A report from the Globe and Mail in Canada. "Every financial market you can think of is in an uproar right now, but not Toronto real estate. John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty said there’s a sense among buyers, fed by commentary from economists and the housing industry, that the only thing to worry about in the Toronto market is a lack of properties on sale. 'The problem with this is that it makes people think prices can only go up,' he said. 'Of course, that’s not the case.'"

"Mr. Pasalis sees vulnerability in the fact that condo prices are soaring as a result of buying by investors who plan to rent their units, but growth in monthly rents has faded. This could make it harder to generate the monthly income needed to carry the mortgage on an investment property. The market for single-family homes has its own problems. 'It’s not healthy,' Mr. Pasalis said. 'It’s so competitive and we’re seeing a lot of irrational prices being paid. People are offering prices that make zero sense.'"

From Better Dwelling in Canada. "Greater Toronto new home sales are back above typical volumes for the month. BILD and Altus Group data shows a big climb in sales this past January. The increase in sales helped to push condo apartment prices to a new all-time high. Meanwhile, single-family homes continue to spiral lower. Single-family prices are still over 10% lower than the peak reached in 2017. Condo apartment prices pushed a new record high, after going parabolic in October."

"Greater Toronto is seeing a lot more new home inventory these days. There were 16,176 new homes for sale in January, up 4.15% from a year before. Single-family homes represented 4,544 of those listings, down 12.04% from last year. Condo apartments represented the other 11,632 listings, up 12.23% from last year. This is the most January inventory in at least 3 years."

The Wall Street Journal. "The lowest mortgage rates on record are colliding with the prospect of an economic downturn prompted by the coronavirus outbreak, setting the stage for an unpredictable spring selling season in the housing market. 'I thought that there would be a steady increase from January pretty much throughout most of the year,' said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. 'Obviously, we hit a major speed bump' due to the epidemic."

From Mansion Global on New York. "A massive Manhattan apartment in the iconic Sherry-Netherland hotel that belongs to self-exiled Chinese billionaire developer Guo Wengui has come back onto the market with another hefty price reduction. Occupying the 18th floor of the Sherry-Netherland, a hotel and co-operative building on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan, the 15-room pad was relisted for $55 million on Tuesday by Brown Harris Stevens."

"Mr. Guo, also known as Miles Kwok, first put the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home on the market for $86 million in October 2015, a few months after he purchased it for $67.5 million, property records show."

From Chicago Magazine in Illinois. "Perched on the 86th floor of the Trump International Hotel & Tower, Unit 86B sits in almost rarefied air. But dizzying views of the skyline aren’t the only mark of high living in this 2,400-square-foot penthouse unit. The two-bedroom condo, currently asking $2.2 million, also boasts sleek new finishes, hardwood floors, and a master bath flush with Calacatta marble. Plus, it comes with a parking spot. The owners first listed the unit in March of 2019, for $3.1 million. Since then, they’ve slashed the price five times. In the latest cut, last month, it came down from $2.4 million in November to its current $2.2 million — a 30 percent drop from the original asking price."

"'With the market the way it is now, prices have gone down in a lot of buildings,' says Margaret Baczkowski, the broker who listed the unit."

The Palisadian Post in California."Have you ever considered the number of Palisades homes for sale that do not seem to sell at all? Having just experienced a period of six years of steady price increases and then the recent flattened out market, most people might assume that everything put on the market does sell. In fact, many people I have talked with in the last several months have had the belief that not only does everything sell here, but that often they get higher prices than anyone would have expected. The idea that a significant percentage of homes don’t actually sell is not something given much thought."

"We looked at each year’s listings and calculated what we call the 'failure rate' based on the listings that were withdrawn from the market or allowed to expire, or perhaps were re-listed and are still on the market. If a home was listed for lease and then leased instead of sold, we did not include it in the 'failure rate' calculations. In 2018 the rate was approximately 25%. In 2019 it had increased to 30%, which means that nearly one out of three homes people wanted to sell did not succeed."

"People often ask us how long it might take to sell their home. For many, the question might better be asked, 'Will my home sell in the current market?' A cyclical market correction period is somewhat overdue, and prices, on average, are lower by about 5% over the last year."

The Union Tribune in California. "Homebuilding in San Diego County last year dropped to levels not seen since 2014, said recently released building permit data. San Diego’s drop was almost entirely the result of a decline in multifamily building, down by 19 percent. Although that category includes condos and townhouses, it is mainly made up of apartments. Murtaza Baxamusa, director of planning and development for the San Diego Building Trades Council, said they began to see a slowdown in apartment construction — which has focused on the high-end of the market — as rent profits began to slow."

"'There’s only so many people that can afford the high rent that they were building at,' Baxamusa said. 'That market has tapped out.'"

