A report from the Red Hook Star Revue in New York. "'I think in the rental market the prices have definitely come down – I would say 20% from what the rents were historically in Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens,' explained broker Victoria Alexander. “That’s been really great for tenants that are moving into the neighborhood; they have a lot more leverage.'"

"She said that the general Red Hook market seems to be oversaturated with overpriced properties listed at the moment. 'We’ve seen in the last year that properties have sat on the market for 6 to 12 months, not moved and prices have slowly come down,' Alexander said. 'And that’s because of speculation.'"

The Des Moines Register in Iowa. "Des Moines-area renters looking for relief from rising rent prices should zero in on downtown units. Rents in the city's core have declined by 1.8 percent for a 1-bedroom, 4.7 percent for a 2-bedroom and 16 percent for a 3-bedroom unit, according CBRE/Hubbell Commercial."

"Declining rents downtown can be attributed to a sharp increase in new units — 2,500 over three years — resulting in vacancies not seen since 2010, said Cy Fox, vice president of CBRE/Hubbell Commercial. To fill empty units, landlords are offering concessions as much as three months free rent and electronics such as TVs or iPads."

"'It's hard to get rent growth when you're offering concessions,' Fox said. 'We're kind of in a supply-and-demand imbalance right now, but we expect it to correct itself.'"

From Doug French on Nevada. "Eli Segal interviewed developer Tim Deter, who at 48 would be a Gen Xer, with the horsepower and razzle dazzle to talk Goldman Sachs into lending him $41.5 million to build 210 apartment units atop 21,600 square feet of commercial space way south of the Las Vegas Strip in desert suburbia."

"There seem to be apartment projects going up everywhere and I’m told there are at least 5 years worth on the drawing board.  Segall begins his reporting with, 'Developers have packed the Las Vegas suburbs with apartments in recent years.'"

"Rumor has it, Picerne, a multi-state apartment builder with 17 projects in Las Vegas, is hitting the brakes. The company line is rents have risen beyond what’s affordable for the average Vegas worker bee. When asked by Segall about apartments being overbuilt going into the ‘08 crash and now another bubble may be forming, Deter said, 'apartments were pretty full throughout the worst of times in Vegas. That gives me a lot of confidence.'"

"Yes, entrepreneurs must be long on confidence.  However, a look at the chart below provides some realism: rents and occupancy both plunged during the worst of times. The payment to Goldman Sachs will likely stay the same, crash. or no crash."

From Curbed Seattle in Washington. "Seattle’s construction boom has been dominated by one-bedroom apartments and studios—housing built for one or two, at least ideally—for quite some time. But these apartment sizes don’t meet the needs of every household."

"Around 80 percent of new, market units have one bedroom or fewer. 'The city of Seattle definitely has a family-sized housing problem,' said Costar market analyst Jared Kadry. 'Developers are targeting millennials and tech employees in the urban core, where large units are not necessarily a priority.'"

"Where there are large units, they’re not always priced for families or, as the oft-repeated and seldom-useful advice goes, getting a roommate. Three-bedrooms are largely concentrated downtown and in South Lake Union, where they’re a staple on the top floors of luxury high-rise buildings. For example, West Edge at Second and Pike has eight such units, billed as penthouses. Four are available as of publication, with rent ranging from $11,500 to $16,600 per month."

"The lower floors of those buildings also complicate things somewhat. New construction often includes what is euphemistically called an 'open one-bedroom'—or, even more euphemistically, an 'urban one-bedroom'—which is, essentially, a studio with a carved-out sleeping nook. As we were discussing the numbers with Kadry, he confirmed that some of those units are being captured as one-bedrooms."

The Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts. "Affordable housing options are scarce, even as Quincy is in the midst of an apartment and condo construction boom. Private developers have built 3,800 new homes in the city in the last decade, but experts say low- and middle-income residents are priced out of the luxury-priced market and too little is being done to produce more affordable housing."

"The influx of new, high-end apartments to the rental market is driving up the cost of existing housing. Landlords are raising rents or pushing tenants out to take advantage of the robust economy by selling their buildings."

"A Patriot Ledger review of rents at new luxury apartment complexes in Quincy show two-bedroom apartments as high as $2,800 a month. A Quincy resident earning $64,890 a year — the city’s median single-person-household income — could not afford $2,800 a month for rent, based on federal guidelines that say no more than 30 percent of income should be spent on rent and utilities, in this case, $1,622."

The Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio. "The 22 Exchange complex has been spared from foreclosure and won’t be sold at a Summit County sheriff’s auction. The massive residential and retail complex in downtown Akron was slated to be auctioned in early December. But it was pulled from the sheriff’s sale at the request of lender Wells Fargo, which had foreclosed on the property last year."

"Court records indicate the bank and former owner 22 Exchange Student Housing worked out an agreement behind the scenes to deed the property to Wells Fargo 'or its assignee' to avoid foreclosure. The court records do not say who the new owner is."

"22 Exchange is a prime piece of downtown real estate that covers an entire city block. It’s made up of housing for University of Akron students and retail businesses. It also contains several empty storefronts. When it opened in August 2009, 22 Exchange was heralded as a new hot spot for students. At the time, the developer hoped it would become a bustling housing and retail complex for young adults. But Wells Fargo foreclosed in February 2018, arguing that 22 Exchange Student Housing had failed to pay on its $19.5 million mortgage."