A report from Nine Finance in Australia. "A prominent Sydney real estate agent claims the property market is roaring back after a 'bloodbath' stretch. In 2017, Sydney's cosmopolitan hub had a median house prices sitting just under $1.2 million, comparatively the average property today is $955,000. 'Before the decline, buyers were being told: ‘Here’s your income, forgot what your expenses are, you can have as much money as you want’. Of course, real estate prices went up phenomenally,' Jed Wood told nine.com.au."

"'Then the royal commission was launched and suddenly the banks were auditing people’s spending. They looked at direct debits, what restaurants people went to, how many cases of beer they drank a week and any other regular spending,' he said."

"Mr Wood said this meant buyers were going from being offered more money than they ever dreamed possible to having genuine concerns they would not get final approval. 'Pre-approval for buyers lapses every three months and in 2018 people going back to the bank were told they could have less money each time,' he said."

"Wood said removing foreign investors from the market and putting precedence on responsible lending resulted in a 20 per cent correction to the market because no one was buying. 'There was a point in time when a buyer looking for a knockdown wouldn’t pay less than $1 million for the block of land. Now that same property is selling for $800,000,' he said."

"'Say someone lived in a principle place of residence valued at $1.6 million. They thought ‘we’ve got the money’ and settled on an investment property for which they agreed to pay $1.5 million,' he explained. 'They put down a 10 per cent deposit only to now learn the property will be nowhere near worth that much. Even worse their principle place of residence is also worth less.'"

"'Now these people are faced with the prospect of losing their 10 per cent deposit or having to sell the property for far less than they thought. As a result, they have no money left in savings. I’ve had people suicidal and marriages fail because of this,' Wood said."

"This effects of this downturn were recently highlighted with news of dozens of units in a brand new multi-million-dollar Sydney apartment complex requiring to be sold in a fire sale after the developer failed to find a buyer for them. The developer sold a total of 69 units in the project but has been unable to offload the remaining 61 units. The receivers were called in by an offshore bank located in China."

From The Edge Markets on Malaysia. "The glut in homes priced below RM300,000 is due to their 'wrong' locations, reiterates the National House Buyers’ Association (HBA). In response to calls made by the Penang Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) for urgent measures to be taken to alleviate the current property glut, especially residential properties priced below RM300,000, HBA secretary general Datuk Chang Kim Loong said many properties in this segment are not selling because they were not built in the right location."

"In a news report yesterday, Penang Rehda also said middle range properties priced between RM600,000 and RM800,000 in good locations are still selling well. 'This seems to imply that properties that are below RM300,000 are located in less desirable locations and hence cannot attract enough buyers. The fault would then lie with the developers and not on stringent loan criteria imposed by banks (as claimed by Rehda),' Chang commented."

"According to Chang, the US sub-prime crisis which lead to the Global Financial Crisis was due to three factors that happened concurrently – overpriced properties, slowing economy and loans given to less credit worthy applicants."

"'Malaysia has not met the (last) criteria as banks have always practised good credit evaluation. If banks are forced to relax credit criteria and give loans to those who would not otherwise qualify and if these group of borrowers subsequently default, it can lead to a banking sector collapse which will destroy the entire economy,' he warned."

"He added that it was easier to get housing loans back in 1999 or even up to 2012 because the ratio of property price to income was manageable."

"'The reason why banks are rejecting applicants as claimed by Rehda is not due to stringent loan criteria but the fact that the property price is beyond the income capability of the applicant. Banks are in the business of accepting deposits and giving loans and making a profit in the process and would not reject a credit worthy customer,' he said."

"'It is time for Rehda to face reality and start building more properties that the Rakyat can afford to buy. As for the current glut, the developers can either give more discounts or perhaps launch their own 'Rent-to-Own' programme to help the lower and middle income groups,' Chang said."

The Calgary Herald in Canada. "If you’re in the market for a new home, it should come as no surprise year-end data from Canada’s leading provider of mortgage insurance found Calgary’s market offers plenty of choice. At the start of the recession industry lagged behind the economic conditions on the ground, which quickly evolved in late 2014 as energy prices fell and continued to do so in 2015."

"'Overall Calgary is still struggling with over-building in the market right now,' says James Cuddy, senior analyst with CMHC. 'It was really a case of bad timing with a lot of development underway just when the recession hit. Now we’re still dealing with that issue of high inventory as a result.'"