A report from the Star Advertiser in Hawaii. "Munro Murdock, founder of Love Hawaii Realty and Love Hawaii Villas, was living the dream up until a few months ago, helping owner clients generate millions of dollars in vacation rental revenue. The company, which has dozens of vacation rental properties under management, last year serviced about 1,000 groups going to Hawaii and 5,000 guests. The start of this year looked good too. Then, COVID-19 brought a surge of cancellations amid new coronavirus fears and government lockdowns."

"'In about one week’s time, we had 100 cancellations that equated to hundreds of thousands of lost revenue,' Murdock said. 'We had to lay off or furlough nearly every single person that works for us. Normally, in a year we have five to 10 cancellations — we’re (over 150).'"

"Some vacation rental properties already are in forbearance, and some will move into short sales and foreclosures, which will impact Hawaii real estate. Distressed properties could include businesses or homes where the owner rents out a portion of it to subsidize high living costs. Some owner-occupied homes also might have been leveraged to buy investment properties."

The Real Deal on Florida. "Miami developer Harvey Hernandez is facing another lawsuit — this time alleging his company is delinquent in payments on his downtown Miami condo tower. The lender is suing Hernandez, after his company allegedly defaulted on a $2 million loan for the Centro tower. The owner of the loan is now seeking to foreclose on nine condo units at the 352-unit, 37-story building at 151 Southeast 1st Street."

"The lawsuit comes two months after a company tied to Hernandez settled a suit against Airbnb, which alleged that his company, NGD Homesharing, defrauded the short-term rental company in a partnership and stole $1 million. In 2016, Hernandez’s development company was sued over a failed robotic car garage he installed at the luxury condo tower Brickell House in Miami. In September, a Miami-Dade County judge awarded the Brickell House condo association $40.6 million from the development group after the technology malfunctioned and left residents without a working garage."

From Miami Agent Magazine in Florida. "Lack of access to Federal Housing Authority mortgage loans continues to inhibit growth of Miami’s existing condominium market, according to a recent report released by MIAMI Realtors, which noted that of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, only 13 were approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and FHA."

"'I think the number is even lower today — it should be about eight right now,' said Danielle Blake, chief of public policy for MIAMI Realtors."

"'Whether it’s eight or nine or 10 FHA-approved condos in Miami, effectively it’s really zero,' said Anthony Askowitz, broker-owner of RE/MAX Advance Realty. 'It’s really sad because condos represent 70% of our housing here in Miami, and not having access to FHA loans really limits their purchasing power. When condo boards remove that 10% of reserves, they need to know they’ve cost themselves not only potential buyers, they’re also lowering the value of their properties.'"

From Buffalo News in New York. "The next victim of the coronavirus lockdown could be the value of your house. The local housing market has been one of the bright spots of the Buffalo Niagara economy over the last five years. Homes have been selling fast, and prices have been rising by an average of about 7% a year over the last three years, creating wealth for homeowners in a way that largely hasn't happened here in decades."

"But the Covid-19 recession could change that. With one in four local workers out of a job – at least temporarily – the pool of potential buyers has shrunk significantly. Many higher-paid workers have seen their incomes drop, either from layoffs or pay cuts. 'People don't have the money they had. They're using up their savings to survive,' said George Palumbo, a Canisius College economist. 'Housing values will fall. We don't know how much they will fall. We don't know how long they will fall.'"

From Habitat Magazine in New York. "The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) reports that New York City’s total sales volume and total residential transactions decreased significantly to reach lowest points since the first quarter of 2014 and fourth quarter of 2011, respectively, according to its first-quarter 2020 Quarterly Residential Sales Report. The data does not reflect the expected significant decline in market activity as a result of the coronavirus public health crisis and subsequent executive orders, including the stay-at-home order that went into effect on March 22. 'Market indicators have warned New Yorkers that the housing market was entering a downturn even before the coronavirus pandemic caused an unprecedented public health and economic crisis in New York City,' says REBNY President James Whelan."

"The real estate industry generated more than half (53%) of the city’s total annual tax revenue in the last fiscal year."

The Boston Herald in Massachusetts. "Boston-area rents, already beginning to soften slightly, likely will drop more as the coronavirus crisis wears on, experts say — especially as September approaches with likely far fewer college students looking to live in Boston. 'We’ll start to see vacancies, first appearing on that higher end, and then it eventually will hit the middle of the market,' Skylar Olsen, senior principal economist at Zillow, told the Herald. 'And there’s extra reason to believe that rents will go soft in college towns like Boston.'"

