A report from PBS News Hour. "Landlords in Connecticut are not alone – without federal assistance economists estimate that by mid-January renters across the country will be behind by about $70 billion. And the losses go well beyond market-rate buildings, the very groups advocating for housing are also feeling the pain. Noah Gotbaum: 'Normally we have five to eight percent of our tenants overall who are delinquent or late on rent in arrearages. It's five times that now. If we lose 15 or 20 percent of our rents, which is what's happening now, we can't keep lights on. We can't provide utilities. We can't do the cleaning. We can't repair the holes in the roofs.'"

"Doris Latorre is the deputy director of Building Neighborhoods Together . 'We find a lot of people that we go, 'Hey. You know, you sent an email on this date and we haven't heard from you, are you not, you know, do not need it anymore? They go, 'Oh, my God, I desperately need the money. And we're getting a lot of calls from landlords. They themselves are behind on their mortgage because the tenant is not paying the rent. So, you know, they are going themselves through the process of trying to get caught up in the mortgage and really desperately need the money.'"

The New York Times. "In just nine months, the coronavirus has reversed a decade of rampant rent growth in New York. 'It’s absolutely insane, but I’m getting deals I couldn’t believe the landlord would accept,' said Beatriz Moitinho, an agent with Keller Williams NYC."

"The change was sudden. At the Kips Bay Towers, a luxury apartment complex, Ms. Moitinho leased a 500-square-foot studio for $2,595 a month in June. Three months later, she leased a similar unit on the same floor for $1,900 a month, a 27 percent drop. Another similar unit is now in contract for $1,800. Still, buyers want their pound of flesh. From March to September, homes in Midtown Manhattan, the center of the real-estate universe before offices and businesses shuttered, sold for the biggest discount of any neighborhood in the city."

"While discounts were scarce at the Central Park South condominium, buyers did find plenty of deals elsewhere in 2020, as developers and individual sellers were willing to negotiate in the face of the year’s challenges, and even offer some concessions. 'It’s not selling if it’s not at a discount,' said Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens, adding that the reductions he saw ranged from 7 to 20 percent."

From Bisnow New York. "The coronavirus pandemic has hit the city’s hotel operators hard, and one of the flashiest proprietors is no exception. Aby Rosen has fallen behind on his ground lease payments at the Gramercy Park Hotel to the tune of nearly $900K, and his company, RFR Realty, is now facing eviction, Artnet reports. The hotel closed at the onset of the crisis and has not reopened to the public. Like many of its peers, it faces an uncertain future in the current climate. The city was already oversupplied with hotel rooms well before the pandemic, and traditional operators were forced to compete with short-term rentals like Airbnb."

The Desert Sun in California. "The Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells will reopen in 2021 under a new owner and management, after staying closed through most of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lowe, a commercial real estate investor and developer, announced Monday that it purchased the 215-room resort-style property. Situated on 11 acres off Highway 111, the Miramonte has multiple suites and bungalows onsite, sweeping mountain views, lush landscaping, and restaurants, outdoor pools and a large spa."

"Property records show the hotel fell into foreclosure due to being in default of $92,165 dollars as of late May. Sale records weren't immediately available, and a Lowe representative declined to share the price they paid for the property. Current commercial real estate listings show several other hotels for sale in the desert, including the Travelodge and adjacent properties in Palm Springs, the 18-room Monkey Tree Hotel in Palm Springs, and the seven-room The Good House Hotel in Desert Hot Springs."

"Nationwide, many hotels are on the verge of closing or selling as the pandemic puts a halt to leisure and business travel. The historic Roosevelt Hotel in New York closed in October, citing the 'current, unprecedented environment and the continued uncertain impact from COVID-19.'"

The Globe and Mail in Canada. ""Impending restrictions on travelling within Ontario are the latest blow to hotels that have lost most of their guests but for the occasional domestic traveller or front-line worker. Occupancy rates sank as low as 2.5 per cent for some hotels during the pandemic. 'The lockdown has caused further cancellations of bookings,' said Alnoor Gulamani, who owns nine hotels in Ontario through his Bayview Hospitality Group. 'There was still travel happening within Ontario. This will come to a grinding stop if it is only folks who must travel that can travel,' he said."

"Mr. Gulamani’s hotels, which are mostly Hilton brands, have an occupancy rate of about 10 per cent. That is well below his previous year’s occupancy levels in the 80-per-cent range, when his hotels were full of business travellers, group meetings and international tourists. It is the same situation for Silver Hotel Group, which has 20 hotels in Canada including Hilton, Delta and Novotel brands in the major cities."

"'Most of our business was coming locally from within Canada,' said Deepak Ruparell, president of Silver Hotel, which has had between 10-per-cent to 15-per-cent occupancy rates. 'It is very challenging right now,' he said."

"Hoteliers such as Mr. Gulamani and Mr. Ruparell have qualified for some government help, such as the wage subsidies, but not for their fixed costs. Mr. Ruparell is looking at alternative uses for some of his extended-stay hotels, which have rooms with kitchens. He is converting one of them into a senior-care facility and will be selling it."

"Mr. Gulamani said the past nine months have been the most difficult in his three decades of running hotels. He said his hotels are in danger of closing permanently. 'We can’t continue at 10 per cent-or-below occupancy,' he said. 'One of the most difficult decisions that a business owner has to make at this time is: Until what time do you just keep loading yourself up with debt before you give up. Loading up with debt is exactly what has been happening because we haven’t had enough revenue from our businesses.'"

The Africa Report. "Egypt is the top priority for the expansion of Radisson’s serviced apartment offer, Ramsay Rankoussi, vice-president for development in Africa and Turkey, tells The Africa Report. Cairo is showing 'very strong demand' for such apartments, which are now under construction, Rankoussi says from Dubai. Casablanca and Tangiers in Morocco and Nigeria’s Abuja are the next targets, with Johannesburg and Cape Town possible later additions, he adds."

"Globally, none of the company’s apartment operations have been forced to close because of COVID-19. The apartments are financed by third-party investors, which are often African individuals or family businesses, and then branded and managed by Radisson. They are easier and faster for contractors to build than hotels and can be completed in 24 to 36 months, says Rankoussi."

"According to the 2020 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa report, the number of rooms in the hotel chain pipeline in Africa has risen 31% since 2016. North Africa has seen the continent’s fastest pipeline growth, with 46%. Egypt has Africa’s largest hotel room pipeline, with 17,163 rooms, more than double second-placed Nigeria. Hotel room oversupply in Cairo is 'slightly alarming,' the report says. The 'new normal' will be for oversupply of hotel rooms globally, it adds."

From Domain News in Australia. "The number of days Melbourne homes are sitting advertised for rent jumped a staggering 40 per cent in November compared with this time last year, new analysis shows. At the same time, the proportion of Melbourne rental properties that have been discounted has also skyrocketed, according to Domain. The analysis shows landlords in inner Melbourne, including the CBD and Southbank, and the inner east, in suburbs such as Prahran, Windsor and South Yarra, have been discounting more often than anywhere else, as they attempt to fill empty apartments by offering cheaper rent."

"Dionne Wilson, of Harcourts Melbourne City, says she is not surprised by the high number of rental properties being discounted. 'I thought those numbers could have been even higher,' she says. 'Everything we are currently bringing to market is being rented for a lot less than they were a year ago. Some of our rents are up to about 40 per cent lower and we’re seeing some properties sit on the market for months. One property we had had been vacant for 11 months and we’ve had others that have been vacant for five to six months. Previously, our properties would be vacant for a couple of days,' she says."