A report from the Globe and Mail in Canada. "In June, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported that the average price in the Greater Toronto Area sailed to a record high of $930,869. Real estate broker Farrell Macdonald says some properties that sold three years ago are selling for less today. 'It’s really hard to lose money in Toronto real estate but it happens.' He’s hoping the market won’t see distress sales but even a shift towards more listings combined with a slight pullback in buyers would change the market dynamics."

From Now Toronto in Canada. "Toronto real estate prices are headed for a cliff. The condo market will drag it further down according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). According to the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), more than 760,000 Canadians have opted to defer their mortgages or skip payments. That’s about 16 per cent among those with mortgages in bank portfolios. There will be an increase in Toronto real estate supply from homeowners who can no longer defer mortgages. That supply will couple with inventory from the condo market fuelled partly by short-term rental restrictions during the pandemic."

"'More units could also sit on the market longer as more buyers wait on the sidelines,' the CMHC says. They attribute that decline in demand to job losses and general financial uncertainty. 'A significant number of condominium units under construction (54,000 units currently) will make its way to the resale pool and will further increase supply.'"

"The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) is reporting how hard the condominium rental market got hit in the year’s second quarter. According to TREBB, GTA realtors reported 7320 apartment rentals in Q2, which is down 24.8 per cent from the same time last year. Meanwhile, the number of rental listings were up by 42 per cent from last year."

From Bloomberg on the UK. "Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron were on hand to toast the signing of the deal to transform 35 acres of derelict London riverfront into a bustling finance hub. Five years on, developer Xu Weiping’s vision for another Canary Wharf packed with Chinese companies looks more like a mirage. Overlooking the Thames, along the old Royal Albert Docks and across the water from City Airport, stand 21 new buildings that form the first phase of the 1.7 billion-pound ($2.2 billion) project. They’re almost all empty."

"'All of these geopolitical changes have brought uncertainty, which affected the mindset of Chinese and Asian investors,' says Xu, a China-born citizen of the Seychelles who has been in London since the outbreak of the pandemic. 'Some of them already paid deposits, but because of those changes they had a change of heart.'"

The Malaysia Star. "Property Auction House executive director Danny Loh said that he is anticipating a challenging post-loan moratorium period. The higher foreclosure of commercial units is likely due to more housing projects being built under integrated development, a change in business model from brick-and-mortar to online platforms, and slower economic growth in recent years, Loh says."

"A source from Lelongtips.com says there are expectations for foreclosures to rise. 'Otherwise, there is no need for a loan moratorium, or its extension,' he says. He says 10,301 properties went for 13,403 rounds of auctions for January-June, some having gone through two to three rounds auction, with a 10% drop in reserve price each time."

"In its July 21 note, CGS-CIMB said: 'We gather that the auction property market is likely to gain traction in future as financial institutions intensify their recovery efforts, increased handover of completed units and weaker property prices due to more auctions and a more competitive property market.'"

The Sydney Morning Herald. "Sydney and Melbourne house values tumbled through July with warnings the reduction of government and private bank support through the final three months of the year could weaken the property market even further. With much support starting to fall from October, and mortgage repayment holidays likely to expire by March, the market deteriorate that could force more properties to sale. 'Urgent sales are likely to become more common as we approach these milestones, which will test the market's resilience,' said CoreLogic's head of research, Tim Lawless."

The Australian Financial Review. "Residential developers are facing the biggest credit squeeze since the global financial crisis, with construction loans especially hard to come by, according to a new report by law firm Ashurst. Not only are loans harder to secure from increasingly cautious and risk-averse banks and non-bank lenders, but they have become more expensive and restrictive since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."

"Average aggregate margins and line of credit fees offered by banks have increased by 50 basis points since the start of the pandemic, rising from around 3 per cent a year to around 3.5 per cent. Developers have also had to find significantly more equity to get a bank loan, with average loan-to-value ratios (LVRs) tightening from 62.5 per cent to 50 per cent over the same period."

"Bass Capital partner Yehuda Gottlieb added that valuations had also been falling, the impacts of which would need to be covered by additional equity from the developer. 'The risky assets are seeing greater falls in valuations and greater falls in LVRs. Lender and valuers are being more cautious in these sectors than for vanilla residential construction loans,' he said."

The New Zealand Herald. "Auckland's most exclusive suburbs made a booming start to the new year, but have since endured falling prices as the sale of luxury mansions slows, new data shows. In fact, 13 of the 17 suburbs had now dropped in value post-lockdown. 'The downward trend is similar to one that emerged post-GFC, when higher value housing stock was the first to respond to changing market conditions,' James Wilson, director of valuation at property analysts Valocity, said."

"The recent slump at the top end was potentially a canary in the coal mine indicating the booming price rises of early 2020 had potentially slowed in the near future. Wilson said luxury home buyers tended to be more influenced by international market conditions and so were often the first to pull back. However, property investors and mum and dad home owners thinking about buying a better home also appeared to have temporarily stepped back from the market, he said."