A report from the Orange County Register in California. "Southern California’s home prices boomeranged back in April from a rare price drop in March as lower mortgage rates and an increase in the number of homes for sale lured more home shoppers back into the market, CoreLogic reported. Southern California’s median price hit an all-time high of $537,000 in June, and last month’s median is in striking distance of that amount, coming just $9,500 below that record."

"In addition to seeing sales drop in 17 of the past 22 months, the number of homes for sale has been rising. Listings in Los Angeles and Orange counties are at the highest level since 2011, Steve Thomas of Reports on Housing said recently."

"The region has been in a sales slump since mid-2018, however, when transactions stopped rising from year-ago levels. Economists attributed the decrease to rising mortgage rates and prices climbing out of reach for most buyers. Many buyers also pulled back because they feared the market was nearing a peak and they didn’t want to buy at the top of the cycle."

From Money Magazine. "San Jose made headlines in 2016 when its average home price passed $1 million. And they didn’t stop there: the average price of a home climbed to $1.37 million at the start of 2018, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR)."

"For the past year, however, they’ve been falling fast. As of the first quarter of 2019, the average home price has fallen 11.1% since the same period in 2018 to $1.22 million."

"San Jose isn’t the also the only place in the U.S. where prices are moderating or even falling. Other cities, like Naples, Fla., Norfolk, Va., and Topeka, Kan., are also saw decreases in year-over-year median listing prices for the first quarter, according to the NAR."

From LA Downtown News. "In January, work stopped on the $1 billion Oceanwide Plaza project next to L.A. Live and the Los Angeles Convention Center. Developer Oceanwide Holdings announced in late January that it had put the project on hold while it restructured its capital, but pledged to resume construction by the end of the following month."

"February has come and gone, as have March and April. Meanwhile, little apparent progress has been made. Although construction fencing remains up and cranes still rise above the frames of the three towers, on most days there appear to be few if any construction workers on site."

"The project at 1101 S. Flower St. is slated to comprise 504 condominiums and a 154-room Park Hyatt hotel in two 40-story towers and a 49-floor high rise. Last week, a spokesperson for the project declined to comment and instead pointed to the developer’s statement in January."

"The main issue behind the stall still appears to be the Chinese government’s capital control measures on direct international investment, according to Dr. William Yu, an economist with the UCLA Anderson School of Management and an expert on the Chinese economy. He said that over the last three years, Beijing has been exerting greater scrutiny and restrictions on overseas investment in areas such as real estate, following a near depletion of the country’s foreign currency reserves."

"Dale Goldsmith, a partner with the land-use firm Armbruster, Goldsmith & Delvac and a veteran on the development process in Downtown, said that despite the project sitting unfinished in the heart of South Park, Oceanwide Plaza’s problems are not a sign of the overall development market in Downtown slowing down."

"'I wouldn’t say this is a Chicken Little moment where the sky is falling. It’s a complex project. I imagine sorting out new financing is very complex,' Goldsmith said. 'It’s a lot easier when you haven’t broken ground.'"

"At the end of January, contractor Webcor Construction filed a $52.8 lawsuit against Oceanwide, Lendlease and others, citing breach of contract and unpaid funds. That lawsuit is still pending. Oceanwide did not comment on the matter."

From Realtor.com. "The former family home of beloved San Diego Padres great Tony Gwynn has had a rough few years since the Hall of Famer passed away in 2014. In 2018, the home, still owned by Gwynn's widow, Alicia, fell into foreclosure. At the time, the property was worth about $2 million, but she owed more than $2.5 million to the bank, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported."

"The home went to auction in June 2018, but failed to attract a buyer, so ownership fell to the lender. Property records indicate that the current owner of the home is a trust associated with Deutsche Bank."

"Earlier this year, neighbors spotted squatters living in the home. These interlopers were difficult to evict due to California's squatters rights, so a civil case was brought to rid the home of any inhabitants. Now the vagrants have scattered, and the bank is ready to find a new owner for the 2-acre property, so the mansion is on the market in Poway, CA, for $2,120,000."