A report from Fortune Magazine. "Zillow has temporarily stopped its home buying operations in 24 states due to the outbreak. 'Given the concerns for public safety and rapid developments by governments that restrict local real estate activities, we determined it was prudent to pause our home buying to preserve our capital,' said Zillow Group CEO and co-founder Rich Barton. The company put a stop to open houses last week in all markets—and says it had already slowed its pace of acquiring homes over the past month. It currently has an inventory of approximately 1,860 homes, it says, down from 2,707 at the beginning of the year."

From Fox 10 in Arizona. "It's uncharted territory for the U.S. housing market as the pandemic changed how business is done. Usually, Airbnb rentals are being used in the valley but with reservations being canceled, realtor Julie Tate says these properties could just go up for sale. 'Were gonna see more and more of these vacation rentals coming up on the market …,' said Tate."

"Overall, Tate believes the average buyer can start to compete and not worry about being blocked by investors if there is more inventory. But how home values are impacted is yet to be seen. 'We were a seller's market, I’m not sure it’s gonna stay that way. This is unknown territory for us, we haven’t been down this road and we really don’t know what to expect,' Tate said."

From Seattle PI in Washington. "According to local real estate agents and experts, people are still buying and selling houses in what continues to be a strong housing market in the Seattle area. 'It does appear at this time that it is, while perhaps not quite business as usual, but we’re not in any kind of a crisis or any kind of a downturn yet,' said John Manning, Managing Broker of RE/MAX On Market. 'I get the sense that some people are hoping that they'll get a bargain -- but there's definitely still enough buyers in the market that we think that there won't be an undue disruption at this point of time.'"

"For sellers, he said, there's some different dynamics at play. He said agents are working closely with sellers to have realistic expectations. Sellers have started to panic a little, he said, as buyers have become aggressive about negotiating. 'We're working with our sellers to really be pragmatic about what can happen,' he said."

From Inside Nova in Virginia. "Local Realtors have experienced various effects, with more maybe to come, on the real-estate market from the COVID-19 virus situation. Natalie Roy, Keller Williams: 'It is affecting the market. I have had two situations where buyers have backed out of deals, one because of the travel ban because they live in the Netherlands.' Dean Yeonas, Yeonas and Shafran Real Estate: 'Nobody is untouched by this. I’ve had two contracts back out because of concerns about the buyers’ job uncertainty. Traffic is low at open houses. The uncertainty in the air is the biggest issue.'"

"Casey Samson, Samson Properties: 'The local market has made a slight correction due to the coronavirus. However, it was so strong, even with the correction, homes are still selling first weekend. In our market, February 2020 contracts were up 20 percent over 2019, but the first two weeks of March, we were down nine percent from 2019. Our main adjustment for everyone’s safety is to cancel open houses, which has had little effect on sales. The buyer pipeline is growing due to anticipated lower [interest] rates. This is definitely going to have a wide-ranging negative effect on everyone, but we will have to see if the strength and demand of the local real-estate market can withstand it. Stay tuned, because this looks to be a marathon, not a sprint.'"

The Orange County Register in California. "The California Association of Realtors told its members Friday to stop all face-to-face sales activities including showings, listing appointments, open houses and property inspections due to coronavirus concerns. This order is another blow to the suddenly troubled housing market. The buying pace that recovered in 2019’s second half looks to be short-lived. Massive layoffs are projected for many industries following numerous virus-related limitations. The bleak employment picture likely will cut the number of qualified house hunters and scare off potential buyers."

From Forbes. "'Where are we in the real estate cycle?' This is the No. 1 question I am asked by family offices when it comes to real estate investing. Unfortunately, as an industry, we don’t tend to learn from our past mistakes. We went into a recession because there was excess supply from overbuilding. Why? The rates were low, and lenders kept lending to developers who kept building because that is how they make their money, and they didn’t think it would ever end. After all, properties were selling at record highs. Also, lenders had loosened lending guidelines to the point where people started to overleverage (hold too much debt). People traded properties at record highs, and everyone wanted to get into the real estate game. Well, guess what happened then."

