A report from the Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. "Last year alone, 2,810 new housing units were completed in the area known as Greater Center City — the largest number since 2002, according to a report. The CCD report showed that the market might be slowing. This isn’t necessarily a problem, said Kevin Gillen, senior research fellow at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University."

"'We’re past the peak, and that’s good,' he added. 'You want to take a breather.' Currently, new construction is outpacing population, and no one wants to see apartments sitting vacant, Gillen said, stressing that this slow-down is 'a normal cyclical fluctuation, not another housing bubble bursting like 10 years ago.'"

"Contrasting various Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Gillen found that the San Francisco area registered four times the rate of post-recession housing construction as Philadelphia; both Dallas and New York nearly tripled Philadelphia’s rate. What keeps the city from soaring, construction-wise? 'Poverty,' Gillen said."

From SocketSite on California. "Muted by the holiday weekend, the net number of homes on the market in San Francisco (615) was relatively unchanged over the past week but remains 28 percent higher than at the same time last year, 76 percent higher than at the same time in 2015 (350) and a 7-year seasonal high."

"At the same time, the percentage of listings in San Francisco which have undergone at least one price reduction has ticked up to 16 percent versus 13 percent at the same time last year. And the number of homes in contract to be sold is currently down 17 percent on a year-over-year basis while the average list price per square foot of the homes in contract is running around $930, down 1 percent versus the same time last year."

From the Tennessee Ledger. "It was a rough start for home sales in Williamson County with a decline in home sales prices and the number of units sold. The were 350 home sales recorded for the month averaging $520,523 compared to 387 sales last January averaging $540,640 resulting in a 10 percent decrease in units sold and a 4 percent decrease in average price."

"Home sales over $1 million were down 39 percent in January with 17 recorded for the month compared to 28 recorded in January 2018."

From 6sqft on New York. "The partners behind the Jean Nouvel-designed tower at 53 West 53rd Street (also known as the MoMA Tower) will be serving even more price chops to the ultra-luxury project in the midst of lackluster sales, though they disagree on how much that should be. As Crain’s reported, Hines, Goldman Sachs, and Singapore’s Pontiac Land Group recently underwent an arbitration process to settle the matter, with Hines seeking aggressive discounts."

"The 1,050-foot condo building has already received $167 million in price cuts since hitting the market almost four years ago with a projection of $2.14 billion in sales. About 15 percent of the 145 units at 53W53 are under contract currently, with closings set to begin in the spring, a spokeswoman for the project said."

"The poor sales in an oversaturated market reflect CityRealty’s 2018 year-end market report, which revealed a notable drop in transaction volume and a decline in condo sale prices throughout Manhattan’s real estate market. There are now so many competing high-end projects—520 Park Avenue, Central Park Tower, and One57 among them—that buyers don’t feel a sense of urgency."

"Some have also cited specific issues with 53W53’s design which might be contributing to stalled sales. The structural diagrid on the facade cuts through windows and interferes with the sweeping Manhattan views. As 6sqft previously reported, this also poses a host of pragmatic issues since the windows are rendered inoperable, requiring a special ventilation system and custom window shades."

"'In a market where views and light are highly rewarded, you don’t want to interrupt sight lines for any reason,' Donna Olshan, president of the residential brokerage firm Olshan Realty, said to Crain’s. 'I commend the developer for wanting to build something so artistic, but I’m not so sure of its market viability.'"