A report from Market Watch. "Pending home sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in April and were 2% lower than a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said. The trend is solidly downward. April marked the 16th-straight month of annual declines. Housing seemed to be bouncing back from the rough patch at the end of 2018, but as 2019 winds on, that picture is becoming more blurry. On Tuesday, the widely-followed Case-Shiller index showed home prices had risen at the slowest pace since mid-2012 in March.

"'Real estate agents throughout the U.S. may have to brace for a more sluggish market than anticipated based on last month’s decline in home showing activity, the ninth consecutive month of a nationwide year-over-year decrease,' according to an index from ShowingTime, which compiles data about property showings."

The New York Post. "Actress and director Lena Dunham is in contract to sell her Gretsch condo, at 60 Broadway in Williamsburg, for less than she paid for it. The home was last asking $2.65 million — down from its original $3 million asking price. (She bought it last year for $2.9 million.)"

From The Real Deal on Florida. "Developers currently have 2,101 new development units left to sell in Miami from this cycle, according to ISG Miami’s latest report. The current cycle began in 2012, and the pipeline of new units excludes projects that have been shelved over the past seven years. The report also does not include units available on the MLS."

"'We’re calling this the supply shock,' said Craig Studnicky, CEO of ISG World, which authored the report."

The Los Angeles Times in California. "The sluggish Southern California housing market showed signs of perking up in April, as prices ticked up one month after they fell for the first time since 2012. However, the annual gain in prices was far smaller than in recent years and the median remains $7,500 below the all-time high reached in June."

"That raises the prospect of declines in the future. And it suggests that while falling borrowing costs may have attracted more prospective buyers, they haven’t been spurred to engage in aggressive bidding wars."

"'Buyers are being pickier,' said Michael Nourmand, president of L.A. area brokerage Nourmand & Associates Realtors. 'They think they can negotiate more than they could before.'"

"To make deals go through, more sellers are trimming their asking prices. In Los Angeles County, 13.5% of listings had at least one price cut in April, up from 10% a year earlier, according to Zillow."

"Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, predicted Southern California homes prices will be flat or down a bit over the next year. 'Prices,' he explained, 'got too high.'"

The Orange County Register in California. "Homebuying in Chino, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Upland, and Fontana started 2019 by falling 8.7% as the county suffered the largest sales drop in over four years. A large jump in the supply of homes — existing and new — available for purchase plus a significant dose of economic uncertainty led to San Bernardino County homebuying’s biggest chilling since the end of 2014."

The Hometown Station in California. "A Santa Clarita realtor is encouraging the community to 'make noise' about the rising number of seemingly unjust foreclosures he believes are set in motion as a result of banks and servicers no longer having any 'oversight' forcing them to behave ethically today."

"'Because there is no oversight, these guys can do whatever the heck they want,' said Richard Szerman of Alta Realty Group, who offers free foreclosure defense services to the public."

"Szerman noted that in previous years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Keep Your Home California helped ensure banks and servicers followed more ethical practices, but that these organizations were shut down, and the consequences have been evident."

"One of Szerman’s current clients is facing foreclosure after her bank denied her a loan modification, requested in writing that she do a short sale on the house instead, and then declined the short sale offer while repeatedly refusing to give any reason why, according to Szerman."

"Szerman pointed out that in this case, his client’s bank will likely lose about $100,000 by foreclosing instead of accepting the short sale offer, but that this type of 'incompetent,' 'foolish,' 'mammoth' mistake likely won’t cost anyone at the bank their job."

"'This is the same kind of nonsense we saw in the banking industry leading up to the 2008 crash, and that is the exact same attitude we’re getting now,' Szerman said. 'We see this across the board. The servicers act this way, the banks act this way, and (it’s) because there is no oversight, even by their own shareholders, it would seem.'"