A report from This Garden Island on Hawaii. "The real estate market on Kauai remained relatively strong through the first half of 2019, but overall sales figures across the island are down from this time last year, and the market could be in for a substantial downturn, Realtors said."

"'We are at the top of the market,' said Broker CJ Halladay .'Right now it’s still a sellers’ market, but we should eventually see a transition.'"

"According to statistics compiled by Hawaii Information Service, the median sale price of single-family homes in Kapaa and Lihue is down slightly for the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2018. But the change is almost negligible, especially considering the more-severe drops elsewhere on the island. According to Halladay, the lower prices are attracting competition."

"'Anything under $600,000 is moving really quick,' he said, while homes listed in the $600,000-to-$900,000 range are 'sitting on the market a little longer,' and anything between $900,000 and $1.5 million has been 'kinda hard to sell.'"

"Median prices islandwide are down over 12% so far this year compared to 2018, from $732,000 to about $643,000. The North Shore and Koloa single-family home markets have been hit the hardest so far, with homes selling for about 17 % to 18% less than what they did a year before."

"'Single-family homes have taken the hardest hit,' said John Friedman, principal broker of Kauai Aloha Real Estate , discussing a downward trend in property sales volume that has affected real estate markets 'pretty much across the board.'"

From Mansion Global on New York. "We caught up with George Filopoulos, owner and president of Metrovest Equities to discuss the ups and downs of the Manhattan market. MG: What’s the biggest surprise in the luxury real estate market right now? GF: I’m surprised at the lack of absorption in areas of Manhattan. New constructions are going through their fourth year of a slow pace."

"MG: What area currently has the best resale value? GF: Hamptons oceanfront. In Manhattan, there’s a lot of interest downtown. We’re seeing better absorption south of 14th street as opposed to north of 59th street. But there’s a lot of new construction all over, and when they’ve been on the market for a long time, it creates shadow inventory."

The Real Deal on Florida. "Just a few years ago, Palm Beach’s high society packed the sprawling waterfront estate at 101 Casa Bendita to attend galas and charity events hosted by the town’s hotshot developer Robert Matthews. But the mansion has remained empty since Matthews was convicted in a federal court of defrauding foreign EB-5 investors in a failed Palm Beach condo-hotel project known as the Palm House Hotel. And on Friday, Matthews and his wife’s former estate sold for $30.2 million to Vahan and Danielle Gureghian, a couple who run a charter school business."

"The deal came about after a court-ordered auction to sell the property in March fell through. Bidders were required to make bids of at least $31 million to qualify, but no bid reached that level. The home was then taken over by its mortgage lender DB Private Wealth Mortgage in April. In total, the mortgage company claims it was owed about $31 million from Matthews and his wife Maria. The mortgage company first tried to foreclose on the house in 2017, but Matthews’ lawyers were able to postpone that foreclosure auction."

"The 12,077-square-foot mansion was used by Matthews as a way to show that he was a successful businessman and entrepreneur, according to civil complaint by EB-5 investors in Palm Beach County. Matthews pleaded guilty in April in federal court to money laundering and tax evasion charges for defrauding foreign EB-5 investors in the Palm Beach condo-hotel project. EB-5 is a federal program where investors can get a green card in exchange for investing at least $500,000 in a U.S. enterprise and creating at least 10 jobs. The development group was able to solicit more than $45 million of EB-5 money for the Palm House development."

"The development group assured investors that the project would be completed in less than a year and that their money would be protected in an escrow account with a bank. It also claimed that Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Celine Dion would be on the condo-hotel’s advisory board. In reality, no such advisory board existed and much of the money was instead diverted for the personal use of the Matthewses, according to federal prosecutors."

From Bisnow on California. "The San Francisco Bay Area experienced construction cost growth of 6.7% in 2018, making it the most expensive place to build in the world, according to an April report from Turner & Townsend. But the metro might finally be seeing sweet relief, Truebeck Construction Chief Operating Officer Nick Pera said at Bisnow’s Silicon Valley Construction & Development Summit Thursday. '[Construction costs] are starting to level off,' Pera said. 'We have subcontractors and trade partners, and other general contractors, that are actually looking for work.'"

"The company created its own construction cost index several years ago after finding existing indices didn’t accurately reflect the realities of the Bay Area, according to Pera, who is confident the kind of cost growth seen last year is over. 'I believe the years of 5%, 6% or 7% escalation are well over,' he said."

The Dallas Business Journal in Texas. "Despite low mortgage rates, high levels of student loan debt are preventing potential buyers from purchasing a home, which is throttling the housing market in Dallas-Fort Worth and nationwide, according to mortgage industry and other real estate experts."

"'From a practical perspective, somebody coming out of school with heavy student loan debt may simply not qualify for a conventional loan,' said Rick Sharga, CEO of CJ Patrick Co., a California-based real estate and financial services consulting firm. 'Not only were they coming out with record levels of student loan debt, but they were coming out into a market with no jobs. The notion of them being able to pay back that student loan debt in any reasonable period of time was pretty much a fantasy.'"

"Many millennials stopped paying their student loans altogether, said Ilyce Glink, who writes a nationally syndicated column and moderated the panel at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference. 'First they were delinquent, and then they just stopped,' Glink said. 'Then you’ve got a huge chunk — and I mean tens of millions of people — who now have lower credit scores, which of course are the defining factor for all things mortgages.'"

The Wall Street Journal. " While Hispanics comprise only 18% of the U.S. population, the group accounted for nearly 63% of new U.S. homeowner gains over the past decade, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. Jason Madiedo, chief executive of Las Vegas-based Alterra Home Loans, said 80% of his company’s loans are to Hispanic buyers and 70% are to first-time buyers who are fearful that if they don’t buy a home now they won’t ever be able to afford one."

"'The FOMO—the fear of missing out—has sort of set in,' he said."

"Lenders are also targeting Hispanics. Eva Angelina Romero, a real-estate agent in Nashville, said that more small lenders are offering programs geared to Hispanic buyers. One uses a tax identification number instead of a social security number, which a buyer wouldn’t have if undocumented. She said that while most of her clients used to be non-Hispanic, now 80% are Latino."

"'Mortgage companies are looking at that segment even more so now than before because refinances are not as plentiful [and saying] this is an opportunity we can no longer wait on,' Mr. Madiedo said."