"We went into recession. In a recession, we have record inventory. And because of that, rents in multifamily, for example, start to go down in value because there have been so many multifamily properties built, and so many multifamily properties are coming to the market. Class A (luxury) properties start to lower their rents, which affects class B properties’ rent prices. These decreases in rents decrease the value of the properties. Lenders and banks start to see defaults because many of the owners of these new and existing multifamily properties can’t make the payments on their loans because they are overleveraged, and with the decrease in rents, they have problems with cash flow."

From Rochester Magazine in New York. "In the business ecosystem of Rochester, a once infrequent visitor has become a regular: Cranes, standing over the skyline, are pulling new buildings up from nothing. In the last five years, it seems cranes are more common than crows in the heart of the city. Since 2015, a significant amount of this new construction has focused on large, multifamily apartment buildings, and it has continued at a pace unlike anything Rochester has seen before."

"After five years of sustained, fast-paced building in the multifamily housing market, Rochester and its many onlookers are beginning to wonder: How long can the apartment building boom continue? Suddenly, in 2015, new multifamily building permits shot back up to 33 new permits issued. The planned projects included an astounding 1,156 new units and projects valued at more than $142 million. The frantic pace of apartment and multifamily building that started in 2015 has continued, with the five-year period from 2015-2019 representing an all-time high in terms of new units and the valuation of new projects."

"Nick Pompeian has been involved in real estate in Rochester for years through Realty Growth Inc. and family holdings. 'I remember maybe four years ago, once the whole DMC thing really took off, there started to be … we’re not talking just local interest, we’re talking international interest. It was very exciting,' Nick Pompeian says."

"The influx of market-rate units to Rochester’s apartment stock has some in the industry feeling that a modest slowdown in building might be on the way. 'I think it’ll be interesting to see how the market absorbs everything,' Pompeian says. 'I do think that we will begin to see a little bit of a slowdown. Probably not an absolute halt—I don’t see that happening—but I do see maybe not as much happening in regards to the apartments.'"

The Gothic Times in New Jersey. "NJCU’s West Campus development continues to grow as new buildings appear on the 21-acre site. The first building constructed was the West Campus Village dorm in 2016. Since then, new luxury apartment buildings were built. However, there are questions about who will benefit from this project, how it’s being funded, and where the money will go."

"Creating income streams from non-academic sources like real estate development seems to be a trend with several New Jersey colleges due to shrinking state aid for public schools. Montclair University was the first New Jersey college to use a P3, forming a 40-year lease agreement with Provident Resources Group to build a dormitory worth $211 million through tax-exempt bonds. Montclair will own the dormitory once the bonds are paid or the 40-year lease agreement is over."

"The first luxury building to open was Rivet I (Block 3). The apartment building has been open since 2019The average rental rate is about $2,000. According to a May 2019 presentation given at an NJCU town hall meeting, Rivet is expected to bring the university $209,000 annually. However, the university will not receive money until 2022. In an email interview with Chief Operating Officer Aaron Aska, he said, the $1.4 million 'income will be earned between FY22 – FY26.'"

"As a follow-up, The Gothic Times asked Aaron Aska to explain why there is a delay in income given that some of the apartment buildings are already open. At press time, the Gothic Times did not receive a response."

"In a phone interview with President Sue Henderson in early March, she said there is a delay in the money coming in based on the contract with the developers. Henderson said: 'The way that it is written you give them a year to fill the apartments and if they don’t fill them, the developers will still have to pay. It’s standard policy.'"

The Idaho Press. "Nearly 3,000 new housing units have been built in the city of Boise since the beginning of 2018, surpassing the city’s goal for its affordable housing strategy. According to an internal memo obtained by a records request, 1,461 new housing units were built in Boise during 2019 after 1,402 were constructed in 2018. This is well over the city’s goal for 1,000 new housing units built in the city every year in order to keep up with demand from the Treasure Valley’s booming population."

"'I haven’t seen a lot of pricing data, but every piece of pricing data I’ve seen has said housing prices and rents are increasing, but we’re hoping at some point the excess supply is going to lower rents and could somehow at least reduce the percentage increase on single family (homes),' said Mark Lavin, Boise’s director of planning and development services."