A report from News 3 Las Vegas in Nevada. "Tom Blanchard, President of Las Vegas Realtors, dismisses any speculation that the Las Vegas real estate market is headed for a bubble. 'There is no bubble,' Blanchard said, 'We are still undervalued compared to the surrounding states. Vegas is still a great deal.'"

"Local economist David Grana, however, tends to be a little less certain, citing numerous issues that could impact the nation’s economy and housing markets. 'Those factors such as forbearance, loan modifications, unemployment benefits, the strength of the economy and the ability of the economy to bounce back- that will determine whether or not there is a bubble.'"

From Bloomberg. "A bond market once thought to be key to the futures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- and the roughly $5 trillion of home loans they backstop -- could instead find itself on the scrap heap due to their own regulator. In the past several years, so-called credit-risk-transfer securities have been a primary way for government-controlled Fannie and Freddie to offload the risk of borrowers defaulting on their mortgages to private investors. The market value of such assets, known as CRT, has grown to about $50 billion, with mutual funds, hedge funds and real-estate investment trusts among investors snatching up the bonds."

"But a new rule proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the mortgage giants, would drastically cut Fannie and Freddie’s incentive to continue selling the bonds. 'We think it might kill CRT, and that this might be their intent,' said Michael Bright, chief executive officer of the Structured Finance Association. The FHFA’s treatment of the assets 'has been taken by many housing-finance policy specialists as an attempt to deliberately render the program uneconomic and thus ensure its likely demise,' former Freddie CEO Donald Layton wrote."

"Layton released a separate white paper this week in which he wrote that FHFA Director Mark Calabria has expressed skepticism in private conversations over the effectiveness of CRT. Calabria, according to Layton, has sometimes compared the securities to credit default swaps, assets that didn’t provide the protection that investors expected during the 2008 meltdown and contributed significantly to the global credit crunch."

From Senior Housing News. "The coronavirus pandemic has been the 'unexpected shock to the economies' that National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Chief Economist Beth Burnham Mace feared would disrupt a boom market in January. Prior to the pandemic, the nation’s capital had the building blocks in place for a bull housing market: but the 'peak volatility' that seized the capital markets extended to home buying, as well."

"Housing prices have dropped precipitously since a March average of $419,900, ATTOM’s data revealed. Some active listings in the district, as well as in neighboring Arlington County, Virginia, have seen a 30% drop in asking prices — a trend that is expected to continue well into 2021."

"Although the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex saw housing prices increase nearly 2% from April to May, that statistic doesn’t tell the complete story. Home sales in Dallas County plummeted 35% in May, the Dallas Morning News reported. Median home prices, meanwhile, fell nearly 4% year over year. Home sales in nearby Collin and Tarrant Counties fell 29% and 28%, respectively."

From Housing Wire. "Luxury home prices have dropped 2.3% year over year nationwide, Redfin said. In the 12 weeks ending June 14, the median sale price for luxury homes fell to $1,099,521, marking one of the biggest declines in luxury home prices since the beginning of 2015. Prices of high-end homes in Dallas sank 12% year over year in the 12 weeks ending June 14, the highest drop in any metro. Las Vegas was the second-highest, with a 6.7% drop."

"'The pandemic is playing an outsized role in the luxury market, as very expensive homes are particularly sensitive to periods of economic uncertainty,' said Redfin Economist Taylor Marr. 'Many luxury buyers are nervous about pouring money into an investment that may be difficult to sell if the economy takes a nosedive.'"

From Miami Today in Florida. "Miami-Dade communities varied widely in change in value of existing properties. In six bayfront communities existing property values actually declined year over year. The other bayfront communities where existing properties fell in value were Bal Harbour, North Bay Village, Aventura, Surfside and Bay Harbour Islands, all prized waterfront living sites. So what happened to cause areas that were most coveted to send existing properties’ values into decline?"

"'This decline of taxable value is primarily attributed to a decrease in condominium values in areas with high concentration of residential condominiums,' Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia explained in a news release."

"One explanation could be that in the areas of decline new condominiums flooded the market, increasing supply and depressing the price of older units. In condos, the newest glittering units tend to attract newcomers, leaving older units with less demand."

The Watertown Daily News in New York. "The next order of business considered by both committee and the Common Council was another new ordinance proposed by the mayor regarding ‘For Rent’ signs. In essence, the mayor’s original June 15 proposal banned ‘For Rent’ signs totally. This did not go over well with the committee and compromise was urged by a number of common councilors. The mayor explained his position this way."

"'This isn’t a full-out prohibition of rental advertisement in the city of Oswego,' he said. 'This is just prohibiting the advertisement of rental properties’ ‘For Rent’ signs in the residential neighborhoods. In my opinion, they take away from the neighborhood. I believe, the ‘For Rent’ sign, is, in itself, a source of blight. I don’t think it looks good. I don’t think it fits. When we spend millions of dollars in investment in organizations like the ORA, (Oswego Renaissance Association), I don’t think a landlord, typically from out of town, putting up a ‘For Rent’ sign, is really doing the neighborhood any favors, so, I really consider it a main source of blight.'"

"'Lastly, the most important point. ‘For Rent’ signs are a negative indicators in neighborhoods. If you’re looking to buy a house, re-locate, or invest in the house you already own or live in, if there’s a ‘For Rent’ sign on the neighboring property or down the street, that’s a negative indicator, and you’re going to look elsewhere. And that’s just a fact.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "For landlords, squeezing a few extra dollars a month out of tenants is the least of their concerns. More pressing is the fact that, through May, landlords saw 7.5% of tenants breaking their leases, according to San Francisco Apartment Association Executive Director Janan New, who said that the city’s apartment stock could see upwards of 20% vacancy rates before the impact of the pandemic starts to ease. Prior to the pandemic, the city had apartment vacancy rates of just under 4%."

"'It’s basically a mass exodus,'she said. 'And there is no job creation to bring in new people.'"

"San Francisco’s one-bedroom rents are down 11.8% compared with a year ago, the highest drop on record and the biggest among major U.S. cities, according to Zumper. The city remains the most expensive in the country. The number of rental listings has risen about 25% in San Francisco compared to the previous year."

The Los Angeles Times California. "Finding no takers last year at $35 million, actor Matthew Perry is relisting his penthouse in Century City for $27 million. He bought the penthouse three years ago for $20 million, The Times previously reported."

From Phys Org. "In examining one of the biggest unresolved questions surrounding the 2008 financial crisis, a new study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin raises red flags on risky credit practices that may have once again made their way into American business operations."

"McCombs finance faculty members John Griffin and Sam Kruger researched two competing theories about what caused the housing boom and bust that led to the 2008 crisis—oversupply of easy credit vs. overspeculation by real estate investors—revealing issues of immediate relevance to businesses and regulators as they respond to the current pandemic-induced hobbling of the U.S. economy."

"The researchers looked at evidence for whether the large amount of credit that began flooding the market in 2003 led to looser lending standards. They also examined the theory that steadily increasing residential real estate prices led to a kind of house investment euphoria. More and more people began looking at houses as gold mines. Since house prices had continually risen in the past, people extrapolated that they would continue to rise in the future: Homebuyers were speculating."

"The economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis will shed light on the quality of lending standards over the past few years. 'We will learn a lot more when we see delinquencies and defaults over these next few months,' Kruger said."

"Griffin said it's likely that the kind of fraud that previously played a large role in the housing market was also present more recently in other areas of finance － leading to certain market excesses. If that's the case, he expects price crashes. 'I think there's a lot of fraud hidden behind the market run-up over the past five years,' he said, 'and if so, that is going to be shaken out over the next year or two.'"