It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Experts say there could be a foreclosure wave next year as companies go out of business 'and those jobs don’t come back,' said Chad Van Horn, a Fort Lauderdale-based bankruptcy attorney. 'I have clients we are filing motions to [postpone] the foreclosure proceedings until we get through this COVID-19.' He said while he doesn’t expect the glut of foreclosures and short sale homes on the market like in the 2008 crash, he expects trouble as people to deal with multiple financial problems at once, including other debt. 'I think property values are going to take a hit,' he said."

"It’s hard to sell one luxury apartment these days, but what about 20? In New York City, some developers are hoping to clear a glut of unsold units by offering bulk deals at discounted prices. Developers Simon Baron and Quadrum Global are offering a 10 percent discount on the 26 remaining units at their 38-unit Chamberlain at 269 West 87th Street. Vickram Jambu declined to comment on the project, but said he had seen an uptick in interest in bulk deals overall. 'Given the turbulence in the market recently, bulk-condo dispositions have become more of a popular topic between some of our clients as of late,' he said."

"Toll Bros. said it is pausing work on condo projects planned for land it owns in city centers, such as the 24-story tower it has proposed at the former site of four stately buildings it demolished along Philadelphia’s Jewelers Row shopping street. Toll chief executive Douglas Yearley said in a conference call with analysts last week that the company 'has chosen not to start' projects planned on land held by its City Living division 'in this environment.'"

"The COVID-19 pandemic has started to negatively impact asking rents in Oakville and most of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), according to a report. Part of the decline can be attributed to an increase in former short-term rentals hitting the market, which added a major infusion of supply. The largest declines in average monthly asking rents for rental apartments in the former city of Toronto were three-bedroom suites, which declined by 16 per cent month over month. Two-bedroom apartments experienced a monthly decline of 14 per cent."

"Professor Sue Rigby, Vice Chancellor of Bath Spa University, said both Bath universities are 'not growing' and there aren't going to be more students. There has also been concerns that too much development in Bath has been centered on student accommodation, and now the universities are also suggesting that there could be an over-supply. 'Both Bath Uni and ourselves have worked very hard to reinforce the understanding that we are not growing, and that means that an awful lot of this speculative student development is going to be wasted because there aren’t going to be more students,' she said."

"According to Jacqui Savage, national rentals manager for the Rawson Property Group, these are the four biggest trends hitting the South Africa market. Tourism is unlikely to resume anytime soon, making Airbnbs something of a white elephant for now. As a result, Savage said many Airbnb owners are converting their properties to long-term rentals, competing with those already on the market. 'It’s important to differentiate between a good tenant in temporary difficulty and a tenant with no desire or ability to return to good standing,' said Savage. 'In the case of the former, we’d definitely encourage landlords to consider negotiating some kind of payment plan to retain the tenant, rather than having to start from scratch with an empty property in current circumstances.'"

"Mumbai’s real estate landscape, residential rented properties in particular, is witnessing a major reshuffle. Here’s how: a 3 BHK apartment at a prime location in Mumbai’s Bandra West that was never rented below Rs 90,000 per month is now available for Rs 65,000 to Rs 70,000. That’s a drop of almost 28 percent. Yet, there are no takers. Pawan Makhija who runs a broking business covering Mumbai suburbs, has never seen prices drop so sharply in a span of just two months in at least 15 years of his broking career. '25 percent of my clients have vacated houses in the last 2 months and this is likely to worsen after the lockdown is lifted,' adds Pawan."

"Rents on tiny flats in some of Hong Kong’s chic property developments are sliding towards the rates on the city’s notorious subdivided flats as landlords concede more ground in a recession-hit economy, according to property agents. Rents have slipped by 10 per cent on average across the broader market since they peaked in August last year. Last week, a 167 sq ft flat at One Prestige, a two-year-old development in North Point catering for young people, was rented out for HK$10,000, according to Jeffrey Lam, chief area director at Hong Kong Property Services. That represented a 16.7 per cent cut from the landlord’s asking price."

"Mortgage stress levels among Australians have continued to soar amid the global outbreak of COVID-19, with data showing more than 1.4 million Australian households are now in mortgage stress and almost 100,000 could soon default on their loans. Alison Pennington, senior economist at The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work said housing price inflation had allowed Australian households to consume like they're rich."

"'This hollow, asset-led growth model was steering us into dangerous, unstable territory pre-pandemic,' she said."

"The club of people who can afford to buy a first home is getting smaller as a result of actions taken by the federal government’s housing specialists. Kick the housing market while it’s down, will they? Yes, and kudos to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. for having the guts to do it. Already, payments on about 15 per cent of mortgages at banks have been deferred or temporarily skipped, according to the Canadian Bankers Association."

"It seems an awkward time to get tougher with first-time buyers. But treating first-time buyers like kindling is no way to build the financial resilience of Canadian households. The new rules could actually improve affordability by driving prices down. And they’ll be using up a little less of their income to carry their mortgages and other borrowings."

"Steve Harvey just landed one of Atlanta’s most impressive estates. The nearly 35,000-square-foot French Provincial-style mansion, which was once owned by Tyler Perry, was just sold to the comedian for $15 million. In 2016, Perry sold it to televangelist David Turner for a record-breaking $17.5 million. Turner shot for the stars two years later, listing it for $25 million before trimming the price to $21 million and eventually selling it to Harvey for a loss at $15 million."

"A well-timed relist did the trick for Sylvester Stallone, who just sold his La Quinta retreat for $3.15 million. He found no takers after floating it for sale at $4.2 million in 2014 but landed a buyer after just a week on the market this time around. It chalks up as a loss for Stallone; records show he paid $4.5 million for the property a decade ago."