A report from The Real Deal on Florida. "For the first owners of a two-bedroom luxury condo on the 36th floor of Rise, one of two new luxury towers at Brickell City Centre, buying at a preconstruction price turned out to be a losing proposition. On May 10, a shell corporation owned by Venezuelans Carolina Jimenez Suastegui and Jose Marazita Espinar sold the 1,344-square-foot unit for $700,000, which was a 24 percent loss from what they paid in 2016, when Rise was completed. After deducting closing costs and the broker’s commission, Suastegui and Espinar cleared $637,000 three years after closing at a purchase price of $920,900."

"Sandra Heath, the Fortune International Realty agent who listed their unit, said Suastegui and Espinar decided to cut their losses before the hole got deeper. Even though they were successful in renting out the unit, her clients were in financial distress and had a mortgage on the property for $450,000 with a due date of Aug. 1, Heath said. 'They ran the numbers, and even if they had kept it for 10 years they would have ended up paying even more than they were making,' Heath said. 'They decided to take a loss now rather than a bigger loss later.'"

"Suastegui and Espinar are not the only Rise preconstruction buyers to take a beating in Miami’s resale market. Analyzing Multiple Listing Service resales data, The Real Deal found that 12 units at the 43-story building were resold between January 2018 and June 2019, at a time when the developer was also unloading more than 100 remaining units. Eleven of those resellers flipped their units at prices way below what they paid during the project’s preconstruction ramp-up."

"The spokesperson said some of the 12 Rise resellers were distressed buyers who needed to cash out. 'We’ve been seeing incidences like this across Miami lately,' the spokesperson said."

The New York Post. "Those looking to buy a home in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens have a number of new developments at their disposal that are hitting the market this autumn. The median sale price of a Manhattan home in the third quarter of this year fell below $1 million to $999,950 — a 17% decline from the same period in 2018. A silver lining of the housing market slowdown, though, is a new benchmark for affordability."

From Realtor.com on Massachusetts. "Call it a real estate Hail Mary, but New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, have drastically reduced the asking price of their megamansion in Brookline, MA, in the hopes that it will finally sell. The couple originally listed the 12,000-square-foot estate in August for $39.5 million. They recently dropped the price to $33.9 million."

"'The original price of the home ... is high, and the luxury market in many major cities across the U.S. has tanked,' Franklin, MA, real estate broker Christopher Arienti explains."

From Mansion Global. "The latest figures, which cover 79 luxury markets, underscore how shifting economic conditions have dampened the appetite for million- and multi-million-dollar home purchases. The widespread slowdown has affected 50 of the 79 markets, with coastal cities in the Northeast and West seeing the greatest hit. Home appreciation in Southern California, where prices had surged in recent years due to a dearth of supply, has wound down considerably."

"Some major metro areas have even record price falls, including Marin County, north of San Francisco, where luxury home prices fell nearly 5% in July compared to a year ago. In Washington, D.C., prices slipped 2.1% during that same timeframe."

From Patch Los Angeles in California. "This Bel Air behemoth has languished on the market for years and was, at one point, the most expensive home in the nation. It's been humbled by a $100 million price drop, but nothing can change the fact that it's still the largest home for sale in all of Los Angeles. Luxury developer Bruce Makowsky's Bel Air mansion is now listed at $150 million — just waiting for the right billionaire to pluck it up."

From Patch Doylestown in Pennsylvania. "A renovated Court Street home in Doylestown Borough has been re-listed, this time for $700,000 less than its original asking price in 2017. The five-bedroom home, first listed in September 2017 for $1,899,000, is now priced at $1,190,000. The property, originally built in 1911, was completely renovated in 2013."

From Curbed Austin in Texas. "Big price cuts on big, expensive homes tend to sound a bit breathtaking, because the amount of money entailed in the drop often totals what would be more than half of the total cost of an average home in the same area. That’s certainly the case with this elegant home in Dripping Springs, which recently dropped its asking price more than $250,000, to $1.595 million."

The Mercer Island Reporter in Washington. "Though the sunny days of summer – and the heightened real estate action that comes with the season – are now over, the residential real estate market on Mercer Island is still quite active. John L. Scott Mercer Island broker Tony Salvata said both buyers and sellers are poised to benefit in different ways if they choose to enter the market in October."

"'Even though inventory on Mercer Island has increased in the past few months, if you price your home right it will sell,' Salvata said. 'Buyers can take advantage of price reductions on some properties, along with great loan rates.'"

From The Capital Press in Oregon. "For longtime lumberman Bruce Daucsavage, 2019 has been one of the most challenging years for the timber market in recent memory. 'Right now lumber is very cheap. In the last year prices have dropped about 30%,' said Daucsavage, head of Ochoco Lumber since 1983."

"The price drops have rattled Oregon’s timber market. In March, Swanson Group closed its mill in Glendale. Then in April, Georgia-Pacific Wood Products announced it would close its lumber mill in Coos Bay. In May, Stimson Lumber Co. announced it would cut 60 jobs at Forest Grove. Even the Deschutes National Forest has been affected, with contracts for timber sales going without bids."

"Jim Geisinger, executive vice president of Associated Oregon Loggers Inc., said the down market for timber is largely a reflection of slower housing starts across the country for most of this year. 'Our markets are driven by the housing market. As the housing market goes so goes the timber market too,' said Geisinger, whose association represents more than 1,000 contract logging companies in Oregon."

"The weak lumber market has stalled thinning projects in the Deschutes National Forest, said Brian Tandy, forest products program manager for the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests. The Deschutes National Forest was unable to sell all of its planned timber contracts this year and missed its target by 25%."

"'We usually we get one or more bids for each contract offered,' said Tandy. 'But the lumber market has been down for three consecutive quarters and isn’t showing any signs of improving. I have been in my current position since 2013, and we have achieved between 99% to 102% of target in the years 2013-18. This year, 2019, is the first year we haven’t met target.'