A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Inflated bond ratings were one cause of the financial crisis. A decade later, there is evidence they persist. In the hottest parts of the booming bond market, S&P and its competitors are giving increasingly optimistic ratings as they fight for market share."

"When S&P again proposed loosening its criteria this year, a group representing more than 100 professional bond investors wrote a letter to the company, reviewed by the Journal, saying the changes 'will lead to a weakening of credit protection for investors at a time where we need it most.' S&P proceeded. It says the changes 'take into account the evolution of the CLO market over the past decade.'"

"David Jacob, who joined S&P in 2008 to head its structured-finance sector, says he ran monthly reports explaining to his boss why S&P wasn’t selected to rate deals. The answer was almost always that its criteria were tougher than another’s. 'Little by little it weakens,' says Mr. Jacob, who lost his job in a reorganization in 2012 and is retired. 'If you have the tightest criteria, who’s going to use you?…The incentives are wrong. They stayed wrong.'"

From Property Lines at Curbed. "Riding out the rises and falls of the real estate market has become tougher as of late, with appreciation decelerating, sales slowing, and anxiety over a potential recession casting a pall on purchases. Those factors have cooled down the market for foreign buyers of U.S. property, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors, impacting potentially billions of dollars worth of real estate purchases."

"The NAR reported native Chinese investors purchased $13.4 billion worth of residential property, a 56 percent drop from the previous year, and commercial investment has sharply decreased for the last year. 'All these little factors add up,' says report co-author Gay Cororaton. 'The capital controls in China were a big factor, but once you factor in EB5 and all these toxic trade talks, the direction [of investment] will be negative. We’ve already seen a significant decline, as well as a significant decrease for next year at least.'"

From KITV on Hawaii. "Oahu's new law cracks down on illegal short term rentals. It could also be the reason there has been a surge in Waikiki condos up for sale. At the Waikiki Banyan, a condo-hotel, the number of units up for sale has quadrupled since the law was passed. While inventory goes up, prices could be going down. Those prices may not be the only financial factor falling in the future."

"'At Waikiki Banyan there were over 100 owners who got a letter that said you can't do short term rental anymore. Those units were managed by Aqua Resorts,' said Hawaii Living broker George Krischke. Some of those former rental properties are already up for sale, and more are expected to hit the market. Not just from that property but all around Waikiki."

"'There is a bit of a panic and frenzy start to develop,' said Waikiki Banyan General Manager Tom Lonigro."

"One bedroom units at the Waikiki Banyan can cost $150,000 more than other 1 bedroom units in nearby buildings, but owners can pay for the higher mortgage by renting it short term. Now, those without non-conforming use certificates can't. 'Some of the units without NUCs will drop in value, down to other units. That will be quite a drastic drop for some of those properties,' added Krischke. 'This has the possibility of creating a direct and devastating economic impact,' said Lonigro."

The Bothell-Kenmore Reporter in Washington. "For Mike Beck, a managing broker out of the John L. Scott Redmond office, July didn’t have the 'craziness' his team saw last year. The current market gives buyers a bit of breathing room, and solidifies for sellers the importance of ensuring your home will be positioned well to stand out and make a positive first impression."

"'I’m not seeing as much craziness as I saw last year in our local market,' said Beck. 'We’re in a stable, healthy market, and I don’t expect that to change. We may see prices drop a bit more in the months ahead.'"

"As the summer winds down, some sellers may be affected by this disbursed buyer energy and may not see the movement they’d like on their listing. Beck said if a seller has a home on the market and it hasn’t sold yet, they have two main courses of action."

"'Sellers in this situation can choose to either stay the course and keep it listed, or they can take it off the market and re-list,' said Beck. 'If they re-list, they can opt to wait 60 days for the listing to reset, which would give the home a new number and fresh start on the Multiple Listing Service.'"

From Westword in Colorado. "The amount of money sellers earn from a home purchase has fallen 5 percent in Denver over the past year. 'Caution should be taken here in reading too much into a year-over-year change for a single quarter,' warns Todd Teta, ATTOM's chief product and technology officer. 'The number is down a bit from the second and third quarters of last year, but still really excellent. Nevertheless, any potential seller or real estate agent paying attention to the Denver-area market will see that profit margins have ticked downward. Even though prices are at all-time highs, the downward profit trend is a key factor to look at, given that real estate markets run in cycles and this one has never been higher.'"

"Does that suggest the local market has peaked, potentially triggering the aforementioned change to a buyer's market? Teta doesn't dismiss the prospect. 'Despite the usual spring price boost, the Denver-area numbers were kind of tepid and followed a period last year when prices declined a bit.' Nonetheless, he continues, 'the Denver-area market has blown past pre-recession highs better than most areas of the country, and it's still a big-time sellers' market. But recent trends suggest that the regional market, like many around the country, may be cooling down and ready for some kind of dip.'"

The San Jose Spotlight in California. "A new report forecasting the real estate market in California shows a fairly sunny outlook for the Bay Area, though it notes the region may be facing some headwinds where it matters most: housing. This year the survey showed a notable slump when it comes to multifamily development optimism, even as demand for new homes remains at a fever pitch in the Bay Area."

"'In the last six months, Bay Area developers have pulled back on new (multifamily) development, and half of the panelists stated that they were not planning to start a new development in the next 12 months,' the report states."

"That pessimism may be tied to 'a growing movement toward rent control,' in the area, paired with rising costs to develop, the report added. Indeed, Silicon Valley developers and cities are reporting that housing projects aren’t easy to pencil, or make work financially."

"That’s significant because real estate often shows the earliest signs of weakness or strength as economists attempt to predict booms and busts. And murmurs of the next economic downturn have been creeping into Silicon Valley forecasts and fears for the past year, though notably not due to a slowing economy, but because history tells us that what goes up must come down, and the current economic cycle has been on an unprecedented run, with nearly a decade of growth."