A report from Global News on Canada. "The housing industry in Saskatoon is slower but remains steady, according to experts. And right now it is a buyers market. 'If you are in the market to buy a new home there has been no better time to do it (then right now),' said Saskatoon and Region Home Builders Association CEO Chris Guérette. 'You’ll absolutely get more for your bang for your buck right now then you did probably a year ago.'"

From iNews on the UK. "Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the Building Societies Association, says: 'Lenders and borrowers are facing unprecedented conditions. The temporary move away from higher LTV products across the whole market reflects prevailing uncertainty and the fact that physical valuations are on hold.' A downside for buyers is that you have to have 100 per cent of the property’s value in cash to now be in with a chance of securing a property. Assuming you have seen a house you liked before the restrictions came into effect, estate agents are unlikely to put any offers forward where a mortgage is required."

"However, sellers should be aware that cash-rich investors often expect a price reduction, with some offering as much as 30 per cent below the asking price."

The Jewish Journal in Israel. "Shelly Levine, owner of the Tivuch Shelly real estate brokerage that serves the Jerusalem area, has seen work grind to a halt. 'It’s impossible to sell houses at the moment. Who can even get a mortgage at this point?' she said. Some renters, like Ben, 29, who works in high-tech, have benefited from the coronavirus’s impact on the rental market, where there are more apartments available because people have left unaffordable apartments and others normally used for Airbnb travelers have been put on the market."

"'This hasn’t deterred me; the opposite is the case,' he told The Media Line. 'It’s given me more opportunities I think, less competition, greater selection and greater negotiating power.'"

From Kenyans. "Wealthy Kenyans are set to lose 16 multi-million houses to auctioneers after the High Court ruled in favour of the latter on Wednesday, April 8. A property developer who had sold the house to individuals including Josephine Mukuhi and Henry Ng'ang'a who had purchased two houses, suffered a blow when the court ruled for the auctioneers. The developers constructed over 30 houses in 2013 and had a plan to sell them in the open market. It borrowed a loan of Ksh 80 million, to be repaid in instalments in over 24 months. They were, however, not capable to beat the deadline due to the economic downturn."

"'The grant of an injunction would merely postpone the day of reckoning in view of the admitted indebtedness. During this time the interest would continue to accrue and increase substantially in proportion to the value of the security thus imperilling the lender’s prospects of recovery of the debt,' Justice David Majanja ruled after the property developer admitted its indebtedness."

From Economic Times on India. "State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar exhorted real estate firms to keep their bank account standard, clear inventory as soon as possible and improve perception about the business. While plain-speaking to the real estate players, Kumar said course correction has to be undertaken by the industry if they want to survive and get back on track as soon as possible."

"'Clear inventory as soon as possible. We believed that prices will go up but unfortunately the prices are not going up. There was a time when there were first time home buyers and there were investors and in five years you could double your money…those times are over,' he said in a virtual conference organised by realtors' body NAREDCO."

The South China Morning Post. "Some investors who bought property in Hong Kong during a mid-2019 peak in prices might not even recover their monthly mortgage payments, as rents continue their headlong dive, industry experts said. 'If vacancies rise, landlords who cannot cover their mortgage payments with rental incomes, will be forced to sell their properties,' said Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and advisory services at international property company Colliers International, adding that this will swell the ranks of homes available for steep discounts, particularly in New Territories."

"For instance, a 709 sq ft unit in Yuen Kung Mansion in Hong Kong’s Taikoo Shing district was last week rented out for HK$25,500 a month. The monthly rent was about 20 per cent lower than the HK$32,000 a month the landlord had charged previously, according to Midland Realty. If such a unit was bought in June 2019, the market peak, it would have cost the landlord HK$14 million, which amounts to monthly instalments of about HK$28,000, said Kenneth Ng, a senior sales director at Midland Realty’s Taikoo Shing branch. He based his calculation on a 50 per cent loan for 30 years for a home worth more than HK$10 million, according to current mortgage lending rules."