"Demetrios Salpoglou of the local leasing platform Boston Pads wrote in a recent post that 'Many landlords mentioned that they were asking for rents at the same price or perhaps even at a slight discount to encourage tenants to stay.' Salpoglou said that a market analysis of the area shows that there are far more available apartments than normal."

From CNBC. "Dana Rice, a real estate agent with Compass in Maryland, has been walking buyers through her listings over a smartphone or tablet so the buyers can ask questions in real time. Others are doing Facebook Live showings for groups. Sellers should also be very careful not to overprice their homes. There may be little to choose from on the market right now, but with the economy in free-fall, bidding wars are few and far between."

"'Buyers are not desperate, so the pricing strategy still must be sound,' said Rice."

From News 10 San Diego in California. "As unemployment soars in the US, many people are looking for ways to stretch their monthly budget. Millions of them have turned to mortgage forbearance. According to the financial tracking firm Black Knight, more than 3.8 million homeowners have entered forbearance plans with their mortgage provider, as of April 30. That represents 7.3% of all mortgages in the US."

"'Forbearance is not debt forgiveness. Nobody's giving you any money,' says Mark Goldman, a Loan Officer at C2 Financial Corp. 'Forbearance means they're forbearing the current payment that is due. But, somehow, that payment that's been deferred is going to have to be repaid.'"

"The surge in forbearances could also hurt the housing market, creating cash-flow and liquidity issues for major lenders. Black Knight says that forbearance requests are declining, and could peak at around 4.5 million mortgages this summer. But Black Knight also says as many as 8 million mortgages could go into forbearance if the coronavirus pandemic continues. That would put 16% of all US mortgages in forbearance."

"Goldman explains that would make it very difficult for people looking to buy a home to find willing lenders. 'If a lot of people go into (forbearance), that's going to shut off the cash flow in the mortgage world,' he explains. 'That's going to drive up the price of mortgages. It's going to drive up the credit requirements. It's going to make it more difficult for people to get loans.'"

The Press Democrat in California. "Ross Liscum, a Santa Rosa real estate broker, said he was actually surprised there was wasn’t less activity in the housing market, given the 'total shutdown' in the community in April that closed businesses, schools and some government functions. Even as sellers begin to list more homes, Liscum said he expects buyers to be more reserved than they were three months ago."

"'I think the pendulum is going to swing. It’s going to be a buyer’s market now,' he said. 'There are a limited number of buyers out there actively looking. If a buyer has interest and makes an offer, sellers are going to be looking at them more diligently just because they may not see another buyer for a while.'"

"New listings are ramping up. There were 154 single-family homes listed for sale from May 1 to 8, double the number listed two weeks earlier, said Erika Rendino, co-owner of Re/Max Marketplace in Cotati. The DeWolfes have resources, they have a home to sell. But they’re also weighing their options. 'We need to decide if California is worth the California premium' said Kevin DeWolfe. 'Sonoma County in general is just too expensive.'"

The Wall Street Journal. "When Nevada’s governor ordered all nonessential businesses to close, Rick Schmidt told his wife, 'there goes the Strip.' With it, went the jobs of scores of borrowers who owe him money. Mr. Schmidt is the chief executive of WestStar Credit Union, which caters to the employees of Nevada’s gaming industry. Thousands of blackjack dealers, bartenders and hotel housekeepers who have loans and savings accounts there are now out of work."

"One in five of WestStar’s borrowers has asked for a deferral on a car or home loan, a number Mr. Schmidt expects to go up as casinos stay closed to control the spread of the coronavirus. 'We see the good parts of having that tight community all the time—we know our members, we know their employers, we know what they need,' Mr. Schmidt said. 'The bad part we’re seeing now.'"

"Over time, regulators have relaxed restrictions on who can join, and some credit unions now resemble bigger commercial banks. The largest of them, Navy Federal Credit Union, has more than nine million members and $125 billion in assets—larger than many regional banks. But many still resemble Endurance Federal Credit Union, which is based in Duncan, Okla., and was founded in 1960 for Halliburton Co. employees and other oil-field workers."

"Sinking demand has pushed oil prices so low that many wells in Texas and Oklahoma are closing. Halliburton has laid off or furloughed more than 4,500 employees in the U.S. since the beginning of March, including almost 600 in Duncan, according to notices filed with a state employment office. That trickles down to other companies that employ Endurance members."

"'This many people, in a town this size, hurting all at the same time,' said CEO Chris Bower. 'Find me a big bank where that’s true.' Endurance has $155 million of assets, including $95 million in car loans. Mr. Bower said the credit union has given 90-day deferrals to many customers and stopped repossessions. 'You’re just putting a Band-Aid on a huge wound. But what’s the alternative?' he said. 'I don’t want to own a parking lot full of cars.'"