The Los Angeles Daily News in California. "Despite year-over-year declines in rental costs, four Southern California cities still rank among the nation’s priciest apartment markets, a new report says. Price tracker Zumper.com ranked Los Angeles seventh, with its median asking rent in March at $2,250 for a one-bedroom apartment and $3,000 for a two-bedroom unit. L.A. saw a 3.4% annual decline for one-bedroom units and a 5.1% drop for two-bedroom apartments."

"Santa Ana ranked 11th on Zumper’s list, with a median-priced one-bedroom unit renting for $1,690, down 5.1% from a year ago, and two-bedrooms renting for $2,190, up 0.5%. Anaheim’s median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,610, down 1.2% from a year ago, and a two-bedroom unit is $1,980, down 7.5%. A median-priced, one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach is $1,560, down 3.7% from a year earlier, and a two-bedroom unit is $1,930, down 8.1%."

From KOMO News in Washington. "It's actually become less expensive over the past few years to live in a studio in the Seattle area, a new study found. According to Rent.com, the average price of a studio in Seattle dropped 8.59% since 2016 to $1,737.41. In 2016, the average rent in the Seattle area for a studio apartment was $1,900.71. 'It’s hard to believe that Seattle became more affordable since the last leap year, but it’s true,' the report said."

The Miami Herald in Florida. "What’s South Florida’s best rental bargain? According to Zumper, that would be Homestead, where median rent for a one-bedroom apartment costs less than $1,000 per month ($990 to be exact). While that price is up 5.3% from February 2019, it’s down almost 5% from January 2020. Median rents dropped the most in Miami Gardens (-15%), Sunrise (-14%), Hollywood (-8%) and Miramar (-6%). Rents also dropped in Pembroke Pines (-5%), Coral Gables (-4%), Plantation (-4%), Coconut Creek (-3%), Deerfield Beach (-2%), Weston (-1%) and Delray Beach (-1%)."

The Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska. "Developers seeking to turn a blighted downtown block into new apartments for university students plan to start construction as soon as possible after getting approval Monday, their attorney said. The Downtown Lincoln Association Board of Directors took a neutral position on the project, according to a letter from Executive Director Todd Ogden and board Chair Ken Fougeron."

"Students comprise two-thirds of downtown residents and although the association doesn't oppose student housing, it believes there is an imbalance between student and nonstudent housing. 'The board would also like to see the city provide an incentive for the development of housing that will diversify our current mix, especially given that our neighboring university has already experienced strong signs of oversaturation as it relates to student housing,' the board's letter said."

From Tech Crunch. "Zumper, which provides listings of available rental properties and services (such as rent payments) to help manage landlords’ rental businesses, has raised $60 million, money that CEO and co-founder Anthemos Georgiades said it plans to use to continue both expanding its footprint in the US. Zumper competes against the likes of other fast-growing startups like Compass, as well as giants like Zillow and more recently Costar (owner of Apartments.com and many others). The latter two have shaped up to be key consolidators, acquiring smaller outfits and bigger rivals that have fallen into trouble to get better economies of scale."

"But at the same time, we have seen a fair amount of stress in the industry, caused by the oversupply of inventory in the market, which puts pressure on prices; and some of the biggest and most established players getting hit hard trying to modernise their businesses. As one example, after RentPath — the owner of Rent.com, Rentals.com, ApartmentGuide.com and others — filed for Chapter 11, Costar picked it up for $588 million (that deal has not officially closed)."

"'Everyone is falling by the wayside,' Georgiades said."

From Skilled Nursing News. "Another skilled nursing facility in the state of Washington has reported an outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that is sweeping the globe — resulting in major declines in the stock prices of several real estate investment trusts (REITs) with holdings in the skilled nursing and senior housing sectors. That facility, the Issaquah Nursing Home & Rehab Center, is owned by Sabra Health Care REIT, which saw stock market pain in Wednesday’s trading: The Irvine, Calif.-based REIT’s stock price dropped 14.43% over the course of the day, closing at $13.35 per share."

"But it wasn’t the only REIT stock price to fall amid the coronavirus headlines. Omega Healthcare Investors fell 10.3%, closing at $31.44, while CareTrust REIT fell 13.76%, closing at $16.99. The Toledo, Ohio-based Welltower was also affected, dropping 12.57% over the course of Wednesday. Mizuho Securities USA managing director Omotayo Okusanya and assistant vice president Zachary Silverberg pointed out in a March 11 research note that the Issaquah facility is one of 24 properties covered by triple-net master lease Sabra has with operator North American Healthcare."

"'We can see a scenario where rents could be deferred by SBRA for a short period of time if cash flow gets squeezed at North American due to temporary operational disruption from the virus,' the analysts wrote. 'However, should the stigma attached to the virus result in the inability to get census up at the facilities for a longer period of time, then the issue of rent reductions may have to be broached given the relatively thin rent coverage.'"