A report from the Press Democrat in California. "Last summer with the rental market still reeling from the 2017 North Bay wildfires, the three-bedroom home in the southeast Santa Rosa Kawana Springs neighborhood easily would have fetched the owner’s asking price of $3,600 a month. Today, the owner of the home had to twice reduce the rent he was asking before landing a tenant who would sign a lease for $3,200 a month, said property manager Jenny Rihl."

"'Ultimately, the owner doesn’t decide the value of their home and neither do I,' Rihl said. 'It’s what people are willing to pay, and the market that decides. And people are willing to pay $3,200' for that Kawana Springs house."

"Summertime usually is the high point for rental prices in Sonoma County, then the market tends to soften as the weather cools in the fall and through the final few months of the year. This summer, though, and over the past 12 months, the housing rental market here has significantly retreated. Property owners have resorted to something virtually unheard of since the 2017 fires — price reductions for apartments and rental houses to lure tenants."

"Keith Becker, owner of DeDe’s Rentals, said he has had to make several price cuts this summer for property owners he represents. June, July and August are usually 'the top of the market,' he said of housing rentals. Of the 25 rental properties his property management company listed for the first time in July, prices have been reduced on three of them because they were not generating enough interest."

"Becker said the local rental market is about to get another jolt as more rental properties are listed in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood. Some of these, he said, are likely to fetch monthly rents of about $2,750. 'There is likely to be a wholesale reassessment of rent values,' Becker said."

"At the Coddingtown Mall Apartments, manager Harry Brown said monthly rental prices have been mostly unchanged. Brown said occupancy is about 98%, but empty units are staying vacant longer. 'It’s getting soft,' Brown said of the rental market. 'It’s getting harder for us to fill our units.'"

"Dale Suwannurak, the owner of the Kawana Springs rental home, said he had a hunch $3,600 was asking too much given the rental market’s downward trend. Suwannurak said the house was built in 2016 and has a lot of features that deserve a higher price: hardwood floors, marble countertops and new appliances. At $3,200, Suwannurak is taking a loss of $200 below his monthly mortgage payment on the house he views as a long-term investment property."

"'It’s hard to find tenants,' he said. 'It would be nice to get a higher price … but if I have a good tenant and they will be able to keep the house clean and nice, I wouldn’t mind at all taking a little bit of loss.'"

The Wall Street Journal on New York. "Actress Meryl Streep is relisting a downtown New York penthouse for $18.25 million, 26% less than she sought a year ago. The property came on the market for $24.6 million in August 2018. It was reduced to $19.75 million in October and was taken off the market last month."

The Chicago Sun Times in Illinois. "For most of his life, Karl Mables has lived in the 6400 block of South Honore Street. But he struggles now to recognize the neighborhood he’s called home for decades. 'When I was growing up, there were houses on each of these lots, and now that I am older, there seem to be two vacant lots in between every home,' says Mables, 30. 'It hurts.'"

"What’s happened on Honore Street isn’t unusual for Englewood. From 2008 through 2018, 861 buildings were razed in Englewood. In West Englewood — Racine Avenue is the dividing line for the two neighborhoods that together make up what’s known in the area as Greater Englewood — the number was 829. Drive through Englewood, and you see the result. There are craters where homes previously stood. Vacant lots become vacant blocks."