It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Home sales in the Charlotte metro area plunged in September, compared to a year ago. Buyers could soon see relief as the Charlotte area housing market moves to a more equal footing for buyers as well as sellers, Jason Gentry, president of the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, told the Observer. 'We’re heading in that direction now.'"

"The Fredericksburg-area housing market posted disappointing year-over-year decreases in total sold dollar volume and units sold. Leading the loss in sales were Fredericksburg and King George County, with 58 percent and 54 percent fewer units sold in September 2018 than September 2017. 'Rising interest rates and lack of inventory have also affected the market, but from all signs next year will most likely be more balanced and continue on a slow, but steady, course,' said Sandy Pearce, a FAAR board of directors member."

"Whip out your wallets, homebuyers: Atlanta sellers are slicing prices! Redfin research shows that, around August, more than a quarter of home sellers nationwide had to drop their asking prices. And in Atlanta, that number is even higher. Nearly 28 percent of homes listed in Atlanta experienced a price drop in the four weeks ending September 16—up 9 percentage points from last year."

"After a break-neck run that led to record production, pricing and sales highs in 2017, all those numbers have continued to soften in 2018 as the Manhattan housing market slides into a normalization. 'What we are seeing is another glimpse moving forward to recovery of the residential real estate market,' said Douglas Elliman CEO Steven James. 'Clearly, sellers are getting the message that they have to get realistic about pricing.'"

"Across Vancouver Island, sales of single-family homes in September dropped by 32 percent from one year ago and 25 percent from August 2018. Royal LePage realtor Kevin Reid said a year ago, a house would enter the market priced at $500,000 and there would be a bidding war between four buyers and it would sell for $525,000."

"The trend has reversed, he noted: 'Now that same house is coming on for $500,000, is waiting two, three weeks, and a buyer is coming in at 490 (thousand dollars).'"

"Average prices of both new and used homes fell in Norway last month, another sign that the country’s once-red-hot residential real estate market has cooled off. Mari Mamre of the Oslo firm Ny Anaylse noted prices for new, unsold housing units were being reduced."

"Price reductions have amounted to around a half-million kroner per unit. 'In order to boost sales, the developers lower prices,' Mamre added. There’s been a 'correction' in the market for used homes, she said, 'now it can be that new housing prices are following after. When inventory isn’t bought, it’s expensive to sit on unsold homes.'"

"Signs of a deepening slowdown are beginning to emerge in Hong Kong’s property market, with anecdotal evidence showing more homeowners and office space owners are slashing prices in a bid to exit the market. A homeowner lost more than HK$2.6 million after holding a 1,725 sq ft unit at The Legend in Jardine's Lookout for 11 years. The unit was bought in 2007 for HK$48.6 million and sold on October 9 for HK$46 million, nearly 12 per cent lower than the owner’s original asking price."

"Ricacorp Properties said that 78 home sale transactions in the third quarter were either losing money or just breaking even. 'Buyers who are worried about a further plunge of the market rushed to sell their units and continue to lower their asking prices,' said Derek Chan, head of research."

"Add real-estate agency workers to the list of people aggrieved by China’s cooling housing market. Centaline Group has slashed bonuses for middle and back-office employees in its Shanghai office by 20 percent, according to an internal letter posted on Chinese social media sites. Allowances for mobile phones, transportation, perfect attendance or simply being a long-term employee were reduced or abolished."

"'I don’t expect this survival crisis will pass as quickly as the 2008 financial crisis did,' Lu Cheng, the general manager of the Shanghai office, wrote in the letter. 'We are all lining up against a fate of death, and the only question is who is left standing. It’s now a knockout competition.'"

"More than a few people in Sydney and Melbourne are discovering the danger of buying an apartment off the plan at the peak of a housing boom. According to CoreLogic, a massive 30% of newly-completed apartments in Sydney, and 28% in Melbourne, settled with a valuation less than their original contract price in September."

"And given there was huge pipeline of new apartment stock being built at the end of the June quarter, Tim Lawless, Head of Research at CoreLogic says other off the plan buyers in Sydney and Melbourne may soon be in a similar position. Lawless says the combination of record new apartment supply and falling prices means that settlement risk is now 'heightened.'"

"'Off-the-plan buyers who find their valuation comes in lower than the contract price at the time of settlement could be in for a rude shock,' he says."