A report from Stuff New Zealand. "Property prices in some parts of Auckland have fallen by more than a quarter, year-on-year. Mt Albert had the biggest price fall, from a median $1.170 million last year to $805,250 this year - a drop of 31.2 per cent. Royal Oak had the next biggest drop, from $1.160m in 2018 to $865,000 this year, or 25.4 per cent. Long Bay was in third place, with a price drop of 24.8 per cent. Even exclusive suburbs such as Herne Bay also reported price falls."

"'The complicating factor is the high levels of housing unaffordability in Auckland, which has been the driver of lower prices recently. We expect that potential buyers have hit the limits of what they're able to pay for housing – they'd like to pay more to secure a house, but simply can't access the funds for higher and higher prices. So as a result, vendors are readjusting their prices lower to secure a sale in some instances,' said Infometrics economist Brad Olsen."

The Daily Mail Australia. "Homeowners saddled with mortgages are set to be hit with another financial obstacle as 200,000 new properties are built. Australia was already home to one million empty properties on Census night in August 2016, during a boom in house prices."

"During that time, apartment developers began building thousands of new projects hoping to cash in on demand for homes as Sydney and Melbourne real estate values surged by double-digit figures every year. Since peaking in July 2017, Sydney’s median house price had dived by a record 16 per cent, or by more than $169,000."

"With investors already deserting the housing market, Digital Finance Analytics founder Martin North said there would be an oversupply of new homes, which would put more downward pressure on prices. 'Now we know there’s another 200,000 new properties coming on stream this ' year and next year based on the approvals over the last two or three years,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. 'We’ve still got a million properties vacant in Australia.'"

From ABC News in Australia. "It is hard to believe that Newman, in Western Australia, is the epicentre of BHP's largest Australian iron ore operation when you take a drive past the town's homes, boarded up and in a state of complete disrepair."

"Doc Davey owns one of the worst damaged properties in Newman — a home he bought as part of his retirement plan. 'We rebuilt the back fence six times, the damage just kept on coming,' Mr. Davey said. 'It is a basket case and we just haven't been able to get on top of it. It's worse than third world.'"

The Borneo Post on Malaysia. "The residential property market continues to be soft, particularly for landed residences, while other subsegments of residences like high-rise apartments are also experiencing a slowdown in sales. When asked why these exorbitant prices continue to persist, Dato Alex Ting, director of Kozin Real Estate, explained that this was largely due to the cost of land."

"'The main reason why our property prices are so high is due to the high price of land. Land prices in good areas like Jalan Song are now commanding around RM5 million per acre, Ting said. 'So just imagine, RM5 million divided by eight – that is already over RM600,000 in land costs alone. Even at 10 units per acre, it’s still over half a million. What about the building itself? That is another RM200,000 at least.'"

From Globes on Israel. "The Israel Builders Association has begun a campaign in recent days arguing that if the supply of housing increases, prices will fall. This campaign relies on the obsessive counting of housing units begun at the beginning of the decade, when housing prices began to rise. This obsession caused damage, a small part of which began to surface recently, but most of which will appear in the coming decades."

"The government enthusiastically jumped on the housing shortage bandwagon in order to demonstrate that it was doing something to lower housing prices. Economists also endorsed this thesis, because it was simple and fitted in with simplistic economic models."

"Spacious apartments built to a high standard in new neighborhoods stayed on the shelf, and not only because the prices were still high. Why? Because the apartments were not built where they were needed."

"Most of the activity aimed at increasing the supply of housing created a phony supply of housing of no relevance to the country, to no one's benefit in the near future. On the other hand, demand pressure in the places that are relevant will continue. We will pay the price of the unneeded supply and the missing supply in the next housing crisis."

The Globe and Mail in Canada. "Real estate investors looking to buy, fix and flip housing for profits in Toronto are increasingly finding it difficult to sell their upgraded properties, let alone make the kinds of margins that justify the risky ventures. Some are now turning their property portfolios into rental accommodations to help them weather the slowing market."

"As the Toronto real estate market neared the end of its decade-long hot streak Imran and Winnie Latif left office jobs behind 'No one realized it was the peak. Right up to 2017, that’s when it popped around April-May. We had renovated for a client, he listed in April and that week was when everything fell down,' Imran said."

"Their current project is in Riverdale, where they intend to live in the upper floors of a detached they are renovating with plans to rent out the basement and main floor. Before they settle on living there, they will try to list the house and see if they can get a quick sale at a good price."

"It all adds up to a more cautious approach to a business that still carries a good deal of risk. 'I’m more conservative, I feel like we’re sometimes underwater but it works out in the end,' Winnie says. 'Imran has the big picture vision, he visualizes something and he doesn’t compromise. He needs to complete the job, even if that means borrowing more funds.'"