It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Not being able to pay rent is a big stressor as thousands of Washingtonians remain unemployed. It’s causing stress not only for tenants but also for small mom and pop landlords. 'My husband and I invested in three rental properties as a source of retirement income,' KING 5 viewer Jo wrote. 'We understand times are tough, but our tenants have become unemployed and unable to pay rent. It will force us into bankruptcy."

"Thousands of landlords across California are now facing severe financial strain. 'Me and my husband own a block of apartments in Los Angeles,' said Susan Chang, a Los Angeles landlord. 'Out of the 12 units, currently 5 are not paying any rent. Our income has literally been halved. This was supposed to be our retirement.'"

"For homeowners who face financial hardships due to the pandemic, lenders cannot move ahead with foreclosures until at least Aug. 20, under an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. 'If I lose the house I’m completely homeless,' said Darcy Avolin, 59, who suffers from ailments that include emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression. 'I’m on every conceivable list for senior and disability housing. But I’ll tell you something, there is not a lot out there and these [waiting] lists are two or three years long.'"

"In the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same period a year earlier, the median price for upscale condos dropped nearly 21%, while inventory grew by 12% in Miami’s barrier islands, according to a report by Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman. When the coronavirus seized the U.S., weakening the already wobbly luxury housing market, developer Gil Dezer revisited a concept he had tried out during the Great Recession more than a decade ago. He rolled out a rent-to-own program for one of his crown-jewel projects in Sunny Isles Beach in south Florida."

"If there is one city where the effects of Covid-19 have reverberated severely, it’s New York. And the glut of upscale condos has endangered a market whose pace has slowed in the last several years. As a result, rent-to-own proposals started to pop up long before the coronavirus hit. 'We were basically responding to the market,' said Christina Medina, director of sales for One Manhattan Square. 'There’s an abundant inventory of condo availability in New York City.'"

"A pandemic panic may be settling into Metro Vancouver’s once robust condominium market. Some buyers of pre-sale condos are now trying to unload their investment on Craigslist before the building opens. A telling example is a new two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo apartment in Burnaby’s Metrotown that completes this October. 'Originally purchased for $841,800 but now assigning for $784,900,' the July 1 Craigslist ad reads."

"London room rents fell by 7 percent in May 2020, compared to May 2019. Rents in west central fell by 16 percent, east central by 15 percent, and the north west by 11 percent. SpareRoom data shows that rooms in W10 (North Kensington) have seen the largest drop in room rents, falling by 23 percent to £763 per month, while rooms in WC1 (Bloomsbury and High Holborn) have fallen by 19 percent to £878. North London also saw a drop, with rents in NW8 and NW1, St. John’s Wood and Camden respectively, falling by 13 percent."

"At the beginning of the lockdown, rental properties flooded the London market as a result of a decline in holiday let usage. With lockdown rules prohibiting people from staying overnight in Airbnbs, many Airbnb landlords put their properties on the market for short-term rents to help reclaim lost income."

"When Jessica Boylan started looking for somewhere to rent in Dublin at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it did not go the way she was expecting. 'We were getting so many replies and so many more places - we could really pick and chose,' she told BBC News. The glut of short-term holiday lets coming onto the market has driven down costs in other high-rent cities. The trend can also be seen in Canada and the United States, as well as in cities across Europe."

"The lockdown in France has forced many aristocrats and other families to put their chateaux on the market, often for knockdown prices. French estate agents reportedly have more than 1,500 of them on their books — more than double the number ten years ago. Some prices have dropped by an enormous 40 per cent."

"Over two-thirds of the advertised properties that experienced a price change in the first quarter of 2020, saw a reduction in the asking price when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to a new in-depth report on the Maltese market. Djar CTO Keith Galdies said: 'This downward shift started in the last quarter of 2019 - due to changing demands, an increase in supply, and prolonged political uncertainty that dented Malta's reputation with foreign investors - has been further compounded by the coronavirus.'"

"With many residential rented properties in Chennai lying vacant for the last three months, house owners are approaching real estate brokers saying they are ready to further slash the rent. Even then there were no takers, brokers said. V. Veera from Kodambakkam, who has been in the house brokering business for 18 years, said earlier he used to get 10-15 calls per day from people looking to rent a house. 'Post lockdown, I hardly get one call a week,' he said."

"Shanghai-based Zhenro Properties plans to build up its land bank this year by acquiring plots during distress sales by smaller companies. The top-tier developer believes underperforming smaller property companies will be forced to offload projects in the second half of the year, with some filing for bankruptcy, and will not buy all its land at expensive government auctions. 'About 20 per cent to 30 per cent of home builders will be gone [in the next couple of years]. Some will just exit the market, while others will go bust,' said Kenny Chan, Zhenro's chief financial officer."

"About 230 property developers have already gone out of business this year, according to state-owned publication People's Court Daily. More are expected to follow as smaller developers are wrongly betting on a recovery in mainland China's housing market, observers said. 'The risk of going bust is huge in the second half, as small developers are gambling. They have actively been buying land at high prices these past two months, betting on the market staying hot. If the market turns sour in the coming months, they will face a liquidity crunch and the worst scenario for them will be bankruptcy,' said Leif Chang, head of China property research at Nomura."

"Auckland real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson says sales numbers returned to normal in June while prices held stable. But Kelvin Davidson, an economist at Corelogic, said a survey of users of its Property Guru platform, largely real estate agents, was a reality check on some of the positive stories emerging about the property market. He said there were quite a few vendors listing for 'wrong' reasons. Almost 20 per cent of properties had come on to the market because of financial distress, respondents said, and 16 per cent because of the worry of prices falling. Another 10 per cent were because vendors wanted to sell an empty property."

"In Sydney's inner west and eastern suburbs alone about 551 apartments failed to settle, as did 457 in Melbourne's inner suburbs during the same period. Off-the-plan values have dropped between 10 and 15 per cent during the past 12 months on average, higher than the previous year, Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North said. 'Values are likely to fall further, given the oversupply in the sector,' he said."

"The proportion of off-the-plan apartments racking up large losses in values at settlement has surged over the three months to May, CoreLogic data shows. More than half (52 per cent) of the 3389 off-the-plan properties across Sydney had a lower value at settlement compared to the contract price. Values fell by more than 10 per cent for one in four (26 per cent) Sydney apartments since the contract was signed, which is likely to have been in 2017 before the bank regulator tightened the lending rules on property investments."

"Across Melbourne, more than one in two (51 per cent) of the 4173 off-the-plan apartments were worth less at settlement compared to their purchase price. Values plunged by at least 10 per cent for one in five (20.9 per cent) apartments since the contract was signed. In Brisbane, 41.7 per cent of off-the-plan properties have lost value since being purchased, 49.4 per cent in Perth, 25.4 per cent in Canberra and 20.7 per cent in Adelaide."

"CoreLogic research analyst Eliza Owen said these trends were not just a result of COVID-19 but the pandemic had made it worse. 'Undervaluation of off-the-plan apartments across Sydney and Melbourne has been rife over the past two years, averaging 46.4 per cent in Sydney and 42.7 per cent in Melbourne,' Ms Owen said."

"The bigger risk is for buyers who have lost their jobs or had their income reduced in the last few months and no longer qualify for a loan, says Rise High Financial Solutions Marissa Schulze. 'If you can't proceed with the purchase, you risk not only losing your deposit but also paying up for damages if the developer can't sell it for the same price,' she said.