A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "Gary Barnett was sitting in his Manhattan office one morning in the fall when his old-fashioned flip phone started to buzz. On the line was a real-estate agent who was marketing the New York developer’s latest condo project known as Central Park Tower."

"The agent had bad news. Mr. Barnett had agreed to reduce a condo’s asking price, but now the client refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement concealing the details of the deal. Mr. Barnett’s response: Turn him away. 'If we’re going to give someone a special deal, we don’t want them saying it all over the market,' he said."

"Extell is also leveraging the roster of billionaires it accumulated during One57’s glory days. But the strategy could backfire, especially as sellers who bought condos there a couple of years ago are suffering losses. In one instance, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll sold a One57 unit for $54 million, over $1 million less than what he paid in 2014. In 2017, an apartment that had been owned by shell companies linked to a Nigerian businessman sold in a foreclosure auction for $36 million, far less than the $50.9 million purchase price in 2014."

"Today, the builders of pricey mega-towers 'are going to find themselves in a lot of trouble,' said Andrew Gerringer of the Marketing Directors, a development-marketing firm. 'Those are just going to be really difficult to sell.'"

From Crain's New York Business. "Townhouse sales in Manhattan suffered during the second half last year, according to a new report by Stribling and Associates. The report, which covers one- to three-family home sales in Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn, found the market had an increase in inventory and contracts but a decline in sales as prices fell."

"The market also saw a trend that has affected many other industries: discounts. 'In Manhattan alone, the average discount was 14%, twice that of northwest Brooklyn,' Garrett Derderian, Stribling's director of data and reporting, said in the report."

"The average discount on the Upper West Side was 23%. Downtown Manhattan saw an average discount of 15%. 'There is no question the housing market in New York City has slowed," Derderian said. 'Townhomes, often older and requiring more maintenance, are at a comparative disadvantage when compared to new-development condos at the same price point.'"

"Midtown East experienced the steepest price drops. The average price dropped 40% to about $5.38 million, and the median price plunged 45% to about $4.67 million. 'Expect these price declines to continue,' Derderian said, 'as sellers adjust expectations to meet the market.'"

From Mansion Global. "Frenzied home sales in downtown Boston eased in the fourth quarter. The median sales price in downtown Boston was $838,500 in the fourth quarter of 2018, virtually unchanged from the year before, according to data Douglas Elliman published Thursday."

"Meanwhile, the median luxury home, defined as the top 10% of sales, sold for $2.8 million, marking a significant 12.5% decline from a median price of $3.2 million at the end of 2017—one of several signs that Boston’s market is preparing to take a breath."

"There are other signs that the market is cooling, particularly in the million-dollar-plus condo market. The number of downtown sales recorded in the fourth quarter plummeted nearly one-fifth compared to a year ago. For the top 10%, it’s now taking 40% longer to sell—roughly eight months compared to 5.6 months at the end of 2017."

"The recent slowdown is part of a broader trend in luxury markets around the U.S., including New York City and Miami, where affluent buyers are taking pause amid more talk of recession and tumultuousness in financial markets, said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Miller Samuel and author of the Douglas Elliman’s inaugural Boston report."

"Elsewhere in New England, the same pause at the highest echelons of the housing market has meant fewer megamansion sales in Greenwich, Connecticut. The median luxury price in the posh New York commuter town slipped nearly one-fifth over the past year. The average sale price across all price points in Greenwich was $1.5 million in the fourth quarter, down 17% from $1.8 million recorded the prior year."

From Bloomberg. "With New York City apartments selling for less, urbanites pining for a suburban home in Greenwich might have to daydream a bit longer. In the last three months of 2018, purchases of single-family houses in the Connecticut town slipped 2.2 percent from a year earlier, the first decline in three quarters, according to a Thursday report from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate."

"'The weakness in New York City has definitely played a role in some of the weakness that we’ve felt here,' said David Haffenreffer, brokerage manager of Houlihan Lawrence’s Greenwich office. Sellers who got less than they wanted for their city apartments 'are in turn then dialing down their budgets when they get here to look at homes. Or, it’s just flat-out delaying their ability to buy here.'"