It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Luxury homes for sale and hundreds of them. All in the great Naples area, available today. Lori Fowler, a realtor at Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, said people had learned their lesson. Buyers are not overpaying for homes and they are taking out massive loans to secure a residence in a high-end neighborhood. Fowler said despite the recent downturn in sales, there is no reason to fret about the increasing number of for sale signs. It is not 2008 all over again."

"'We are definitely having a lot of buyers here in the market that are definitely swooping up all of the luxury inventory,' Fowler said."

"Large, high-end homes across the Sunbelt are sitting on the market, enduring deep price cuts to sell. The area around Scottsdale, Ariz. had 349 homes on the market at or above $3 million as of February 1—an all-time high. Homes built before 2012 are selling at steep discounts—sometimes almost 50%, and many owners end up selling for less than they paid to build their homes, said Walt Danley’s Dub Dellis."

"'You had this wave of homes built that now just don’t make sense for a lot of the people who bought them,' said Rick Palacios, Jr. of John Burns Real Estate Consulting."

"Anyone in the Valley waiting for the housing market to tilt toward buyers may be waiting a while. Experts say the Phoenix market remains a sellers’ market and they see no end in sight. 'Anyone who is expecting prices to fall is likely to be very disappointed by the current state of affairs,' said the Cromford Report, noting: 'Asking prices are being cut at quite a high rate, but asking prices are often overly optimistic anyway, especially for homes that have just been listed.'"

"Michael Schneck, the managing member of a Livingston, New Jersey-based firm, has been fielding calls from homeowners who want to appeal their property taxes. Some of them may even have a case. That may be because savvy shoppers are factoring in the new limit on the SALT deduction, or simply that the market for luxury homes is cooling after a period of rapid appreciation."

"'Homes over $3 million are seeing a significant slowing of sales and reduction of offering prices,' Schneck said."

"'Buyers have more properties to choose from, and there is less competition as some buyers were pushed out of the market by rising prices,' said Amanda Etchevery, chair of the Santa Clarita Valley Division of Realtors. 'The question is, will people who want and need a home understand that all those factors lead to one conclusion—owners may be willing to make concessions if they want to sell quickly.' And that, she said, may lead to price reductions."

"The latest North Texas housing market numbers are not very encouraging, to say the least. Home sales were down in many Dallas-Fort Worth neighborhoods in February, and median home sales prices dropped for the first time since the Great Recession in both Dallas and Rockwall counties."

"Almost 17 percent of houses currently listed for sale in the area have already had a price cut, according to Zillow. I still don't think a big value correction is likely. But don't be surprised if some months we see year-over-year price declines."

"Luxury home sales fell in the two formerly hot housing markets of Vancouver and Toronto, as well as Calgary, in the first couple months of the new year. 'It is a considerable amount of taxation on real estate all designed to try and affect a soft landing,' said Sotheby's International Realty Canada CEO Brad Henderson. 'Well, I don't think it was completely a soft landing, but it was certainly not a catastrophic landing.'"

"'The market for housing in Herzliya Pituah is dead,' says real estate appraiser Israel Yaakov. 'Activity here came to a standstill in 2017 after Kahlon raised the purchase tax and the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law went into effect. Money laundering was involved in quite a few of the houses sold over the years.'"

"A developer bought a 600-square meter lot on Hanuriot Street for NIS 6 million, renovated it for NIS 6 million, and sold it for NIS 12 million. 'He planned to sell the house for NIS 18 million, but couldn't pull it off,' says Yaakov. 'It's a buyers' market; they set the price.'"

"Sydney’s prestige home owners are feeling the ripple effect of the housing downturn with longer sales campaigns and more discounting before they score a sold sticker. 'These figures would suggest that the prestige market is not as resilient as was previously thought,' said AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver."

"A man in southeastern China is fuming after discovering that a sink in his new 'luxury apartment' is actually smaller than his hand. Last month, flats in the neighborhood reportedly sold for an average of 34,980 yuan ($5,210) per square meter, while three-bedroom units cost three million yuan ($446,960)."

"At such prices, the new homeowner was shocked to find the practically unusable sink, which is located on the balcony. 'I’ve never seen a sink this strange,' he told Guangdong Radio and Television Station. 'It’s different from the sink I saw in the showroom. That one was normal. How can you call it a hand-washing area if you can’t even fit your hand into it?'"

"Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of REALTORS®, says that data shows improving conditions heading into the spring selling and buying season based on multiple sources. 'The slump is over in the housing market,' Yun said. 'Better times are ahead for home buyers.'"