It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "In September, prices in the housing sector fell 1.6% — the largest single-month drop for the sector since Zions Bank began measuring consumer prices along the Wasatch Front in 2010. Prices for hotels and motels also had their largest month-to-month decline ever recorded, falling 13% in September, while apartment rental rates dipped 0.9% in the same period."

"Builders are currently planning to build more residential units across the Wasatch Front than at any other time. According to Randy Shumway, chairman at Cicero Group, there are good indications that housing supply is starting to catch up to pent up demand. 'The fact that builders are rapidly bringing so many units to the market and that housing prices appear to be moderating signals that prices will be friendlier for future home buyers,' he said."

"For a second straight week, buyer activity in Arlington’s fall real estate market has performed more like the summer doldrums. Redfin indicates that the bidding wars have significantly dropped nationally in the last year. The robust U.S. housing market may be losing its edge. What can you do to create a bidding war on your home? The homes are updated and in pristine condition, like new with nothing left to do. The homes are priced properly, or maybe even a bit low to attract more buyers."

"Zillow, which has delved further into home-flipping this year, has failed to convince many investors. Losses for the business grew sequentially with further deterioration expected in the third quarter. Reality seems to be sinking in. Zillow has shed 42% of its market value since its last quarterly report. The KeyBanc report noted Zillow’s frequent discounting makes for current listing premiums below what it spent on renovations in each of the last two quarters. KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves concluded the company likely isn’t targeting margin expansion but rather 'over-paying owners to drive volume.'"

"Countywide sales of previously owned single-family homes and attached properties both fell by nearly one-sixth from August to September, according to the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. Single-family home sales fell 14.3% from 2,094 in August to 1,795 in September while attached-property sales fell even more, 16.5% from 1,061 in August to 886 in September."

"GSDAR President Kevin Burke suggested the housing market's fall is due in part to fewer houses being put on the market. 'Despite the turmoil on the political field, the housing fundamentals continue to show stability,' Burke said. 'There may be fewer homes popping up on the market, but the fall and winter months usually mean less competition -- good news for buyers.'"

"Consumer insolvency filings in the Fort McMurray district climbed 39 per cent in 2018, the largest percentage increase in Canada, federal data show. Claims against property, the first step in the foreclosure process, surged almost tenfold over the past three years, according to court records. Home prices remain 44 per cent below the recent peak."

"John Hickey is content with the slowdown. A mechanic who works on used oil-industry vehicles, he lost his house in the wildfire. Two years ago, a builder quoted him $500,000. The offers keep moving down, and he’s waiting for one to get to $200,000 or so before going ahead. He still has work and has always lived within his means, a lesson for places like Fort Mac that can see the money go as quickly as it came, he said. Too many, he said, 'made a lifestyle based on an economy that wasn’t sustainable.'"

"For an anxious owner of an enormous mortgage, I’m going to say something unexpected: the lack of meaningful growth in house prices over the past year is a wonderful thing. I do worry about house prices actually falling (as they have done in London already) – particularly if a sharp drop accompanies a no-deal Brexit and raises the spectre of negative equity."

"Buying a home when house prices are high, even if interest rates are low, means homeowners spend a larger share of their income on monthly mortgage payments. That has a direct impact on our living standards, as the Resolution Foundation demonstrated in a report. 'If households are spending an increasing proportion of their income on housing in a period of earnings growth and record-low interest rates, something must be going very wrong indeed,' the report said."

"But hang on, don’t rising house prices benefit the economy by making homeowners feel richer and encouraging them to spend more? The Bank of England has looked into this so-called wealth effect and concluded it doesn’t really exist. Over the longer term, the change of pace in house price growth should mean we’ll all treat our homes as just that – a secure and comfortable place to live – rather than a get-rich-quick scheme."

"The desperate attempts to privatize Air India continue with new developments in the seemingly never-ending saga. Alleging a market slowdown Air India officials are having a hard time selling a large property in Mumbai even after a 25 percent price reduction."

"Beijingers are notorious for their complaints about sky-rocketing property prices in the city. After this 13sqm apartment without electricity or running water sold for RMB 3.6 million, we say they have a full right to. While the prices of new apartments are still on the up, rising 4.2 percent year-on-year in August alone, secondhand housing prices have dropped 0.2 percent year-on-year. A more significant fall of 11 percent was recorded in February this year. Back then, one square meter in a secondhand apartment would set you back almost RMB 60,000."

"Residents of the evacuated Mascot Towers are being forced to consider two options to fund urgent remediation works at the 132-unit complex, but fear they won't be able to afford either. One resident, who did not want to be named, said 'the options presented to us as owners are like choosing a preferred execution method.' Another owner said both options are 'very bad,' adding he had spoken with a bankruptcy lawyer on Wednesday morning."

"Resident Brain Tucker said the uncertainty of the situation is 'at the back of your mind all the time. It’s the first thing you think of in the morning, and the last thing you think of at night – just how am I going to get out of it. It’s a nightmare, there is just no easy way out. Just to see Mascot Towers boarded up, it’s just horrible memories.'"

"'The way we got here this time is way different than the way we got here before.' Those assuring words from Tom Blanchard, the President-elect of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, as median home prices move to within $5,000 of the all-time high before the crash more than a decade ago."

"'This runup has been different,' said John Restrepo of RCG Economics. 'It's been based on more solid growth, and it's cooling off, it's just cooling off to be a more normalized housing market here in Las Vegas.'"

"'The 2006 runup, in terms of the housing demand, was really driven by a lot of foolish lending practices that let a lot of people that shouldn't have bought homes buy homes,' said Restrepo. 'There were a lot of flaws in the home financial system. Those have been pretty-much fixed.'"

"'We’ve learned from our mistakes in the past,' said Tom Blanchard, 'And we're all doing it right this time, and we're all doing it correctly.' Blanchard says homeowners who bought near the bottom are in much better shape, but also warns, 'For those that were able to buy really well, you have plenty of equity, and hopefully you're not refinancing and taking money out of your house and doing the home-churning ATM which got a lot of people in trouble the last time.'"