A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "Amazon.com Inc.’s announcement that it is ditching plans for a corporate headquarters in New York City stunned real-estate speculators, developers and renters who had rushed into the Long Island City neighborhood to be near the new HQ2. Open houses for Long Island City condos were overflowing. Brokers said customers made offers via text messages on units, site unseen."

"Now, suddenly, much of the euphoria is evaporating. Ascent Development filed plans this month to build a 20-story condominium project in Long Island City, the company’s managing member Tien Vominh said. 'The major problem that we had before Amazon came was who is going to absorb all these units,' he said. 'When Amazon came, not a single lender asked that question again, and I’m sure it will come up again now that Amazon is leaving.'"

From Business Insider. "Sam Musovic, who owns apartments close to where Amazon had proposed building its headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, said that he and a group of angry Queens residents would be protesting at an Amazon Books store near Herald Square on Friday."

"Musovic told Business Insider that the news about HQ2 being canceled was 'devastating.' 'I thought I was going to be the happiest guy on the planet,' he said. Musovic said he took out a loan of more than $1 million from the bank to renovate his apartments in Long Island City and two restaurants he owns on the Upper East Side before Amazon's November announcement that it would be opening a headquarters in the area."

"He said he then shifted his focus to investing in the Long Island City locations, putting in new kitchens and bathrooms, thinking he would get the money back when more people move to the area. 'I am not going to be able to recoup the benefits, Musovic said. 'It's a huge loss. We want Amazon back.'"

From CNBC. "Developers and speculators — who bought property on the promise of Amazon's planned New York City headquarters — are 'freaking out,' now that the e-commerce giant pulled out of the deal due to local opposition, luxury real estate agent Ryan Serhant told CNBC on Friday."

"'We put, I think, 15 different apartments into contract, purely speculative, based on the Amazon move,' he said in a "Squawk Box" interview. 'All 15 of those buyers called yesterday, freaking out, saying, 'Should I pull my deposit, can I get it back? Is there an Amazon contingency in my contract?'"

"'I remember doing deals at $600 a square foot in Long Island City in 2009. And everyone was so angry about it. They're never going to get their money back,' he said. 'I just resold an apartment that I sold for $900,000 in 2009 in October, so before the Amazon announcement, for $1.8 million."

From Curbed New York. "There will likely be 'a bit of whiplash' in the market, according to Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy. While the firm has a similar outlook as other experts—things will go back to 'normal' for LIC—they do see this as a cautionary tale for overeager developers and real estate speculators."

"'The Amazon reversal highlights the risk inherent in speculative investment in real estate in the city,' Wu said in a statement. 'While the city has enjoyed swift economic growth, turning a quick profit remains difficult, particularly in areas dense with new development.'"

From City Lab. "Not everyone believes that Amazon’s non-arrival will mark a huge change in course for Queens. Long Island City 'is not a neighborhood based on Amazon,' says Brendan Aguayo, a senior managing director at Halstead Property Development Marking, which sold two units in a Long Island City condo building to Amazon employees within a week of the first HQ2 announcement."

"Neither he nor Lauren Bennett, a Corcoran broker who sold five units in Long Island City after the news of Amazon’s arrival, would say whether their HQ2-connected clients had expressed any buyer’s remorse. One unit in Bennett’s portfolio—a three-bedroom condo on 51st Avenue that had languished on the market for eight months without an offer—became the object of a bidding war after the mere rumor of Amazon’s move to Queens. The New York Post reported that the winning bid was $300,000 over the initial offer and above the $1.49 million asking price. (Bennett declined to answer questions about the status of this sale or others.)"

"Before Amazon, Queens was marked by a local oversupply of luxury condos and a shortage of affordable housing. In the first quarter of 2018, permits for new housing units were down 44.6 percent in Queens over the same time period a year before—far lower than any other borough."

From Newsday. "The now-scuttled plans for Amazon to open a sprawling corporate campus in Queens would likely have given an additional boost to the housing market in suburbs such as Manhasset and Roslyn, said Nick Sakalis, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Syosset."

"After Amazon announced its plans to open a corporate campus in Long Island City, Edith Yang, a Douglas Elliman real estate agent in Manhasset and Manhattan, said she received a flurry of calls from buyers, including investors based in China who signed contracts on units under construction in the immediate area."

"Long Island home buyers have endured a lot of bidding wars, and they may be near the limit of what they’re willing and able to pay, Sakalis said. 'There’s always a breaking point, and right now are we at the peak?' he said. 'It’s very possible that we’re at the peak. But we could stay here for another year, or two years, or three years.'"

"The number of listings increased, year over year, by 14.5 percent in Nassau and 3.4 percent in Suffolk. That’s due in part to a slowdown in sales. 'Things are starting to plateau a little bit,' Sakalis said. 'There’s a lot of houses that are hitting the market right now.'"

"Even so, he added, 'a lot of them are being put on the market just to test the waters, because of the increased values.' In some cases, he said, the homes are 'overpriced,' but sellers are not budging on prices since they don’t absolutely need to sell."

"The market remains strong for homes priced near the median, but demand gets weaker as prices rise, said Paul Dyckes, an appraiser based in Huntington. But, he said, the new $10,000 limit on federal deductions for state and local taxes is putting a damper on the luxury home market, where annual property tax bills can easily reach $30,000. In the high-end market, Dyckes said, 'these homes, if they’re not priced right, they’re going to languish.'"