A report from the Longmont Times-Call in Colorado. "Even as data shows Boulder and its surroundings are experiencing a 'much-needed' housing market correction, the city last week for the fifth straight year landed atop a national finance researcher’s list of top residential real estate environments for stability and growth. Dustin Sagrillo, a Realtor with Re/Max of Boulder, cautioned buyers against exploring publicly financed loans aimed at expanding Boulder’s affordability that come with limits on how much an owner can earn when it comes time to sell."

"'The whole reason you buy property is to capitalize on the appreciation,' Sagrillo said."

"He added buyers are gaining power, calling the current market 'hyper local,' meaning driven by nitty-gritty property nuances such as traffic counts on adjacent roads. 'Houses that back into busy streets or intersections are standing on the market much longer,' Sagrillo said. 'Buyers in the marketplace are going, ‘Well, let me see if something better is coming along.’ As a result, it’s having price adjustments that’s giving you that impression that things are coming down, but really things are just stabilizing.'"

From Mansion Global. "Home buyers are looking to flee expensive coastal cities more than any other metro areas for more affordable alternatives, according to a Redfin report on U.S. migration. New York City saw the largest number of residents looking to jump ship. San Francisco followed with a net outflow of 28,190, compared to 27,332 in 2018."

"'People are increasingly looking to leave expensive coastal metros like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles,' Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, said in the report. 'The homebuyers who are heading out of town in search of affordability don’t just want to save a few hundred dollars per month, they want to save thousands of dollars per month, and the only way to achieve that kind of cost savings is to move somewhere more affordable.'"

From Broker Pulse on New York. "As many properties go ‘on sale’ once listed, few are lowering prices enough to attract buyers. Although sellers are willing to make small price cuts, these are not enough and often too late to generate a significant new buyer interest. Thus, NYC homes are lingering longer on the market and fewer homes are finding buyers."

"Although many sellers are tempted to list their properties aggressively at first, by relying on price cuts to draw interest if the buyers fail to come through only weakens the listing. Even at negotiation, few sellers are willing to make the concessions needed to make the deal. With many new homes coming to the market on a regular basis, modest price cuts are not enticing enough to draw new interest, nor deep enough to lead the few willing to make a deal."

"But let’s cut to the chase. Price cuts signal a willingness to negotiate. This is an opportunity for buyers to make a deal due to the compliance with the seller. And with these price cuts buyers are saving quite a bit. The median total discount from first listing price to closing price was 10.5%, according to StreetEasy. Ultimately, this is just another reminder that buyers hold the power. Those tempted by price cuts should feel empowered to negotiate, particularly on homes that have already has a price cut."

From My Northwest on Washington. "Affordability has long been an issue for buyers and renters alike in Seattle. It’s the latter category, though, where things have gotten especially tough, with census data showing Seattle rent as the fourth most expensive the country."

"This comes as the market continues to relax for home-buyers, with King County’s median residential home prices dropped almost 3 percent year-over-year in June. Seattle’s prices have cooled even more, dropping 5 percent year-over-year, and with Zillow predicting another 3.9 percent drop within the next year."

"Even so, the median price for homes sold in Seattle isn’t cheap by any means, with that number sitting at a whopping $712,300, after peaking at $752,000 in 2018."

The Sacramento Bee in California. "California’s wildfires have found yet another way of doing serious harm to rural California — by hammering its housing market. The refusal of insurance companies to cover homes in fire-prone areas is prompting home buyers to cancel purchases and look elsewhere."

"Meanwhile, the inventory of unsold housing is piling up in the foothills. Janice Wechsler, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the rugged Foresthill area of Placer County, said the problem is worsening as homeowners, irate over rising insurance premiums, seek to get out. She’s hearing of longtime residents of the area looking at moving to Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. 'They’re being canceled, they’re watching their rates tripling or quadrupling,' Wechsler said. 'It becomes the proverbial straw. They say, ‘I’ve had enough of this.'"

"Selling has gotten tougher, however. In Placer County, the unsold inventory index — the estimated time it would take to sell off all the homes listed — rose to 2.7 months in June. That was up 12 percent from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors. In Nevada County, the index has jumped by more than a third in the past year, to 5.4 months. In Tuolumne County, it’s soared by two-thirds, to 7.9 months."

"Cathy Mudge, a legislative staffer at the Capitol, wants to relocate to Sacramento from Foresthill in the Placer foothills northeast of Auburn. Her home, listed for $535,000, has been on the market since March, and it’s taken far longer than she ever imagined to find a buyer."

"The steps she’s taken to improve the marketability — like uprooting 15 trees on her property to reduce wildfire risks — haven’t helped move the property. 'The market has just tanked,' she said."

"The real estate market in fire-prone areas of Southern California areas is experiencing similar problems, but the costs can be greater in coastal communities where property values are higher than in the Sierra foothills, said Pat Potter, managing partner of Bob Gabriel Co. Insurance in Santa Monica. He described a homeowner in Santa Monica suddenly seeing his $8,600 a year plan he’d had for 25 years canceled. Replacement coverage ranged as high as $25,000 a year. Potter said a deal on a client’s $4.5 million home in Bel Air fell through because the buyer couldn’t find insurance other than the FAIR plan, which only covers a maximum of $1.5 million in potential losses."

"'There isn’t a county that I can think of that has not been affected by this,' Potter said. 'We’re talking about Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura. You go up and down this state, and I don’t know an area that hasn’t been impacted.'"