A report from KIRO in Washington. "A recent report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service indicates that home prices in King County decreased year-over-year for the first time in seven years to start 2019. 'Is it normal? posited Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. 'No, because historically speaking, housing actually appreciates in value in the long-term.'"

"That came paired with an increase in inventory that saw 7,090 new listings, compared to 6,805 in January of last year, and doubling December’s total of 3,631. In total, sixteen counties — four in the Puget Sound area — reported more inventory than this time last year. "

'It very much comes back to simple supply and demand: We increase supply, we have a finite amount of demand,' Gardner noted."

"Moving forward, Gardner expects home prices to continue falling through the first half of the year, before rebounding not long after that. That being so, he predicts the increase to not be nearly as dramatic as it’s been in the past. For spring, there’s optimism that these lower prices could very well end up being the new normal."

"'We’ve clearly been in a transitioning market, but given the ongoing demand for real estate in the Greater Seattle area, we may have adjusted to a ‘new market reality’ wherein inventory is up and prices have re-aligned,' said Gary O’Leyar, owner of Berkshire Hathaway Properties."

From Mansion Global on California. "The median price of a condo in San Francisco in January was less than $1 million, the lowest reading since 2015, according to data from Compass published on Friday. The whole Bay Area recorded a significant slowdown in sales in the second half of 2018."

"Bay Area sales plummeted 22% in December compared to the year before, according to a different report from Compass economist Selma Hepp. She also noted the share of homes on the market with price reductions had doubled in December compared to the previous year."

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "In 2014 and 2015, Chinese real estate development company Z&L Properties jumped into the California real estate market with a splash, going on a buying spree that would eventually include 12 housing sites in the Bay Area and Los Angeles that, when built out, would yield 3,400 condos."

"There were additional sites in L.A., Santa Clara and Marin County. Z&L Properties, a U.S. spinoff of the Chinese giant R&F Properties, was 'destined to become California’s premier condominium developer,' the company website stated at the time."

"That hasn’t exactly happened. Instead, years after the sites were purchased, none of the projects have been completed, and several have been derailed by lawsuits, cost overruns and building code violations."

"One project has been delayed because it is no longer economically feasible. Another was started in September 2017 and then construction was abruptly shut down after the site had been excavated. Another has been under construction for five years — three times longer than it should have taken — and still not finished. The problem is made worse by government restrictions on investment money leaving China."

"Meanwhile, with the Chinese government restricting investment in the U.S., companies invested in development deals here have been running into cash flow issues. Oceanwide, a developer constructing the largest projects under construction in both downtown San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles recently shut down its $1 billion Oceanwide Plaza L.A. project temporarily because of liquidity issues."

"Anchor Pacific Capital Managing Partner Anton Qiu, who works with a lot of Asian investors, said he could not comment specifically on the Oceanwide or the Z&L situation. But he said Chinese government restrictions on money leaving the country over the last 18 months have forced some Chinese developers to sell sites outright or bring on new capital partners."

"'Projects like these have long cycles and are financed with short-term loans,' Qiu said. 'It’s a big problem. You have five-year projects and the developers assumed the money would come out of China to support it. Now the money has been cut off. It’s the opposite of four years ago.'"