It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "A Realtor economist said Friday, Nov. 2, not to believe those 'scary headlines' about 'plunging' home sales and stock prices. Pushing back against claims of a housing market bubble, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said home sales and prices merely are undergoing a 'mild adjustment in the data.'"

"Yun’s forecast in a nutshell: No price plunge. No bubble. No unsustainable mortgage debt. 'The housing market is on very firm ground,' Yun said during NAR’s annual conference in Boston. 'We should not be worried about price declines.' Negative housing news could affect consumer behavior, causing a 'self-fulfilling prophecy.'

"'If people view the housing market as (having) peaked and prices are going to go lower, people will postpone their decision (to buy),' Yun said. 'That could affect demand.'"

"Yun conceded that luxury homes in Southern California and throughout the state could face price drops in 2019. As for the Bay Area, all bets are off. Prices could keep going up, Yun said. Or they could be more volatile and go down. 'It’s in its own world,' he said of the Bay Area."

"Sure, she sold her former Midtown West condo at nearly 50 percent off, but considering she’s Victoria’s Secret’s longest-running Angel, we’re guessing Adriana Lima will be just fine to take the blow. The Brazilian supermodel bought the three-bedroom apartment at 146 West 57th Street in 2003 for $1,995,000."

"Six years later, she married NBA player Marko Jarić, and after the couple had two children, they put the 42nd-floor pad on the market for $5.5 million in 2013. But after five years, a 2016 divorce, and four price chops, the pad has finally sold, reports the Post, for the much-discounted price of $3.3 million."

"If you were looking to buy the house of a golfing legend at a reduced price … well, you’re in luck. Per MRT.com, the Dallas mansion belonging to Lee Trevino has seen its asking price slashed. The number had been $8.5 million since January, but that figure has now dropped to $7.5 million. According to MRT.com, the house originally was put on the market for $13 million back in 2014."

"It wasn’t all that long ago that the prospect of buying a detached home in the City of Vancouver for under $1 million seemed like a dream from another era. That appears to be changing, as B.C.’s real estate market enters what some analysts believe is a sustained downward trend. As of Oct. 26, there were at least six detached homes in Vancouver with a sub-$1 million sticker price."

"'I think we’re in the midst of a correction right now,' said Vancouver realtor Steve Saretsky. 'When one or two start to sell like that it sets a new benchmark, it’s what buyers start to expect or anticipate.'"

"The property developer behind the conversion of central London’s Centre Point office skyscraper into multimillion-pound luxury apartments has given up trying to sell the flats after receiving too many 'detached from reality' lowball offers. CEO Mike Hussey said the company had decided to halt formal sales of the flats in the 1960s brutalist tower, now called Centre Point Residences, rather than slash prices."

"The decision to halt sales means about half of the tower’s 82 flats, which range from £1.8m for a small one-bedroom apartment to £55m for the two-storey five-bedroom penthouse, will now lie empty, adding to a glut of unsold ultra-luxury property across London. More than half of the 1,900 ultra-luxury apartments built in London last year failed to sell, adding to fears that the capital would be left with dozens of 'posh ghost towers.'"

"The warning bell has rung in Hong Kong as prices of used homes in September dropped at a much faster speed than in the previous month, continuing a slide that is sparking worry through the property market, from agencies to homeowners to developers."

"Centaline Property Agency has stopped expansion and will lay off agents who aren’t selling homes. 'At least a quarter of agents could lose their jobs,' said Louis Chan, CEO of the residential division at Centaline."

"Property listings website Realestate.co.nz says Auckland's housing market favours buyers to an extent not seen for nearly nine years. The total number of homes for sale in the city in October was up 17 per cent on 2017, to 9906. There were 4449 new listings in the month, 20.1 per cent more than the same time last year."

"Spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said given the level of new listings, the total number of properties for sale and the slowing sales rates, Auckland purchasers were in a better position than they had been for nine years. 'There's plenty of homes for buyers to choose from, without having to deal with the frantic market that we've seen in past years,' Taylor said."

"As has been the case for some time, the national price decline largely reflect falls at the top end of the housing market. In Sydney and Melbourne, the most expensive 25 per cent of properties in those cities saw their values drop by nearly 9 per cent."

"We are concerned that without policy easing the largest price fall in decades could break the belief 'house prices only ever go up,' the UBS team said. With total listing numbers likely to push higher over the final quarter of the year, buyers are becoming more empowered and will increasingly find themselves in a stronger position when it comes to negotiating on price. Prices are also falling in regional areas."