A report from the New York Times. "The US luxury condominium and apartment market is in the midst of an amenities war. Prices for ultra-luxury condos in New York have been declining since peaking in 2016, according to StreetEasy. The site found a mismatch between decisions by developers to keep building bigger, better condos and the number of people willing to buy them, causing a glut at the high end."

"Workforce housing is in short supply, yet developers focus on ultra luxury because that is where they think they can make the biggest profit, said Jessica Lautz, vice-president of behavioural insights at the National Association of Realtors. 'What we have in any market cycle when the talk turns to amenities are signs that sales are slowing,' said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel."

From Bloomberg on New York. "Extell Development is building Central Park Tower, the firm's ltra-luxury follow-up to One57, the Billionaires' Row skyscraper that touched off the city's high-end construction boom - and set the stage for the market's current slowdown. Billionaires' Row saw the biggest decline in the value of contracts signed in the second quarter, according to a report by Core. The median price of pending purchases dropped 91 per cent from a year earlier to US$5.14 million, the brokerage said."

"Costly condos are not 'flying off the shelves like One57 did when we started six or seven years ago, when we were the only game in town,' Gary Barnett, president of Extell, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. 'There's certainly much more competition.'"

The Commercial Observer. "Kitchens with breakfast nooks. A washing machine and dryer in every apartment. A tanning bed. A large, resort-style swimming pool surrounded by lounge chairs and trellises for shade. When it opened in 2013, Aspen Heights, a private dormitory near the University of Missouri’s main campus in Columbia, Mo., looked like it had a lot going for it."

"But six years later, Aspen Heights in Columbia is no more. Citing poor income performance and declining occupancy, the special servicer of the property’s CMBS loan took over the $50.2 million outstanding balance on the asset in late 2017, and the sponsor, Aspen Heights Partners, got a default letter 10 months later."

"As a result, a growing tally of CMBS-backed student housing properties are landing in special servicing or default. Among the $1.53 billion of CMBS loans made on properties built after 2010, the delinquency rate has risen to 15.3 percent, according to Clancy’s research — more than six times the overall proportion of delinquent CMBS loans."

"In Oxford, Miss., a $38.2 million CMBS loan helped PPG Manhattan Real Estate and H. Katz Capital Group buy the 753-unit Highland Square dormitory near the campus of the University of Mississippi in 2015, at a moment when the then 8-year-old building enjoyed a 95 percent occupancy rate. The property comes with an astonishing list of amenities. Still, those niceties haven’t proven sufficient to outshine the competition. By September 2018, occupancy had fallen below 70 percent, and the loan was transferred to its special servicer three months later. Now, the landlords are facing foreclosure even as the ownership duo is working to right the ship."

"The reason for the distress? 'Borrower indicated the student housing market is overbuilt and enrollment at Ole Miss has been stagnant,' according to the special servicing notes."

The Bowdoin Orient in Maine. "The new Park Row Apartments opened just in time for students to return to campus for the fall semester. Lisa Rendall, director of residential life and housing operations, reported a number of lingering issues with the apartments even after they opened. Doors with windows where there shouldn’t be and flooding showers were among the main complaints. Rendall noticed the incorrect installation of doors with windows to the hallway, giving view into apartments, and she purchased curtains and rods to cover the windows until the correct style of door can be installed."

The Orlando Sentinel in Florida. "Clermont is an increasingly popular Orlando bedroom community — and more and more of those new residents are moving into apartments. But after hearing concerns from residents that apartment complexes are contributing to clogged and deteriorating roads, City Council members recently imposed a six-month moratorium on new multi-family development projects, including apartment complexes."

"The city has seen several multi-family residential projects over the past three years. 'We are looking to get out in front of an increasing wave in demand for apartments that we’re seeing across Central Florida, and specifically in Clermont,' City Manager Darren Gray said."

From Bisnow on California. "Add Trammell Crow Residential's new 234-unit apartment project to the list of developments contributing to Oakland's housing surge. Oakland's increase in supply has created somewhat of a renter's market, with more concessions, like a period of free rent or a signing bonus offered to potential tenants, the San Francisco Chronicle has reported."

The Press Telegram in California. "For people who support more government control and less freedom, the goal is always to break the connection between effort and reward. That’s how they justify government redistribution of private property and anything else that one person enjoys but another person doesn’t have. If the only goal was to end the housing crisis in California, there are other policies that would accomplish more. Limiting the use of residential housing units for short-term rentals might create an oversupply of apartments overnight."

From WSMV on Tennessee. "Dianne Bennett's house on Elmhurst Avenue is the last single-family home on the block. The rest are three-story condos rented on sites like Air B&B. 'You don't know anybody, cause they come and go,' she said. 'You go any street now, and they are building these things.'"

"The visitor’s license plates, a sign that this neighborhood has turned into an area filled with short-term rental properties owned by investors. Dianne Bennett has her house up for sale."

The Wall Street Journal on Arizona. "Becoming a homeowner is part of the American dream, and after three years searching, my husband and I found a fixer-upper in a quiet Scottsdale neighborhood. Unknown to us, however, the house next door was a short-term rental, an Airbnb that can host more than 16 people."

"It’s known as 'the party house' for good reason. A party it is, day and night, from screaming kids in the pool at dawn to buses arriving to pick up a rowdy wedding group. Short-term rentals are usually filled with vacationers for whom every day is a celebration. This is no exception. There have been dozens of late-night, loud, drunken festivities filled with foul language. One group smoked so much pot, the smell was overwhelming in our front yard."

"While the owner of the neighboring house has great reviews for being prompt and attentive to his guests, he is unresponsive to my concerns. He told me in one year he raked in more than $100,000 from this property. That’s quite a return, but his neighbors paid the price."

From Short Term Rentalz. "Along with the insights of leading industry figures, I will evaluate the risks and rewards of the master lease model and whether its bubble is ready to burst. Short-term rental master leases have rapidly gained traction as disruptors such as Airbnb and HomeAway blur the lines between traditional hotels and rentals and the growth of OTAs provides more consumer choice and booking transparency. Newer players are realising the lucrative potential of the market and tailor their offerings to combine apartment-style amenities with hotel-standard services."

"News that Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which largely funds WeWork, is considering halving the office-share provider’s valuation to around $20 billion for its impending IPO should provide a stark warning to real estate tech startups not turning over profits with their master lease model that they should be valued accordingly as property companies and they will operate more sustainably if a downturn hits. For all this, supply and demand must be balanced for when a market shifts and investors come on board as 'every market that goes up must come down,' according to T5 Strategies managing director Sean Worker."

"He added: 'The winner is likely to be an ‘eyes wide open’ long-term model vs an ‘eyes wide shut’ get in: get out strategy. Near future volatility is highly probable – it may come down to scale up or consolidate!'"