law, and common sense wherever it leads, and we will do so while advancing our commitment towards helping to deliver cleaner, healthier, and safer air, land, and water.”

Commenting on LNG regulations and standards in Europe, LNG Allies’ Hutchison told Reuters,

“Whatever changes are made to how the United States regulates methane, including the endangerment finding, the EU methane regulation remains unchanged.”

According to Chris Treanor of the LNG coalition Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE), the members of the coalition – which include EQT and Williams Companies – have already invested tens of millions of U.S. dollars to reduce their emissions.

“They are committed to continuing to drive down their emissions,” Treanor told Reuters.

As of this year, EU regulations stipulate that importers of crude oil, natural gas, and coal into the EU will have to report on annual methane emissions data, including from countries and companies exporting to the EU. Information will have to include whether and how they are measuring, reporting and reducing methane emissions.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

 

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Brent crude futures are trading at a rare discount to Middle Eastern oil, with growing production in Europe and the Mediterranean heaping pressure onto markets for the high-quality oil that underpins the global benchmark.

Brent was 16 cents below Dubai swaps on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the first discount since May 2024. The global benchmark is typically more expensive than denser and more sulfurous Dubai oil because it’s easier to process for oil refiners.

While Middle Eastern oil markets have been generally robust so far this year, those in Europe, the Mediterranean and the wider region touching the Atlantic Ocean have struggled thanks rising supplies from producers at a time where European refining capacity is falling. The spread between Brent and Dubai oil matters to traders because it demonstrates the market’s perception of supply and demand for different quality crudes in different regions.

Near-record flows of crude from Kazakhstan and booming Libyan production have helped to cap prices of light-sweet oil. US exports have also remained robust, and a new stream of crude from Norway is due to come online next month, potentially adding to the discount.

Rising supplies from those markets come at the same time that US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have heaped pressure on global markets and Brent futures.

Rounds of sanctions, meanwhile, slowed the flow of medium to heavy varieties of Iranian oil, fueling Dubai oil’s bullishness. Tightness in Middle East crude markets makes them one of the last bastions of price strength on the global stage, even as OPEC+ gears up to raise supply starting in April.

Persistently high official selling prices from producers including the UAE are propping up prices of regional oil grades. While key producers cut their most recent official selling prices slightly, that came on the back of some of the largest increases in years.

Source: Bloomberg

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Chris Wright did a great job on the Fox Show with Bret Baird. He is also showing how deceptive and outright lying the Biden administration is by hiding the truth about LNG exports and harming our allies around the world. It is ok to lie and hide the truth if it helps your climate agenda according to their mindset. They don’t realize that the “renewable wind, solar, and hydrogen” do more harm than good.

But Chris Wright will say we need all forms of energy, as long as they are fiscally sound. After hearing Chris speak about ending energy poverty years ago, I helped shape the Energy News Beat podcast model, incorporating his theme into our show.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright discussed the Biden administration’s energy agenda and the President’s meeting with oil and gas industry representatives.

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