"The new lease was HK$2,500 less than the landlord’s HK$28,000 monthly mortgage instalment. 'This shows renting is cheaper than buying right now,' he added."

From Stuff New Zealand. "Property investors are being hit by a 'perfect storm' that is predicted to drive many out of the market. Rents have been frozen and evictions are on hold for the next three months as the country responds to the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown. 'David Pearse, managing director of Pukeko Rental Managers, predicted a 'mass sell-off' of rental properties in the coming weeks."

"'I'm already hearing reports of some wanting to sell but having to wait until the end of the lockdown,'he said. 'Not only have some seen their rental income drop with no chance of government relief, but there's a huge concern that the government won't reverse the lockdown policy of making no-cause terminations illegal. It's like the perfect storm for mum and dad landlords, who are the vast majority, and they can't see an end in sight.'"

Two reports from Domain News in Australia. "Buyers of off-the-plan apartments are beginning to bear the brunt of the COVID-19-led economic downturn with some struggling to settle on properties bought at the height of the market. According to a range of industry sources, some are now scrambling to secure finance, others are trying to find new vendors and some are even walking away altogether in order to avoid bigger long-term losses."

"In one worst-case scenario, a buyer who paid a deposit on an off-the-plan apartment valued at $646,000 in Melbourne 18 months ago has recently been informed that it was now only worth $500,000. Foster Ramsay Finance principal finance broker Chris Foster-Ramsay said many properties that were bought off-the-plan at the height of the market had valuations that were 'shaky at best' and were now being settled in a market downturn."

"Mr Foster-Ramsay said more and more off-the-plan buyers who settle in coming weeks would find their valuations fall short of initial expectations set 18 months ago as the economic fallout of COVID-19 deepens, adding it could be the 'tip of the iceberg.' It’s going to become more and more problematic,' he said. 'I think in this particular market we’re heading down this path in highly built-up areas of Melbourne. There is an element of a ticking time bomb there.'"

"Good Designs chief of staff Jessie Summons said she’s also seen an increasing number of buyers willing to forfeit their deposit and developers extending sunset clauses. 'We’ve seen a lot of buyers contact us and either pull out of sales or want to pull out of sales,' she said. 'Some have pulled out purely for the reason they believe or expect the market to tank. The market was running so hot [at the time of putting down a deposit] they felt pressured to make decisions quickly, but that has dissipated.'"

"Melbourne high-end buyer’s agent Mal James said the discounting trend began about three weeks ago, with some A-grade properties off by up to 5 per cent and B-grade properties by 5 to 10 per cent. 'There was one property we were involved in was a $200,000 discount, there was another that was a $100,000 discount, within the space of two weeks,' he said. 'There’s not that many buyers.'"

"He shared an email he received offering a new four-bedroom townhouse, reduced to $1.49 million from $1.58 million, with the agent writing of their 'clear instructions to sell this home ASAP.' In Sydney, buyer’s agent Rich Harvey has transacted three properties at a discount to asking price or his appraised price over the last three weeks, for owner-occupier clients. Agents are using phrases such as 'the vendor’s expectations are realistic,' said the chief executive."

"Henny Stier of OH Property Group has seen prices in some pockets of Sydney drop 10 per cent in the last month, but is cautious the trend is not evident everywhere. 'They were probably vendors who had purchased and then COVID happened, and they didn’t want to be saddled with two mortgages, so they just had to sell and be a price taker,' she said. '[The agents] would call and say, ‘Initially my vendor was at this price, and now willing to take a certain price.'"

"Buyer’s and vendor’s advocate Wendy Chamberlain cites one home marketed at $1 to $1.1 million, cut to $1 million, now with a best offer of $930,000. Another agent offered a free-standing house, a deceased estate, in inner-northern Brunswick for just $740,000 to $780,000 – an improbable price guide two months ago. Often the discounting is driven by the buyer too, she said. 'They’re going, ‘COVID-19, I can negotiate,' she said. 'Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.'"