It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "We are entering new territory when it comes to home sales by the Bay East Association of Realtors. According to data from 34 East Bay cities, many of them had more homes on the market in August when compared to last August. But 21 of them saw prices drop, some by double digits. Year-to-year median sales prices are down 9 percent in Oakland, 15 percent in San Ramon and 18 percent in El Sobrante."

"'Homebuyers and home sellers are so used to prices going up year over year it is me that when prices drop a little bit or stabilize, people are freaking out,' said David Stark with the Bay East Association of Realtors."

"Two affordable condominiums in a swank eight-unit cluster of townhouses under construction along the Shining Sea Bikeway have so far failed to draw any interest from the public. 'I’m very surprised we don’t have any applications,' said John Costello, Boston-based Maloney Properties ’s affordable-housing manager. If the deadline passes with no applications, 'We would have to remarket the units, and the developer won’t be happy,' Costello said."

"Seattle, where one of the country's hottest housing markets is in rapid cool-down mode, leads the country with a 41.3% drop in competition for the week of September 22. Portland, Oregon buyers can expect a 35.5 drop in the competition that week. Price reductions also look to finally be on the buyer’s side in some metros. Realtor.com found Denver has 11% of listings with price reductions. Salt Lake City follows at 10.8 percent of inventory with cuts while Seattle’s active listings are at a 10.2 percent reduction."

"The big question is whether Central Park Tower is high enough to rise above the luxury market meltdown. 'We’d love for everyone to be happy and at peace,' said Gary Barnett, CEO of Extell Development. 'And China would be pushing all of their people to be buying in the U.S. like they did four or five years ago. That’s not the case. We will have to take some discounts,' he said, adding that they could be as high as 25% or more."

"The wealthy are selling real estate, but not buying it, out of a suspicion that prices will never get higher than they are right now, Seacoast Investment Services vice president Dennis Nolte told Business Insider. The wariness is not limited to wealthy US residents. Between March 2018 and March 2019, sales of residential real estate to non-US citizens fell 36% from the year prior, a July 2019 report by the National Association of Realtors found. The dollar value of sales to Chinese nationals — the largest buyers of American residences besides Americans themselves — fell 56%."

"Over the past month, Nolte has seen wealthy families in the Orlando, Florida area sell undeveloped tracts of land that have been passed down for generations. 'The one percent, they're fearing the worst right now,' said TD Wealth senior vice president James Beam."

"A developer is taking his marketing approach to an unprecedented level with the offering of a $55,000 Tesla electric car to the buyers of his townhouses. 'We want to be finishing the project,' says Sean Hodgins, president of New Westminster based Century Group, 'and pricing is strong on the market right now. It still might be a bit of a buyer’s market … but it’s leveled off.'"

"Since the market slowed, realtor Ian Watt says he’s received many -mails offering lucrative bonus commissions to bring in buyers on particular projects. He criticizes the approach. 'If it’s priced correctly, it will sell,' says Mr. Watt. 'You don’t need to bribe the realtor into duping your client into overpaying. It’s a sign of the times. Either the place is overpriced, or the market is slow, or both. In a hot market, you don’t have to do that.'"

"Tighter construction financing conditions and a slump in the apartment market have put the squeeze on Australia's developers. Receivers McGrathNicol this week quietly put seven of Steller's Victorian development sites on the market in an attempt to clean up the developer's books and recoup funds from assets. After contacting LBA Capital's lawyers, 'our team and JBAM had a discussion in which we all agreed that it appeared that we may have been the victim of a large-scale, sophisticated fraud,' said Affidavit of KB Securities manager Gilho La."

"The financial woes of Rose Built Homes have been revealed in the liquidator's first report, showing an estimated $1.4 million owed to 51 creditors, mostly Marlburians. Rose Built Homes appeared to have been 'under-pricing jobs' while racking up debt with suppliers, leaving several homes half-built around Marlborough by the time its bank accounts ran dry, liquidator Brenton Hunt said in his first report."

"Director Kyle Payne could not be reached for comment, but said shortly before Hunt's appointment his team of 14 staff had decreased to 'just myself now,' and the executive director Ryan Butler left the company for health reasons as the company folded. 'It's a very difficult market, it's very competitive, it's not what people think, and the market is shifting as well, it's not as strong as it once was,' he said. Several other construction industry companies had gone into receivership or liquidation in the last year."

"Real estate professionals expect home prices, sales and rents will fall in Hong Kong over the next 12 months as protests continue with no end in sight, accordingly to a new survey. That is quite a change from the survey in June. Then the real estate professionals said they expected prices, sales and rents would go up."

"Meanwhile, Sun Hung Kai Properties last week priced the first batch of Cullinan West III flats in Sham Shui Po at HK$21,722 per square foot, about 25 per cent below secondary market prices. The price was about the same as it was two years ago for units in the second phase of the same development. New homes launching in the city have started to be priced at below the prevailing secondary market price."

"China’s property giants are notorious for their rapacious issuance of debt. Using presales for financing might seem cheap compared with high-yield bonds, but companies may have now promised buyers too much. The practice of selling homes once construction has started—but often years before completion—now makes up more than 85% of total sales in China."

"But the game can’t run on forever. At some point, properties promised must be built. They would have to complete a year’s worth of construction just to cover the backlog created over the past year, let alone previous commitments. Public complaints have begun appearing in local Chinese media, and this is only likely to ramp up."

"One woman in Hebei province reportedly bought a 22nd-story apartment in 2015, only to discover recently that the building had been topped out at the 18th floor."