It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Inventory in Lane County, excluding Florence, was up and median prices were down in October, according to the Regional MLS, when compared to earlier this year. The sales median price was $290,000, $9,000 less than the record-high set in August. Matthew Gardner, chief economist of Windermere Real Estate, said a lot of sellers believe the market is peaking and want to cash out over concerns about rising mortgage rates, housing affordability and a potential real estate bubble."

"'It’s really a situation whereby home sellers need to understand the fact that we’re getting back to historic averages, but at the same time you have home buyers saying, ‘Wow, there’s more listings,’ Gardner said."

"Amy Shocket, Dickson Realtor in Sparks, calculated 49 percent of our active inventory was reduced in price in part of the third quarter. I believe this is an important trend because we haven't seen price reductions for several years. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco, all feeder markets to our area, have made the top 54 cities predicted to have housing crashes in the short future. That will affect our market."

"Here’s another sign that the housing market in the Seattle area is rapidly cooling off: The portion of home sellers who dropped their list price hit a record high of 47 percent in October. During the same month a year ago just 33 percent of listings had a price drop. 'The market is in a bit of a stalemate,' explained local Redfin listing agent Jessie Culbert."

"Real estate markets across the country may be showing signs of softening, but Calgary home stager Monique Shaw says her business has been booming. Shaw says a downturn in the Canadian oil-patch over the past three years has left many landlords scrambling to offload their rentals when tenants lost their jobs. 'When you have an empty property, that's all it appears to be — empty and a property,' she said."

"Georgia and James purchased their first home a year ago and are now looking to move up the property ladder. They are worried about how easily they will be able to sell their current home and whether they will be able to move into the house they want within budget."

"Georgia told This is Money: 'It is definitely the case that it is harder to buy a second property now. We thought that we might have to rent our property to someone and rent out another property for ourselves, if we can’t sell. We don’t want to sell our house for less than its worth.'"

"Potential homebuyers priced out of Hong Kong’s stratospheric property market may now feel more hopeful as housing prices finally begin to cool after a bullish stampede lasting more than two years. In contrast to the past two years when new and existing flats would normally be snapped up, agents say residential property has switched to a buyer’s market, with more room to negotiate prices."

"'The past weekends have been pretty quiet with fewer buyers shopping for flats, so the sellers were more willing to cut prices, some even by more than 5 percent' said Hong Kong Property Service CEO Richard Lee. 'We expect more price cuts going forward and by a larger extent.'"

"Home buyers are gaining the upper hand as the downturn in Sydney and Melbourne deepens, forcing vendors to readjust their price expectations. Many vendors are still desperately holding out hope that they can achieve prices not seen since the market was at its peak in mid-2017, said Real Estate Buyers Agents Association president Rich Harvey."

"'There’s always a lag affect,' he said. 'Vendors that need or want to sell are meeting the market, those that are holding out for 2017 prices are going to be waiting.'"

"After seeking bids for a Blaine County School District property near downtown Hailey, the district’s board of trustees took it off the market. The group voted 4-1 not to sell the property, rejecting a $350,000 offer to buy the lot. The offer was $350,000 lower than the price the district paid 10 years ago, at the height of the housing bubble."

"The board was reluctant to realize a $350,000 loss on the property; only Board Chair Rob Clayton voted to accept the bid. 'It was bought at peak valuation,' he said. 'We got an offer above the appraisal. We’re beating the market, as it stands now. Sometimes, you need to take a loss to move a business ahead.'"