A report from the Globe and Mail in Canada. "During two years of soggy sales after prices in the Toronto market peaked in 2017, many people sat on the sidelines, says real estate agent Ira Jelinek, as they tried to figure out whether prices had farther to fall. Mr. Jelinek cautions that sellers still need to be realistic about the asking price. Mr.Jelinek says that well-priced listings will move but sellers who want to test the waters with a higher price risk having a listing that appears stale."

"He points for example to one recent sale, for example, where the homeowners sat with an unsold property for months, then took a hit on the deal. The couple moved to Canada from the United States when one of them took a new job in 2017. At that time, they paid $3.73-million for a newly built house near Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West. Earlier this year, the pair decided to return south of the border."

"They listed the house for sale in the late spring with an asking price of $3.78-million, or $50,000 more than they paid for it. Mr. Jelinek says the house languished through the summer, but the owners never lowered their asking price. Eventually, they accepted an offer of $3.5-million, or $230,000 less than they paid."

"By trying to make a profit, the pair had to wait months for a sale, he explains. He estimates they’re down about $300,000 after real estate commissions, land transfer taxes and legal fees."

"In many cases, the sellers of properties that sat were investors trying to make a profit on a newly built house. Now some of those investors are letting their listings expire and quietly planning to hold off until the spring in anticipation of an upturn. 'Some people who were burned by overpricing or didn’t have good product are now saying forget it. I don’t think it’s the right position to take.'"

From Domain News in Australia. "Home buyers and sellers are being left in the dark as the sale prices of nearby properties are kept private despite new laws pushing for more transparency.
Privacy concerns from well-known sellers and buyers or those with multimillion-dollar properties are leading to some relevant results not being disclosed, leaving a gap in information about the market."

"Rob Westwood from First National Westwood in Melbourne’s outer west said prices were often shrouded in 'secrecy' when a result was not as good as expected. 'They don’t want people to know they’ve accepted less, so they don’t disclose the price,' he said."