It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The Chicago City Council enacted the COVID-19 Eviction Protection ordinance in June. After selling two single-family homes to financially maintain his remaining portfolio, Derrick Rowe, a landlord on the South Side, now owns five properties he rents, along with his own home. His properties are part of his retirement plan, which he said is at risk due to the pandemic. Rowe is still $12,000 behind on his mortgage payments, and he said it’s very difficult to get loans for some financial relief."

"'I understand if you’re not working, you can’t pay your bills, but I don’t think I should lose my property either,' he said. 'If I lose my properties to the bank, and the bank eventually does an eviction, now we’re all out on the street.'"

"As COVID-19 descended on Chicago this spring, Roman Viere, vice president of Urban Alternatives rental properties, would lie awake trying to figure out how he could keep his business running if things really went south. The family company owns and operates about 900 rental units, mostly in Austin. 'I was terrified,' Viere says. 'All it would take is 10 percent of residents not to pay rent and we’d be in a tailspin.'"

"'Housing issues do not occur in a silo,' says Philip DeVon, an attorney and tenant eviction specialist with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization in Chicago. Both landlords and tenants need substantial support, and it’ll be devastating to wait until we’re on the far side of the pandemic to act further. 'There should be a safety net to bear the burden,' he says. 'We’re supposed to be looked out for.'"

"Nearly one in 10 Long Island homeowners have fallen behind on their mortgages. More than 60,000 Long Island homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment by July — a nearly threefold increase from a year earlier, according to figures provided to Newsday by Black Knight. For those who have fallen behind, 'what will hurt is if they do nothing and keep their head in the sand,' said Gale D. Berg, director of pro bono attorney activities at the Nassau County Bar Association. Once the forbearance periods end, she said, 'the floodgates are going to open and there's going to be a mess.'"

"On and off the market since 2003, a penthouse at the Palm Beach Biltmore is headed for a private 'pre-foreclosure' auction with a minimum bid of $2.5 million, according to the company in charge of the bidding. The apartment — No. 712-E at 150 Bradley Place — is in foreclosure, but the auction is not court ordered. Instead, it represents an attempt to sell the property before it hits the block in an online courthouse foreclosure auction on Oct. 13. The condo has been represented by multiple agencies since it entered the market seven years ago. As late as last month it was listed at $3.5 million by Compass South Florida in the local multiple listing service. In 2017, it was priced at $5.5 million but had undergone a number of price reductions since."

"The Aspen Club and Spa is out of bankruptcy and back into foreclosure, but this time owner Michael Fox said he and his team won’t be battling their creditors. 'We’re in support of the foreclosure,' Fox said. 'And we’re not going to stay in the way of these guys. At this point, it is in the best interest of everybody to get a quick foreclosure and quick sale of the asset and into the hands of someone that can get this thing finished.'"

"The construction project site — at 1450 Ute Ave. in east Aspen — remains preserved, with 15 of its townhomes between 60% and 80% complete, six condominiums 30% complete, and the commercial component 30% complete, according to filings in the bankruptcy case."

"The number of 'seriously delinquent' mortgages in Southern California have skyrocketed to levels not seen since 2013, a new study shows. CoreLogic’s monthly tracking of late-paying borrowers shows a steep rise since late winter of very late first mortgages — those '90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure.' Stubbornly high unemployment — 15.9% in July in the four-county region — has crushed many family finances and made house payments a challenge."

"As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, more Texas homeowners are falling behind on their mortgage payments. Nationwide, more than 7% of homeowners with mortgages had missed at least one loan payment as of June, according to a new report from CoreLogic. The late loan rate was even higher in Texas’ largest metros, where almost 10% of Houston homeowners with loans have fallen behind in payments, and 8% of Dallas-Fort Worth residents with mortgages have missed at least one payment."

"The late loan rate in the D-FW area has almost doubled in the past year as the pandemic caused thousands of job cuts and some homeowners have deferred their mortgage payments. Among the major Texas cities, Austin had the lowest late loan payment rate at 6.2%. Almost 9% of San Antonio residents with home loans were behind in their mortgages as of June. At midyear, metro areas that have seen huge declines in jobs and income from a lack of tourism and entertainment spending are suffering the largest late loan rates. In Miami, more than 13% of residential mortgage holders have missed payments."

"The late loan rate in New York is almost 12%, and in Las Vegas 1 in 10 homeowners with a loan have missed at least one payment. Several smaller Texas metro areas have also seen big year-over-year increases in late home loan payments, including Odessa (up 4.8 percentage points), Laredo (4.8) and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (4.6)."

"As COVID-19 swept across Scarborough in late March and April, so did job losses and fears tenants would sink into debt or lose their homes. MnE emerged, and the group quickly helped form a tenant union at 215 and 225 Markham, to help people in those buildings deal collectively with their landlord, CAPREIT. CAPREIT is a multinational, Toronto’s biggest private landlord, and owns 56,800 apartments in Canada. Last week, CAPREIT CEO Mark Kenney sounded baffled by the union and its demands. 'We don’t understand this issue' at 215 and 225 Markham, he said. 'These buildings have been highly, highly invested in.'"

"Country Garden, China’s top property developer, and smaller real estate firms are weighing bigger discounts on homes after Evergrande announced its steepest ever discount, analysts and a source said. Evergrande, China’s second biggest property developer, announced a nationwide 30% discount on all of its properties until the end of the week-long holidays in early October, traditionally China’s peak home buying season."

"The move is aimed at boosting sales and cash flow at China’s most indebted developer at a time when profits have weakened. 'Developers will face pressure; they’re watching closely, but it’ll be mostly those who have projects next to Evergrande’s only,' said Andy Lee, realtor Centaline’s South China CEO. 'Because a 30% discount basically wipes out all the profits; it’s mostly for driving sales volume.'"

"Under a cloud of sanctions and suspended trade privileges, the US government sold a set of consular residences in Hong Kong’s southern District to Hang Lung Properties for HK$2.6 billion ($331 million), the developer said in an email to Mingtiandi on 10 September. Under its current permits, the nearly 95,000 square foot (8,800 square metre) site can yield up to 47,397 square feet of gross floor area, bringing the Hong Kong-listed builder’s purchase to around HK$54,138 per square foot. That price is 37 percent less than China Resources Land paid to acquire a neighbouring project in 2018."

"CoreLogic Head of Research, Tim Lawless said the lack of migrants would see a higher volume of rent listing and falling rent values across key inner city precincts. 'This phenomenon is already being observed, particularly across inner Sydney and Melbourne,' Mr Lawless said. 'Once foreign student arrivals start to normalise, rental demand in these areas may improve. In the meantime, investors who own property in these locations are likely to be facing high vacancy rates, lower rents and reduced ability to service their mortgage.'"

"Mr Lawless said stalled net overseas migration (NOM) was also likely to see a higher proportion of units settling with a valuation lower than the contract price, again particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. 'ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) building activity data showed there were more than 50,000 units under construction across NSW at the end of March, and just over 45,000 across Victoria,' he said. 'Many of these yet-to-be completed projects will settle while rental vacancies remain high and rents are falling, which may put downwards pressure on property values.'"

"'Between mid-March and early-August, the number of homes available for rent in Melbourne’s Southbank rose by 117% to reach 1,230 advertised rental listings,' he said. 'Rental ads were up 111% across the Sydney CBD/Haymarket/The Rocks region to reach 776 and Melbourne’s CBD saw a 105% lift in advertised rentals taking the total number of homes available to rent to 2,184.' However, this couldn't all be attributed to declined NOM, with these areas also greatly affected by the rise in unemployment."