It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Last year, 20,648 single-family and multifamily existing homes sold in Lee County and 10,527 in Collier — a 49 percent decline over 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit, slowing the market. There are still plenty of interested buyers in the market , but only four out of 10 of them are ready to act. In the earlier part of 2018, the number ready to act was closer to seven, said Denny Grimes, of Denny Grimes and Co. in Fort Myers. 'It's like asking someone on a date and not getting one,' he said."

"Cities like Denver and San Jose have begun to see some relief when it comes to the low number of homes for sale. Denver, in particular, experienced the biggest uptick in housing inventory of any metropolitan area in the U.S., with 155% more homes available for sale this month than there were a year ago."

"This year's spring home-buying season, when the frenzy typically kicks off for the year, appears to be off to a slow start—particularly in and around some of the nation's most expensive, coastal cities. The nation's most expensive market, Silicon Valley's San Jose, CA, experienced a 125% jump in the metro area in February compared with a year earlier. The median home price in the metro is a whopping 1,079,800—and that's down 10% from the previous year!"

"Many older waterfront homes currently for sale on suburban Chicago’s North Shore feature views. What these homes don’t have, however, is buyers. In the fall, real-estate broker Andra O’Neill, a listed a home in Lake Bluff, Ill for $6.995 million. The home has been on and off the market since 2014, when it was listed at $18 million, according to Realtor.com. 'There’s more inventory than we would love to have,' she said."

"Nearly two-thirds, or 63 percent, of millennial homeowners surveyed by Bankrate.com said they had regrets about buying. That is more than any other age group. Other common regrets were that the purchase was a 'poor investment' and that the mortgage payments were too high. 'Taking on a larger mortgage payment than you can comfortably handle is a recipe for disaster,' Bankrate's Deborah Kearns added."

"There are signs that worst case scenario is happening more often as the Toronto-area real estate market continues to cool. It happened to Cynthia McLuckie and her husband, Brian, who had been trying to sell their ustom-built Caledon dream home at 2723 Escarpment Sideroad since 2017."

"'The market took a dive; my husband was out of work,' Ms. McLuckie said. 'We tried to sell it ourselves, but we couldn’t sell it for less than what we are asking because of liens on the house.' Finally, earlier this year, the bank called the loan. The eight-bedroom, six-bathroom country house (with in-law suite) is on the market again – listed by their bank -- for $2.75-million. Ms. McLuckie says her husband is working again, but they just couldn’t save the house.'"

"'The UK property market remains firmly on its knees,' said Jonathan Samuels, chief executive of property lender Octane Capital. 'March could be the month the property market finally succumbs to madness.' Sellers, though, are rightly nervous. 'If there’s one common factor in Britain’s fractured property market, it’s that these are anxious times for sellers, and many buyers will want the reassurance of a low price in order to proceed,' said Nicholas Finn, executive director of Garrington Property Finders."

"It’s a buyers’ market for Finnish real estate this year, according to the biggest Nordic lender. 'It would appear that this year supply will grow faster than demand. This will have an impact on home prices,' said Olli Karkkainen, an economist at Nordea Bank Abp in Helsinki. 'If there are more and more flats for sale and selling takes a longer time, then buyers will have the upper hand.'"

"For the first time since the crash of 2008, Sweden’s housebuilders are having to buy back housing units that have not sold, Swedish TV station SVT reported. One developer admitted it was building too many homes for the higher-end market. HSB, a cooperative housing association, found that it was unable to sell apartments in the Stockholm area despite reducing their price 20%, and was then forced to buy back 120 of them – the first time it has had to do this for 10 years. Anders Lago, the chairman of HSB, said the state of the Swedish housing market was worse than during the crash."

"Lago said: 'We have built an incredible selection of apartments, and I will also admit they were offered at high prices. Now both we and others have reason to feel critical of ourselves and ensure that the prices are pushed to bring down the costs.'"

"Real estate developers will continue to build houses in Sabah although there have been no buyers for a fifth of developed properties in the state. 'It will pick up soon,' said Shareda president Chew Shang Hai. 'Local developers are already planning to build more housing units.' He said the proportion of built but unsold properties in the state seemed high only to those unfamiliar with the business. In fact, he added, the number was low relative to the total number of overhung properties across the country."

"More signs are emerging that the party might be over for China’s property market, with one of the country’s two major housing agencies reporting a sharp drop in its profits last year. While Shenzhen Worldunion Properties Consultancy Inc. saw revenues of .55 billion yuan ($1.12 billion) in 2018, the actual profit attributable to shareholders was a relatively measly 447 million yuan, down 55.45% from 2017."

"For several years, economists have warned of a bubble as speculators looked to make easy returns by betting on seemingly ever-rising home prices. Local and national governments began in 2016 to roll out policies intended to restrict sales."

"Shenzhen Worldunion’s results are another sign that these policies are dousing market enthusiasm, particularly in first-tier cities. Shenzhen’s government says that last year first-time housing purchases were down 27% on 2016 levels. In Shanghai they were down 35%, and Beijing down 57% for the same period."

"CoreLogic's head of research Tim Lawless says price falls are now extending well beyond the previously booming Sydney and Melbourne markets. 'Every market in Australia is losing steam,' he told ABC News. 'We are seeing this downturn becoming quite widespread geographically.'"

"'We've seen a lot of new supply coming into the market from newly constructed housing, especially in the high-rise apartment sector, we've seen a real slowdown in foreign buying activity and, of course, we're also still seeing affordability challenges in markets like Sydney and Melbourne, despite the fact that values have come down in Sydney now by 13 per cent and in Melbourne by nearly 10 per cent since the peak,' he added."