A report from the World Property Journal. "Seattle, Washington, D.C., Honolulu and San Jose--some of the most expensive real estate markets in the U.S.--are among the cities where luxury home prices have dropped the most. In Seattle, home prices for the top 5 percent of the market declined 14.4 percent to roughly $2.2 million in the second quarter, and in San Jose prices in the same category dipped 8.2 percent to $2.37 million."

"'Part of the reason prices for luxury homes in Seattle are dropping this year is because it experienced a bigger market boom in all price ranges (especially the high-end market) in the last six years than most other cities,' said local Redfin agent Tamar Baber. 'Now that the market has cooled down a bit, high-end buyers are scrutinizing their home purchases very carefully. Some of them feel the country could be headed toward a recession and aren't willing to spend $2 million, $3 million or $4 million on a home right now unless it meets their exact specifications. Luxury sellers are slowly adjusting their pricing accordingly.'"

From NBC Bay Area in California. "Is the hot Bay Area housing market starting to cool? For example, a house in Mountain View was on the market for 70 days, and only after the list price was reduced did the owner get multiple offers. The sale is now pending. Real estate agents say that's something that likely would not have happened last year."

"Last year, a whopping 80% of homes sold by Redfin agents in San Jose had multiple offers, and this year, that number plummeted to just over 13 percent, Redfin found. The chief economist for Redfin said these new trends may help buyers. 'If you're looking to buy in the Bay Area, now is a good time because there is less competition than last year,' Daryl Fairweather said. But she says its a short window of opportunity because the market is likely to heat up again, with bidding wars similar to last year."

From 5280 in Colorado. "After years of red-hot real estate, Denver’s housing market has been slowly cooling off over the past year. And in July, that trend continued, with buyers gaining more power to negotiate the terms of their home purchases. 'It seems like all of a sudden, we got a number of people to put their property on the market [in May and June] that had been hesitant to,' says local realtor Jill Schafer. 'That kind of broke the logjam because a lot of people weren’t listing their homes because they didn’t know where they’d be able to move to.'"

"The pool of new residential listings was down more than 12 percent from June, but still up more than 16 percent compared to this time last year. Schafer attributes this partly to an increase in new construction across the Front Range, but also to the number of active listings in May and June being at their highest point in five years."

"While the market is still strong, Schafer points out that buyers appear to be shifting their interests to the city’s new developments. Builders have reported an increase in interest and foot traffic, and are often able to make more concessions and offer different incentives than existing home sellers, particularly those with older homes that haven’t undergone extensive renovation, Schafer says. 'Some of the new projects that have come on line are filling up some of our needs,' she adds, 'but they are hurting some of our older inventory. New condos downtown might be selling like hotcakes, but the ones around it that are maybe 10 to 15 years old are kind of struggling.'"

From Loop North in Illinois. "Regardless of low interest rates, the home sales slump in June in Chicago and across Illinois was the worst so far this year. According to data from Illinois REALTORS, sales of existing homes in Illinois (16,579 units) declined 11.2 percent from June 2018. In the seven-county Chicago Metro Area, sales of existing homes (12,002 units) declined 11.6 percent. And in just the city of Chicago, sales of existing homes (2,766 units) declined 13.3 percent."

"It also was the seventh consecutive year-over-year decline and the worst June since 2013."

The Real Deal on Florida. "The first full week of August was a rough one for Miami condo sales. A total of 97 condos sold for $36 million in Miami-Dade County last week, a steep decline from 162 closings for $62 million the previous week."

From Queens News on New York. "Apartment sales in the 'World’s Borough' fell 11.7 percent from 3,421 to 3,022 in the second quarter of 2019. Douglas Elliman also reported that the number of one- to three-family homes sold in Queens fell by 9.4 percent in 2019, on a year-over-year basis. Robert Glessman, Douglas Elliman’s executive manager of sales for Queens, argued that the drop is indicative of a much larger trend across the city. He pointed out that Brooklyn’s apartment sales also dipped by 4.5 percent over the past year."

"'As a whole, things are down, yes, and that’s because there’s no sense of urgency. Everyone is waiting for a better deal,” said Glessman, explaining the trend as a result of low interest rates. 'People buy by emotion and urgency.'"

"As a result of the drop, the listing inventory rose 23.4 percent to 6,004 in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year, according to the report. 'So we have more inventory on the market and sales are down. That tells me that more people are coming on the market,' said Glessman. 'They’re looking to play who’s looking to come down. And when numbers come down, sales will come up.'"

From Jersey Digs in New Jersey. "Offering the opportunity to own a quintessentially Cape May property, this grand home is located just one block from the beach and a few blocks from town which offers a variety of shops and restaurants. Originally listed in February, the price was cut 9.9% just a few weeks ago. The home, located at 815 Stockton Avenue, is asking $1,350,000."

From Chicago Agent Magazine. "The housing economy, and especially the lending industry, is no stranger to this feast-or-famine dynamic. Now many are wondering how long the sudden boom will last, or if it will pick up enough steam to drive home sales out of a slump. 'Low rates are always welcome, but right now [low] rates are occurring for the wrong reasons,' Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, told the Wall Street Journal."

"Yun’s and other experts concern is that the negative outlook for businesses, which is driving rates lower, will eventually spread to consumers. 'Every day in the last week or 10 days there’s been more bad economic news,' one mortgage lender was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. 'How many other shoes are going to drop to push rates down?'