It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "There are some very real discussions going on amongst real estate industry professionals on social media platforms and at ongoing conferences about what effect the virus may have on the industry. With the potential for summer vacation plans being canceled, owners of Airbnb, VRBO and other short term rental platforms facing cancellations could be in a quandary. Much of the income derived to pay off debt on investment property comes during the summer, and if those plans do not manifest into actual stays, what happens to the mortgage payment?"

"Redfin says the first effects of COVID-19 are starting to ripple through the market. 'I think that’s just reality starting to set in and it's setting in very quickly, especially for people here in the Seattle area, of how bad this could potentially get,' says chief economist Daryl Fairweather. 'We've heard stories from some buyers who are looking at their stock portfolios and getting skittish about committing to buying a home.'"

"Cheap money can’t always save housing. The Federal Reserve, in a surprise move on Tuesday, March 3, cut the central bank’s key interest rates it controls by a half-percentage point. It was the first emergency action, and the largest cut, since the financial crisis of a decade ago. For example, West Coast port traffic, a key measure of trade, has is cut by one-fourth. Don’t forget tourism. This major California industry is also suffering from canceled conventions, diminished business travel and consumer fears about international trips."

"Q. So you’re saying housing’s doomed? A. No. Just that cheap money can’t cure all ills. Housing relies on consumer confidence. That’s often tied to employment prospects. Up until the coronavirus outbreak, things look great for workers. Yes, the full economic impact of coronavirus is a huge unknown. But the Fed’s dramatic action certainly confirms there are serious business risks out there. Uncertainly, especially when it comes to betting your life savings on real estate, is not a good thing."

"Whether you are buying, selling or building a home in Palm Beach County, coronavirus concerns will impact the housing market, according to real estate experts. The owner of Echo Fine Properties, Jeff Lichtenstein, told dozens of his agents not to panic. Lichtenstein says there’s an undersupply of inventory in Palm Beach County. If you're looking to sell, you may see a little bit of a price reduction."

"Author Ann Brashares and her husband have sold their Upper East Side townhouse for $11 million, public records show. The couple first showed interest in selling in April 2018, when broker Jed Garfield listed the property for $18.95 million. After two months he dropped the price by $2 million, and the property was ultimately pulled off the market in May 2019. 'Did that seem like the right number? Yeah, of course, it did,' said Garfield. 'If you look at all the things that were on the market at that time, the arithmetic works.'"

"But, with hindsight, he admitted it was 'wrong price, wrong time.' 'You talk to any good broker, you make mistakes. You price things to market and the market goes against you…and you sort of look like a schmuck,' he said. In 2019, the average price chop for homes priced $4 million or more was 10 percent, according to Olshan Realty. Average days on the market for those properties hit a four-year high of 496."

"India’s banking regulator seized control of a struggling commercial bank. The Reserve Bank of India, the nation’s central bank, said Thursday evening that it had superseded the board of directors of Yes Bank Ltd., prompted by a 'serious deterioration' in the bank’s financial position. Worried customers—joined by TV crews—milled around outside a branch in New Delhi, unable to withdraw at the teller windows or from the ATM at the door. 'I feel cheated,' said Amit Kapoor, on the news he will be allowed to withdraw no more than 50,000 rupees in the next month. 'I deposited the earnings of my entire life in this bank.'"

"India’s lenders have become increasingly burdened by nonperforming loans in recent years, following a credit boom—dominated by state banks before the global financial crisis in 2008, then continued by private-sector banks and nonbank lenders in its aftermath."

"Developers are holding off from launching new residential projects in Hong Kong amid a property slump in the Asian financial hub that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, according to JLL. Sales data for January show the downturn already in full force, with buyers spending only HK$7.5 billion ($960 million) on new flats during the first month of the Western calendar year – just a quarter of the HK$28.4 billion developers reaped from sales during the during the same period last year."

"'Given the dour market outlook and abundant supply, developers may have to lower listed prices when the bulk of stock comes online for sale in the second half of this year,' said Nelson Wong, JLL’s head of research for Greater China and Hong Kong. Analysts have commented that the likelihood of more homeowners falling into negative equity is increasing, carrying with it the potential to trigger further property sales and push down values still further."

"Land values in several Queensland mining towns have taken a tumble. The biggest declines were seen in the north west city of Mount Isa, which has fallen by 44 per cent since 2016 and Thangool in central Queensland, which has gone down 49 per cent since 2017. 'We're hoping that it doesn't drop anymore,' said Mount Isa-based real estate agent John Tully. 'We're a transient town, and if they don't watch it we'll end up with a complete rental town which can bring troubles, so that's something that government has to start looking at.'"

"It is true that many Malaysians cannot afford decent housing. However, encouraging foreigners to access the Malaysian property market will only further limit our ability to own homes. The Australian housing market had proven this. Chinese buyers — with their higher purchasing power — had increased the prices of real estate in Australia, making them beyond the reach of ordinary Australians."

"This glut of high-end property is the fault of the developers themselves. They decided to cater to a market that does not exist, ignoring the needs of the Malaysian masses. Now they are saddled with unsold properties. The developers should try to woo the Malaysian upper crust to buy these properties. Alternatively, they can bring the price down to a level that’s more affordable for Malaysians. If the developers refuse, they can keep the properties and risk further devaluation."

"No one knows how bad the coronavirus epidemic will get. We’ve been here before: The OPEC-driven spikes in the price of oil in the 1970s were another instance of a supply shock. What constrains output in these situations is not a lack of demand, but of supply. Which means attempts to remedy them by traditional demand stimulus, fiscal or monetary, are not just useless – they make things worse. Boost demand, when the problem is really a shortfall in supply, and all you do is drive up prices; think of the housing market as a micro-example."

"Which doesn’t mean authorities won’t try. We’ve been here before, too. In response to the oil shock, governments ran deficits and central banks ran the printing presses. The result: what became known as 'stagflation.' But that was long ago and memories are short. It’s entirely possible the authorities could make the same mistake again."

"Indeed, they may already have. As it is, the world is awash in debt, public and private, made cheap by oceans of central bank liquidity – the legacy of the financial crisis. Another equation that seemed to have broken down in recent years had to do with how much debt it was safe to carry. Although debt loads had reached astronomic levels, relative to income, there was no need to worry, it seemed, so long as interest rates remained at their historic lows. And what could possibly cause rates to rise?"

"As the cost of servicing the debt climbs, the debt compounds – and interest rates rise again, this time in response to the increased risk of default. We’ve seen that before, too. It’s not impossible we could see it again. If so, a great many chickens are going to come home to roost. But things are, as they say, about to get real. In an economic crisis – on top of a public-health crisis – politics is likely to revert to form. There will be little public patience for any party or leader who does not focus on practical proposals for relieving the crises. Politics may again become a serious business, for serious people."

"If only it did not take a crisis for this to happen. What’s that line of Brecht’s? 'Unhappy the land that has no heroes. Unhappier still the land that has need of heroes.'"