A report from the Star Phoenix in Canada. "Regina’s residential construction industry is experiencing a heavy downturn, with this year’s housing starts on track to be the lowest in 11 years. Jeff Marchigiano, the sales manager for Gilroy Homes, said the company cut half its construction staff in 2018. 'When I sell a house, now I get 20 or 30 guys coming in and saying thank you, because I’m providing them with work cause these guys are so starving,' said Marchigiano."

From Bloomberg on the UK. "The sale prices of top-end homes in the British capital have been falling for nearly four years, weighed down by a cocktail of tax hikes, a crackdown on money laundering and a glut of new properties."

"Evidence of the downturn’s impact is mounting. The developer behind London’s Centre Point tower stopped using external sales agents because the offers it was receiving for the luxury apartments were too low, Estates Gazette reported. The number of unsold homes under construction in the capital hit a record in March."

"Sales of homes in London’s priciest districts fell to their lowest level in six years in the first three months of this year as buyers braced for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. 'I’ve always said that what we could not cope with economically in this country is a long, prolonged period of uncertainty,' said Mark Preston, chief executive of the Grosvenor Group, the property company that owns large swaths of the upscale Belgravia and Mayfair districts on behalf of the billionaire Duke of Westminster. 'And that’s now what we have got.'"

From Mansion Global on Dubai. "Dubai home prices plummeted 13.2% in April to an average of AED2.45 million (US$667,012), as an abundance of new construction continues to overwhelm the housing market there, according to Property Monitor. It’s the third consecutive month home prices across the city declined by more than 10%."

"A flood of new development deliveries in 2018 appear to have supercharged the slowdown, with both the average apartment and villa prices in freefall since the middle of last year. The average apartment cost AED1.7 million in April, while the average villa sold for AED4.5 million—both down roughly 20% from 2015."

From Bloomberg on Thailand. "A glut of condominiums as Thailand’s economy wavers and stricter mortgage-lending rules kick in is creating a buyer’s market in Bangkok. Some 65,000 new apartments were added to the city last year, an 11% increase over 2017 and the most since 2009."

"Demand, however, is tepid with developers reporting take-up rates of just 55% and average asking prices decreasing 6% year-on-year, a Knight Frank report shows. Chinese investors have historically made up the bulk of foreign property buyers in Thailand but their presence has waned as China’s economy slows and capital controls limit outflows."

"And it isn’t just Bangkok that’s hurting. A total of 454,814 residential units across the country were left unsold last year, with a value of $41 billion, according to Sopon Pornchokchai, president of the Agency for Real Estate Affairs Co."

"Still, Knight Frank at least believes the glut and falling prices may be short lived. 'Ask anyone who’s been in property how many times they’ve heard the bubble will burst?,' the firm’s Bangkok-based head of residential, Frank Khan, said. 'I’ve heard this more than 10 times, but in my last 15 years, it’s never burst.'"

The Australian Financial Review. "Sydney developer Mark Bainey has pooled $50 million from wealthy investors to bulk buy newly-completed apartments at up to 30 per cent discounts as oversupply fears and high funding costs start to bite projects amid the weaker market conditions."

"'We have been fielding approaches from concerned developers who have been unable to sell due to oversupply concerns in suburbs such as Epping, Parramatta, Mascot, Macquarie Park and Waterloo,' he said."

"With the attractive pricing on offer, Mr Bainey said his fund would be able to generate net returns of about 5.5 per cent compared with the typical yield on new apartments of less then 3 per cent. Mr Bainey said a lot of the discounted stock being offered as bulk deals, was because developers were being pressured from their financiers."

"'We’re now seeing the discounted offers coming to market – the cost of capital for developers has been ridiculous. The last unsold apartments in a development are often where developers make most of their profits,' he said."

"Alongside apartment fires sales, developers are also coming under pressure to sell whole projects by their non-bank lenders."