A report from the Huffington Post on Canada. "The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the steam entirely out of Toronto’s housing market, with home sales falling by 76 per cent in the week ending April 5, new data shows. In terms of home sales, 'it is certainly the biggest drop we have ever seen in Toronto,' said Doug Vukasovic, a prominent Toronto real estate agent who released the data. The average detached home fell 9 per cent to $1.25 million, while the average condo price dropped to $613,403, a 4 per cent decline from a year ago."

From CBC News in Canada. "Canada's real estate industry appears to be heading into a deep freeze despite the warming spring weather. Vancouver real estate agent David Hutchinson thinks April 'is just going to fall off a cliff.' Hutchison is worried values will fall along with the number of transactions. 'We don't know where prices are going to go. I mean, why would you buy something now if you perceive prices are going to go down in the future, which may very well be.'"

The York Region in Canada. "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt modern society and crash the global economy, the once-soaring real estate market in York Region is expected to brace for a hit — for an indefinite period, an real estate expert says. Drawing on past experiences, Romana King, director of content at Zolo said, the market will start to see an increase of mortgage defaults and panic selling and those who own property as investments will be the 'first casualties' in the coming financial woes. 'The biggest take-away' King pointed out is that homeowners don’t have to 'crystalize the loss' if they don’t need to during this temporary situation."

The Times of London in the UK. "The proportion of homes bought by landlords has fallen to a record low as a combination of Covid-19 and tax changes drives buy-to-let investors from the market. According to Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at the estate agency, a combination of these tax changes starting to bite and the Covid-19 pandemic have led to a fall in landlord purchases. 'We started to see landlords pull away from the market in February. People expect property prices to fall, and rents to fall or level off.'"

From The NL Times. "After years of skyrocketing prices and ever increasing home sales, the coronavirus and measures to curb it will be a blow to the Dutch housing market. ABN Amro expects that the number of households in trouble will rise less rapidly than during the credit crunch. But, the bank warned, 'if house prices fall further in the coming years, for example because the economic downturn is taking longer than expected, more homeowners will be flooded by their mortgage.'"

From Edge Prop Malaysia. "FMT reported Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents President Lim Boon Ping saying agents had been receiving calls from property owners who were keen on selling them. 'Homeowners say they don’t mind giving 20% to 30% discounts to buyers,' he added. Property valuer Huan Cheng Kee told FMT he expected the prices of apartments to drop because of a 'massive oversupply.'"

From Outlook India. "Over half the number of luxury homes launched in India over the last three years remained unsold reflecting a muted demand for such homes in the real estate market, a recent study has found. According to data collected by PropTiger.com, a total of 1,131 housing units, priced over Rs 7 crore, were launched in India’s nine prime residential markets during the three year period between December 2016 and December 2019. Of these, 577 units or 51 per cent remained unsold as of January 2020."

"In terms of absolute numbers, the financial capital of India, Mumbai, has the highest number of unsold luxury units (30,015), followed by India’s pharmaceutical capital Hyderabad (8,554) and the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru (5,794) in third place, according to the report."

The South China Morning Post. "The Covid-19 pandemic, which has pushed Hong Kong’s unemployment rate to a nine-year high, will put further pressure on housing prices in the city after they took a hit from the social unrest last year, according to market observers. 'Even before the outbreak, home prices were already seeing a downward trend as a result of the social unrest in the city. The coronavirus is a very strong catalyst' which has sped up the drop in home prices,' said Alva To, head of consulting for Greater China at Cushman & Wakefield."

"Homeowners have been quick to offload units at steep losses. A 2,047 sq ft villa at The Beverly Hills in Tai Po sold for HK$20 million this week compared to the original purchase price of HK$28.5 million 10 years ago, according to Century 21. Some 70 per cent of the 130 listings at the estate are being offered at a loss, according to Land Registry data compiled by Ricacorp Properties."

From Stuff New Zealand. "Taupō rental property managers are predicting definite downward pressure on rents as homeowners, who may have previously listed on the likes of Airbnb and Bookabach, chase a diminishing clientele. A number spoken to this week had noted a burst of enquiries from owners previously offering short term rentals as restrictions pertaining to Covid-19 were being instituted."

"Property Brokers property manager Joy Hoera, said whether they would all come through once movement restrictions were eased was another question but with an expected fall off in tourism generally she was expecting downward pressure on rents. However she expected a number of Airbnb type operators would be looking to rent out homes for at least six months and dropping prices as 'some rental income was better than none.'"

From Domain News in Australia. "Rents across Sydney are tipped to fall and more properties are expected to be left vacant, as economic uncertainty takes its toll on the market. A return of short-term holiday rentals to the longer term rent market, a change in tenant circumstances and a drop-off in migration are all behind the jump, according to Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell. Meanwhile Sydney’s vacancy rate rose 20 basis points in March to 2.7 per cent. There were an estimated 14,528 vacant rentals at the end of the month – 845 more than the previous month, with some landlords already slashing rents by hundreds of dollars a week to try get tenants through the door."

"Maria Carlino, the national head of property management at The Agency, has seen the number of rental listings across the eastern seaboard jump about 30 per cent in recent weeks. At the same time, property inquiries from potential tenants has dropped about 35 per cent and days on market have increased."

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. "Auction clearance rates have fallen off a cliff as buyers and sellers abandon the market in droves. Hayden Dimes and Felicity Emmett, economists at ANZ bank, say the shutting down of auctions and home opens has seen both both buyers and sellers evaporate. 'As buyers and sellers dry up, we think properties that do trade through this shut-down period will see price falls,' they say."

From Bloomberg on Australia. "Thuy Pham has run two jobs for much of her working life, and a little over two years ago all that effort paid off when she realized a dream of buying her own home. As the coronavirus shutdowns have deepened, that’s started to unravel: first she was stood down from one job, then the other, and now she’s registering for welfare to help meet mortgage payments."

"Like many in the workforce, Pham has never really experienced recession due to Australia’s enviable record of almost 30 years without one. But that has come with a less desirable record of highly indebted households and sky-high property prices. This raises the risk that the recovery could taker longer and could increase financial stability concerns if people can’t cover their loans."

"'I’m scared,' said Pham, who found out she was among the rapidly swelling ranks of unemployed people on the very day she was due to meet her mortgage broker to take advantage of lower interest rates. 'Everyone is saying it’ll be six months, but it could actually be longer.'"