It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "An Upper East Side townhouse that was once home to the late fashion designer Oleg Cassini is now facing foreclosure. The case comes as authorities orchestrate a fire sale of Cassini’s assets. Earlier this week, Doyle Auctions announced a sale of the fashion designer’s estate. The auction will include 700 lots of luxury cars, artwork, memorabilia and furniture taken from Cassini’s Gramercy Park and Long Island homes. Meanwhile, a public auction of the Gramercy Park property earlier this week failed to attract any bidders."

"Five years ago, a New York developer bought a plot of land in Midtown Atlanta, declaring its intentions to build the tallest residential tower in the Southeast, with prices and finishes more in line with Midtown Manhattan. But many real estate brokers and experts who Bisnow spoke to have doubts that it will ever get built. 'Opus, which we call ‘Nopus,’ said Jeffrey Taylor Johnson, the founder of Above Atlanta Brokers, among the top condo brokerage firms in Atlanta. 'It's a joke.'"

"Robert Murray, chief economist at Dodge Data and Analytics said starts of single-family and multifamily homes have peaked in Texas and across the U.S. He said there are growing concerns of overbuilding of luxury, high-rise residential buildings in markets around the country. 'Over the last year, single-family housing construction seems to have been stalled, probably due to affordability concerns,' he said. 'The first time homebuyers have not entered the market to the same extent we have seen in prior cyclical upturns.'"

"'Home sellers are realizing home price growth has slowed from its hot streak of a year ago. They realize they will still receive a substantial gain, but it is unlikely they will get the same high price they might have received a year ago,' said Alan Barbic, president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. Compared to a year ago, the median home prices were down in five of nine counties in the Bay Area, with Alameda declining the most at 6.4 percent from a year ago."

"One factor keeping prices in check: Many Bay Area residents have simply given up on trying to buy where homes are the costliest in the country. 'We’ve exhausted demand. Homes are simply out of reach for a large enough share of people who want to buy,' said Issi Romem, chief economist at Trulia."

"Film producer George Furla finally sold his 6,391-square-foot, full-floor penthouse at the top of the Fordham building on the Near North Side, although his $3.84 million selling price was less than half the $8.5 million that he had sought for it as recently as 2016. Furla purchased the 50th-floor unit as raw space in 2005 for $3.15 million. He didn’t move in, however, and had the penthouse on the market for more than six years as raw space before deciding to spend the money to finish the space. The condo has a $6,882-a-month assessment."

"St. Albert’s housing market picked up a bit last month despite sales being lower than they were in May 2018. 'The new listings to market have come down year over year,' said broker James Mabey. 'Over the last couple of years we’ve had a lot of downward pressure on pricing, mostly because we’ve had an oversaturated market in terms of inventory. We just had far too much inventory than what can be absorbed by the marketplace.'"

"Following pressure from CPRE Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough Council has released figures that suggest they’ve made plans to build over 1000 homes that aren’t needed. The update includes indication of a surplus of 1002 homes, which is equivalent to a village the size of Sharnbrook or Oakley."

"Perhaps the most notable part of the latest Goodbody report on housing is its conclusion that the stock of unsold properties are firmly on the rise. There have been plenty of reports from the industry of developments not selling out, but Goodbody crunched the numbers and found that in the four quarters to the first three months of this year, there were 2,500 more units built than sold nationwide. Most of this occurred in Dublin, where new supply was 6,905 and purchases were 5,093."

"It is obvious looking at average incomes and house prices that prices, in Dublin in particular, are moving above affordable levels for many, even in many instances for dual-income couples. Nonetheless it is still striking that so many are left unsold."

"The secondary market of high-rise residential properties in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor was muted in 1Q2019, says Savills Malaysia director of research Amy Wong. However, the primary market fared slightly better as it was driven by the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2019. 'With discounts of 10% to 26%, the HOC will have some impact on the secondary market. In general, the six-month campaign will help developers sell off their unsold properties,' she says."

"Fifty-four apartments in the South Village development at Kirrawee are being sold to an investment company for about 30 per cent below peak sale prices. The prospectus was upbeat about a revival in the housing market."

"'The residential market in Sydney peaked in July 2017 and is currently 22 months into the down cycle,' the document said. 'The longest period of time it took any previous downward cycle to reach the bottom was 28 months. Sydney residential property prices are now down 14.5 per cent from their peak the largest previous decline was 11.6 per cent between 1988 and 1991. Unlike previous housing price downturns that were heavily influenced by high interest rates, the recent downturn is heavily influenced by the ability of prospective owners to obtain financing.'"