A report from Canadian Mortgage Trends. "Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were down 69% year-over-year in the first 17 days of April, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported in a mid-month update. 'For now, we have pencilled in a 5% drop in nationwide house prices in the next few months. That is based on the assumption that there will be some forced sellers in the near term,' noted Stephen Brown of Capital Economics. 'That will include those who had already bought a new home without selling their previous one, which was becoming increasingly common in Toronto, and those investors that were previously targeting the short-term rental market and have now suffered steep hits to their income.'"

From Euro Weekly News on Spain. "Nick Snelling, director of Casalasafor Consultancies says: 'Of course, the property market has stopped dead, but it has in almost every country in the world. However, this is just a pause and the market will recover once the corona-virus is under control and ‘normal’ life returns. Certainly, the fundamentals of Spain have not changed. Property here is excellent value compared to most of northern Europe and if prices drop, then there may be no better time to buy for years to come.'"

The Times of Malta. "Running the island’s largest real estate company has given RE/MAX Malta chairman Kevin Buttigieg significant insight into the topic and he stressed that – at this stage – there is no saying what will happen to prices and whether they will go down by five, 10 or even 20 per cent. 'I am quite certain that there will be a correction but it is impossible to quantify by how much,' he said."

"Buttigieg explained that the market was already seeing a slowdown before COVID-19 hit the country and the industry was experiencing a price correction to shift it from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market. 'Just like with any other crisis, we must now weather the storm and adapt to the markets we are facing,' he added."

From Edge Malaysia. "James Wong, VPC Alliance (KL) Sdn Bhd managing director: 'We are witnessing the coming of the worst property cycle as well as an unavoidable recession. Oversupply and non-performing loans are expected to increase this year. It will be a buyers’ market and buyers with cash will be spoilt for choice. They can choose the property they want to buy at reduced prices.'"

From Domain News in Australia. "Sydney’s property market recovery has been stopped in its tracks, with a drop in homes on the market and a rise in price discounting as sellers look to offload properties amid worries of further economic deterioration. More than 14 per cent of vendors have revised their price expectations, reducing them by 4.36 per cent on average. Domain senior research analyst Dr Nicola Powell. said the pandemic was weighing on sellers’ minds. 'Those who have to sell are editing their price to achieve the timely sale in fear of what could be ahead economically,' Dr Powell said."

"Mascot vendor Chris Thomas is still hopeful he will be able to sell and upgrade in the same market, as long as he does not receive any low-ball offers. 'It probably wasn’t an ideal time to sell but buying and selling in the same market won’t make too much of a difference,' Mr Thomas said. 'I wouldn’t take a considerable amount less than what I expect. I’m still waiting on the sale of my property so I can’t jump the gun too quickly.'"

"EY Oceania chief economist Jo Masters said she expected discounting would accelerate in weeks to come and predicted a rise in forced sales as unemployment increased. 'Falling house prices is a recent memory so people’s ability to adjust their prices is greater than that downturn,' Ms Masters said."

From Stuff New Zealand. "Queenstown's previously strained rental market is being flooded with new properties as a big dip in property values is predicted. The number of Queenstown rental property listings on Trade Me jumped about 80 per cent from February to March as Covid-19 led to the international visitor market shutting down. Economist Benje Patterson said the shift was driven by tenants doing 'runners' as the tourism industry shut down and landlords pulling their property from the visitor accommodation market into long term rentals."

"TradeMe figures showed the median weekly rental across the district was $665 in March, an 11 per cent decrease from February and well below the record median price of $800, set in January. 'Rental prices were dropping as landlords needed to get a return on assets they were 'mortgaged to the hills on,' he said."

"Patterson predicted the increase in rental properties would be the first wave in a shift in the property market, which would include the loss of hospitality and tourism jobs. The second wave would hit once the Government's wage subsidy and moves by retail banks to allow mortgage holidays expired. That would flow into the service industry, retail and construction sectors."

"'Two-thirds of jobs are in tourism,' he said. 'When you add in construction that's almost 80 per cent of the economy. We're not going to be able to indefinitely stop the inevitable.'"