A report from Mansion Global on Massachusetts. "October ushered in a sales slowdown in the greater Boston housing market, with year-over-year sales volume of single-family homes hitting a 20-year low. The number of closed units fell 38.7% annually, compared to October of 2018. The condo market, similarly, saw a 31% drop in sales volume. It was the lowest October sales volume in seven years, since October 2010."

"In the greater metro area, median sales prices for detached single-family homes declined on an annual basis for the first time in 32 months in October, decreasing 2.2% from the previous record-high median price of $603,000 in October 2018 to $590,000 last month."

From Bloomberg on New York. "Extell Development gave Israeli investors a peek into how well its condos are selling in New York, and the message is clear: When trying to offload luxury apartments, throwing in concessions helps, but not enough to clear inventory in a market brimming with high-priced competition."

"At One57, Extell is still selling units, offering discounts as it competes with some former buyers who are listing their apartments for resale. The developer sold four homes at the building in the first quarter and had 27 remaining as of Sept. 30, according to the Tel Aviv filing. There were two additional sales so far in the fourth quarter, according to StreetEasy. 'We recognize that it is a buyers’ market and as such, we have been responsive by offering incentives and some price negotiability,' said Sush Torgalkar, Extell’s chief executive officer."

From The Independent on New York. "As a single data point, a week ago, 26 and 32 Windmill Lane, East Hampton, an oceanfront 6.7-acre estate, had its price cut $10 million, down to $45 million. The property had been listed at $60 million over the summer. Clearly the glorious days of 2014 are over."

"Speaking of 2014 prices, in that autumn, an East Hampton property was put on the market for $13.9 million, which struck us as ambitious at the time. Now, five years later, it just sold for $6.825 million, which is almost exactly half the original asking price."

"In a weak market like this one, prices are supposed to be more negotiable. Keep in mind, though, that an overpriced property has to drop even more than the listing discount to attract a sale. If a property is listed too high today (which would be the market value, plus the discount of 12 percent or so, plus a little more), it won’t take too long to sell. It simply won’t sell at all."

From Palo Alto Weekly in California. "The annual Assessor's Annual Report, recently published by the Office of Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, includes a retrospective of the past 10 years. Business is still booming, but nonetheless, as the report notes, the growth rate for business personal property is 'virtually the same amount as the prior year, 3.3 percent, another indication that our local economy is beginning to cool.'"

"'I think we're just at the beginning of what we call a 'normal recession' — not a meltdown like we had in 2008,' he said, but emphasized that he sees indications of much greater stability compared to the last time Silicon Valley saw skyrocketing growth, the dot-com boom — and eventual bust."

"'We're beginning to see a leveling-off; we are beginning to see kind of a normal market coming back,' he said, noting that for the first time in four or five years, he's seen 'for lease' signs outside of apartments and even some offices. 'We're seeing some office vacancies now. The office market is clearly showing signs of over building — again nothing serious.'"

The Midland Reporter Telegram in Texas. "The move to a 'more normalized' housing market continued in October, according to the Permian Basin Board of Realtors. The PBBOR reported more 'price reductions' led to a mixed market for sellers in Midland."

"Buyers appear to benefit from a housing inventory of 569 at the end of the month, the most in 2019 and the most going back to October 2016. The average home sold in October stayed on the market 40 days, according to the PBBOR. That average 'DOM' was the highest going back to December 2017."

From The Oregonian. "In another sign that Portland’s long real estate and construction boom is slowing, an ambitious plan to build more than 1,100 apartment units in the Lloyd District has quietly died. The lender to the project known as 1400 Multnomah pulled the plug in late October claiming that developers Bob Bisno and Dan Palmer’s operating company had stopped making payments on their loan."

"The suit alleges that the Santa Monica-based developers blew through $31 million and never got a single apartment built. 'Borrower is in default and appears to be insolvent,' the lender claimed in a lawsuit filed in October. 'The real property, plaintiff’s collateral, is adrift.'"

"Few predicted this kind of disaster when Bisno and Palmer first came to town in 2016. Oregon had boasted some of the best job growth in the country, which fueled a surge of new arrivals and a housing shortage. An unprecedented explosion of high-end apartment construction followed, reshaping Portland’s skyline."

"In 2011, only 445 new apartments came to market in the entire Portland Metro area. Three years later, the number had jumped nearly ten-fold to 4,367, according to the CoStar Group. The frenzy peaked in 2018, when the number of new apartments reached 6,059. This year will not be far behind."

"Until now, there’s been sufficient demand in the market to absorb the flood of new rentals. That may be changing, said Mark Barry, who for years has published a newsletter tracking the Portland apartment market. He pointed to predictions that the supply of new units will exceed demand for the next two years."

"'We’ve never seen this kind of boom before,' he said. 'Anybody betting against the Portland market has been wrong. But inevitably the pendulum is going to begin swinging back.'"

"By last spring, it was all over. The developers’ company defaulted on the Mosaic loan in April, the lender claimed. Bisno and Palmer tried to bail out gracefully. They hired CBRE Group’s Portland office to sell the land. Their asking price: $22 million. There were no takers."