A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Some sellers say they are hanging tough because they believe their homes aren’t moving because buyers haven’t viewed them in person or are reluctant to make offers right now, not because the asking price is too high. They are waiting for stay-at-home orders to ease before deciding whether to lower the price. 'People really aren’t leaving their homes' to go house-hunting, said Sarah McMurdy, who listed her Bethesda, Md., house in late March and then opted to temporarily take it off the market in April due to the pandemic. 'We’re not looking to fire-sale the house. We’re in no rush. We would rather wait this out.'"

"Still, some buyers are hoping for bargains. Haas El Farra and his wife were under contract to buy a house in Southern California in early March. As the coronavirus epidemic worsened, they worried they were buying at the top of the market and asked the seller to lower the price. When the seller refused, they pulled their bid and decided to keep looking for a better deal. 'Hopefully something nicer than what we were looking at will come up at an affordable price,' said Mr. El Farra, a portfolio manager."

"A major uncertainty is whether mortgage-forbearance policies will prevent a wave of distressed sales. More than 7% of mortgages were in forbearance in the week ended April 30, according to mortgage-data company Black Knight Inc., and some homeowners can get forbearance for up to a year. But homeowners could struggle to make payments after the forbearance period ends."

"'In the next 12 months it’s hard to anticipate price declines because of the mortgage forbearance in place,' said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. 'You would have to see continuing job losses for a prolonged period leading to foreclosures, and even then we may not have oversupply.'"

The Powell Tribune in Wyoming. "John Parsons, co-owner of 307 Real Estate, said while the market is slower, it’s still a good time to sell a home. 'Is it going to go on the market and sell in one day? Probably not,' he said, but when the health crisis passes, a lot of people could be putting their homes on the market. 'Doing it now, as opposed to waiting for things to be OK, you’re going to face a glut,' Paul warned."

The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report in Louisiana. "Like other sectors of the hospitality industry, the short-term rentals market has been decimated by the coronavirus crisis. 'I’m empty into September,' says Melissa Parmelee, who owns two short-term rental properties in Beauregard Town. Parmelee has decided to convert one of her short-term rentals to a long-term rental and will begin marketing it in June. 'Converting it will give it stability, which is something I don’t have right now,' says Parmelee. 'This is my side hustle that is costing me money right now.'"

"Parmelee says it’s too soon to say what might happen, especially given that the market already has an oversupply of apartments—and more likely to come."

The Colorado Real Estate Journal. "Over the past few years, workforce rentals became increasingly undersupplied, as vacancy was near 20-year lows ending 2019. Survey responses suggest that we’ll see a short-term decline in investor demand for assets; those responses also highlighted the long-term positive outlook for investing in multifamily properties once the crisis subsides. Craig Lessard, director of acquisitions at WoodSpear Properties, said that his firm remains interested in acquisitions but is struggling to appropriately price assets in the current environment."

"'Sellers want yesterday’s pricing, which reflects tight vacancy and 3% or 4% rent growth,' he said. 'In the short term, it looks like the vacancy will be slightly higher, and rent growth will be zero.'"

From ABC 10 in California. "The Governor has put a stop to evictions for now, and the courts won't hear any eviction cases until 90 days after the state of emergency ends. But what happens after that? Sid Lakireddy, President of the California Rental Housing Association or CalRHA, is against the idea of canceling rents and mortgages. 'This isn't going to work. We still have to make payments and whatnot,' said Lakireddy."

The Observer on California. "It took more than two years and a major price cut, but Eva Longoria has finally found a buyer for her celeb-pedigreed Hollywood Hills compound. The actress has been attempting to sell the Los Angeles estate since November 2017, when she listed the home for a hefty $14 million. That would have given her a nice profit from the $11.4 million she paid. Alas, Longoria wasn’t able to find a buyer, and by June 2018, discounted the price to $11 million, which already meant she would be accepting a loss."

"Unfortunately for Longoria, she had to lower her expectations even more, as the final sales price comes to just $8.25 million. That’s a serious loss from what Longoria paid for the home, without even factoring in the amount spent on transaction and brokerage fees. It’s also even less than the most recent $9.5 million asking price."

From 8 News Now in Nevada. "The housing market has a cycle. A real estate expert told 8 News Now that southern Nevada was overdue for a slow down, and the pandemic just accelerated that. Vivek Sah, Director of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV, says we need to look at the effects of COVID-19 in the short term and long term. In the short term, housing prices are going to dip. People selling to upgrade their home will need to adjust their expectations in terms of price, and how many offers they’ll get."

"Sah told 8 News Now we’ll be moving from a sellers market to a buyers market. 'They will not only be able to negotiate a decrease in price, but they were also able to get all the concessions such as seller-paid closing costs,' Sah said. 'Those days will be back.'"

From Bloomberg. "Amherst Holdings terminated its $2.3 billion deal to buy Front Yard Residential, sending shares of the single-family rental sliding the most in more than a year. Amherst, which agreed to acquire Front Yard in February, will pay a $25 million termination fee and purchase shares of Front Yard common stock at an aggregate price of $55 million, according to a statement on Monday."

"Front Yard put itself on the block last year after settling with an activist investor. The landlord owned more than 15,000 homes, making it an attractive target in an industry where efficiencies of scale are key. The deal fell apart as the coronavirus outbreak roils real estate markets and increases the difficulty of doing diligence on an acquisition. 'The unprecedented global health crisis has made the integration of the organizations too operationally complex and uncertain at this time,' Amherst Chief Executive Officer Sean Dobson said."

"Front Yard’s stock plunged as much as 23% to $8.33, the biggest intraday drop since March 2020. It had agreed to be acquired for $12.50 per share."