A report from Bloomberg on Iceland. "The spacious entrance to Hildigunnur Haraldsdottir’s building in downtown Reykjavik is paved with marble from Prague and decorated with stained glass artwork by a famous local artist. The flat is one of 38 that she designed for her company. Only 20 of them have been sold since they hit the market more than a year ago. 'We have lowered our prices and can’t lower them further, since the price is now lower than the cost of building,' Haraldsdottir said in an interview."

"Asgeir Jonsson, an economist at the University of Iceland, says people like Haraldsdottir should be worried. 'The contractors have been catering to the luxury market, which now seems to be more or less saturated,' he said. 'I would not be surprised if the price' of high-end apartments were to fall further, he said."

The Westmoreland Gazette in the UK. "A former hotel in Grange-over-Sands is to be turned into 32 new homes – despite a 'glut' of houses up for sale in the town, a meeting heard. Resident Valerie Kennedy spoke on behalf of a group of objectors and told the committee: 'Grange-over-Sands has a glut of houses on the market. There were over 180 properties being advertised on the internet in this area. A significant number have been on the market for more than a year and some have been on the market for up to three years.'"

From Albawaba on Oman. "Speaking exclusively to Times of Oman, Hassan Al Ruqeishi, Head of the Real Estate Development Committee, said: 'There has been a significant drop in rental prices in Muscat and outside Muscat because of the high supply and low demand. The drop is as high as 60 per cent in places such as Al Maabela and Al Amerat and 40 per cent in Mawelah,' Ruqeishi added."

"Khalil Al Zadjali, Head of Oman at Cavendish Maxwell, said that developers need to understand the market demand before coming up with new projects to avoid losses. 'Developers need to understand what’s going on in the neighbouring property before they start a new project. They need to see if the buildings are empty, and if they are, they have to question themselves over why the building is empty. What we have seen from our evaluation is that previously, the occupancy rate was around 80-90 per cent, but now it is half empty. This will continue if the awareness is not understood by developers.'"

The Sunday Times on Sri Lanka. "Some time back it was stated by leading business leaders and property gurus that real estate is a good investment with better returns. Having said that, times have changed, and are changing fast. There is uncertainty in the property market in Sri Lanka since the beginning of this year, noted Ravi Abeysuriya, Group Director of Candor Group of Companies."

"'The property market looks really bad in Sri Lanka since the beginning of this year. Property developers are finding it difficult to pay back loans and most of the construction projects are on hold. Enough and more property developers have gone bankrupt,' said Mr. Abeysuriya."

"Mr. Abeysuriya said the real estate market in Sri Lanka that used to have 100 per cent return is gradually decreasing. 'In today’s context you cannot make money; neither the apartment developer nor the buyer. People who buy apartments to sell cannot sell them at huge gains due to cost excursion. Rental income is also coming down, drastically,' he added."

From Bloomberg on India. "Mumbai: Five months. That’s how long it takes Country Garden Holdings Co. to start selling apartments after acquiring land. A spate of fatal accidents forced the Chinese builder to slow things down a notch last year, but the pace of construction may pick up again when robots start plastering the walls."

"The pressure to finish comes from the markets: Of the $14.6 billion (Dh53.63 billion) the builder has to pay creditors between now and 2021, as much as 86 per cent is return of principal. It has to give back that money (plus interest) and borrow afresh. Keeping up this live-wire act is how Country Garden acquired the scale to tackle 2,200 projects in 2018, a 13-fold jump in five years."

"Compare this with the somnolent life of India’s developers. A six-year loan while they build at leisure? No problem. Don’t want to repay principal for the first four years? Even better. Maybe a six-month moratorium on interest as well? Shadow lenders can’t stop lining up at their doors. After all, the financiers earn a fee for every concession they make, and that juices up their returns."

"Until there’s no juice left to go around. The funding squeeze faced by Indian nonbank finance companies after the collapse of IL & FS Group in September has seen embattled firms such as Dewan Housing Finance Corp. sell down some of their builder loans, offering a glimpse of the generous terms they’ve been offering."

"The time for masking such equity-type investments as loans has passed. Real estate in India is facing a glut, with $110 billion worth of unsold homes across the top eight markets, including Mumbai. Predicting the bursting of China’s credit bubble is a global cottage industry. But the risks of disorderly deleveraging in India should no longer be ignored."

The Global Times on China. "Chinese counties are at the forefront of the nation's drive to urbanize its vast rural areas. But as China's economic growth slows to its lowest level in more than 25 years, local economies are also feeling the pinch."

"Wang, who only gave his surname, especially lamented the spending cut on firecrackers, which are regarded as a ritual for the business community in the province, which is heavily reliant on tradition. 'For the first time in 2018, workers at Dad's firm are taking two-day weekends. Dad also cut the payroll by 40 percent. Family spending on Lunar New Year firecrackers fell from 4,000 yuan before to just over 1,000 yuan this year,' Wang, whose family owns a small business in construction in Longkou, East China's Shandong Province, told the Global Times."

"Ma Xiaoteng, a native of Julu, a county in North China's Hebei Province, said much the same thing. 'Housing prices soared to about 6,000 yuan per square meter while the local monthly salary averaged about 2,000 yuan,' Ma said. 'We all felt in 2018 is that it take more work to earn money.'"

From Ten Daily in Australia. "Almost 100 suburbs around Australia have dropped off the million-dollar list in the last year, with price drops seeing losses in property value of over 30 percent in some areas. 'The decline in million dollar suburbs over the year occurred across houses and units. 602 suburbs nationally have a median house value of at least $1 million currently which is down from 669 suburbs a year ago,' Core Logic's Cameron Kusher said."

"An oversupply of houses is one of the factors behind the prices being slashed, according to Raine&Horne real estate agent, Raza Khan. 'Buyers are sort of spoiled for choice and Box Hill is the sort of area where it established itself as a residential area in the height of the boom that we had,' Khan told 10 daily. 'The main catalyst is banks have tightened lending; buyers don’t have that luxury or don’t have that funding to go and buy.'"

"Another problem is, quite simply, there are too many houses at this point compared to other areas which are better supplied."