A report from the Commercial Observer on New York. "The Real Estate Board of New York, the powerful real estate lobbying firm, laid off staff and slashed executives’ salaries because of a decrease in membership dues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the organization confirmed. REBNY cut about 10 percent of its staff, decreased the salaries of its executives by 10 percent and dropped President James Whelan’s pay by one-third, The Real Deal reported."

"'The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted profound damage on New York City, its people and its economy,' a spokeswoman for REBNY said in a statement. 'REBNY is not immune to or insulated from that impact. To manage our budget issues, we have focused on decreasing expenses including salary cuts, staff reductions and other measures.'"

"In a memo sent to members obtained by TRD, REBNY said it expects to have a $4 million revenue shortfall this year after payment of membership dues 'slowed to a trickle' while the group is unable to host fundraisers during the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic essentially paused most real estate transactions in the city for three months, with a REBNY report finding that the city lost more than $160 million in tax revenue generated from investment and residential sales from March until May."

The Real Deal on Florida. "Apartment rents have started to fall in some South Florida cities. In June, Coral Gables saw the biggest decline in asking rents for one-bedroom apartments, according to Zumper, falling 10.5 percent year-over-year to $1,700 a month. Miami Beach experienced the second largest drop at 5.9 percent, to $1,600 a month. Deerfield Beach and Hollywood rents fell by 5.9 percent, each, to $1,350 a month."

"Property owners have been bracing for the financial impact of coronavirus, as millions of Americans have filed for unemployment – more than two million in Florida – since the pandemic began in March."

The Epoch Times on California. "The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has resumed evictions that were in progress before California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The department’s Civil Process Services bureau, which handles the county’s evictions, began contacting tenants on May 26 to notify them that court-ordered evictions were proceeding on June 1."

"David Levy, programs specialist at Fair Housing Council of Orange County, said landlords are facing problems of their own. '[If] you evict a bunch of people, you have a bunch of empty units,' he said. 'Before any of this started, we already had a huge tenant population that was rent-burdened.' He said people were 'struggling in the best of times' to afford the county’s high rents. 'Now, you go into the pandemic, where you’re going to potentially displace these people. … Are you going to be able to find a replacement customer? The business-as-usual idea is: you’re gone, it’s a hot housing market, I’ll just replace you. Well, is that going to be true? We don’t know,' Levy said."

"Victor Cao, vice president of public affairs for the California Apartment Association, told The Epoch Times that some landlords have been subsidizing rents for up to six months. 'For 60 percent of our membership, they’re small mom-and-pop owners,' he said. 'They don’t have the financial wherewithal to go through that.'"

The Traverse Ticker in Michigan. "The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic shutdown certainly took a toll on the real estate industry in May, as every county served by the Traverse Area Association of Realtors was down significantly, in both the number of homes sold and the dollar volume. For the five-county area, the number of homes sold dipped from 309 in May 2019 to 116 last month, a 63 percent drop."

"The slowdown was also evident in the downturn in average and median prices, though that change was not as universal. Overall, the average home sale price dropped from $299,974 in May 2019 to $278,816 in May 2020. The overall decrease in sales was even more notable given that the totals in May 2019 were the high-water mark for the month for the past decade. Last month’s totals were the lowest since the recovery began from the Great Recession. Year to date, the total 864 units sold are also the lowest dating back to 2012."

The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. "After more than 10 years on the market, the six-bedroom 27,000-square-foot French Provincial-style mansion in Winnetka known as 'Le Grand Reve' finally sold on Friday for $8.75 million — a far cry from the $32 million that its sellers once had sought for the home. Shortly after Le Grand Reve was completed, the Jarols informally listed it in 2009 for a Chicago-area record asking price of $32 million. They then placed it publicly for sale in January 2010 for $28 million."

"Further price cuts ensued. Its asking price was reduced to $23 million in 2011, $15.9 million in 2014 and $13.9 million in 2015. When that didn’t yield offers to the sellers’ liking, the price was reduced further to just below $13 million later on in 2015, then to $11.9 million in 2017 and then to just under $10 million later in 2017. The Jarols made their final price cut, to $9.5 million, in May 2019."

"It had a $199,900 property tax bill in the 2018 tax year, but listing information states that a recent successful tax appeal brought its annual tax bill below $100,000."

From West Hawaii Today. "Some short-term vacation rental owners are crying foul that they can’t offer their properties even for long-term rental to locals during the coronavirus pandemic. Owners and their representatives think the rules go too far. They note that hotels are allowed to continue to operate and other rental operations continue as normal."

"'Anytime you start making law without it actually going through the legal process sets a precedent that he can impose that he doesn’t have the authority to impose,' said Gretchen Osgood, a Kailua-Kona real estate agent and rental property manager. 'It’s a Catch-22. … You want them to turn into long-term rental for locals, yet you won’t let them rent to locals now. … We just want a level, fair playing field for everyone and it seems like hotels get an advantage,' she said."

"STVR owners say there’s nothing in the law or the application process that suggests the rental unit can be used only in one way or the other. They didn’t give up their right to rent long-term just because they applied for the STVR, they said. 'Nothing said I had to choose between the two,' said Cheryl Cook-Kallio, a former teacher and city councilwoman in the San Francisco Bay Area who owns a rental in Kona with her husband. 'To prevent someone like us from using it as a long-term rental is taking away the use of our property.'"

"Cook-Kallio said she and her husband have been coming to Hawaii since 1981 and even spent three summers teaching at Hawaii Preparatory Academy. She said they rent out their property so they can afford to keep it to use when they visit two or three times a year."