A report from the Wall Street Journal. "Existing-home sales fell 2.5% in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million, the National Association of Realtors said. It was the first decline in six months. 'Without a doubt, there are too many buyers in relation to the sellers,' said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. 'That is probably the main driver as to why the sales declined.'"

"Carly and Andy Gerstlauer lost out on multiple houses before buying a three-bedroom home in Beaverton, Ore., in November. Their mortgage didn’t require a down payment."

From Barron's. "Economists expected the rate of new-home sales to slow in November—but not this much. The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of new-home sales fell 11% month over month to 841,000, down from a revised 945,000 in October. The decrease comes following a ramp-up of building this summer as the residential real estate market boomed. New-home sales reached a peak in July, with the month’s revised rate of 970,000 the highest since December 2006, according to historical data."

From CNBC. "Mortgage demand ended the year significantly higher than 2019, but appears to be cooling off a bit for the holidays. Low rates continue to fuel refinance volume, which rose 4% for the week and was a stunning 124% higher than a year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 74.8% of total applications from 72.7% the previous week. 'Last week's increase in refinance applications was driven by FHA and VA activity, while conventional refinances saw a slight decline,' said Joel Kan, MBA's associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting."

From Boston.com in Massachusetts. "The frenzy is easing. Single-family home sales were down 15.6 percent month to month in November, and condo sales fell 8.4 percent. In a not-so-surprising twist that’s good news for buyers, the number of condos on the market in Boston proper and its urban core has risen for the fifth consecutive month, according to the report, climbing 42.4 percent on an annual basis."

"'The downtown Boston and Cambridge condo markets, as well as the immediate suburbs, offer some of the best home-buying opportunities at the moment, as prices have stabilized and even declined in some communities as inventory has risen sharply over the past year,' said Jason Gell, association president."

From Mansion Global on New York. "Manhattan’s luxury housing market is wrapping up its worst year in nearly a decade. New contracts signed on homes asking $4 million or more sank by 31% compared to 2019, with such deals totaling 645, according to a year-end luxury market report from Olshan Realty, published Wednesday. And 2019 is a pretty pitiful benchmark, given it also saw depressed dealmaking as a result of new transfer taxes that went into effect halfway through the year. In fact, 2020 saw the lowest number of luxury contracts signed since 2011."

"'Not since the bleak days of Lehman Brothers crash in September 2008 and the subsequent fallout into March 2009 has the Manhattan luxury real estate market experienced such an unpredictable and disruptive impact as the Covid-19 pandemic,' wrote Donna Olshan, president of Olshan Realty."

The Real Deal on New York. "One of the city’s most vocal small-property owners, who recently warned the pandemic could lead to a 'catastrophic loss' for independent landlords, has parted ways with the West Village rental building that’s been in his family for nearly 100 years. Jimmy Silber last week sold the 138-unit building at 1 Christopher Street that his family has owned since the early 1930s for $95 million, brokers on the trade told The Real Deal. The sale works out to $928 per square foot and a capitalization rate of about 3.5 percent."

"Sources in the multifamily world said Silber had put the building on the market before the new rent laws went into effect in 2018, and had a deal at about $120 million that he decided to pass on. He also had a potential deal in late 2019 for about $105 million. Silber told ABC 7 News that the city’s property tax system of basing payments on pre-pandemic income from 2018 will 'lead to a catastrophic loss of small buildings in this city.' 'It has to be restructured,' he added. 'Otherwise, building owners are not going to make it. They’re not going to pay their taxes, and these buildings are going to go under.'"

From Bisnow South Florida. "Hotelier Robert Finvarb and other South Florida hotel experts agreed that travel will bounce back but differed on how quickly that will happen and how many assets will change hands first, and at what level of discount or distress. 'The sector is in complete flux,' said Devlin Marinoff, managing partner of DWNTWN Realty Advisors. Marinoff said that right now, hedge funds and opportunistic investors are shopping for distressed assets, while insurance companies and REITs are too risk-averse to take on hotel investments."

"So far, there has been a standoff between potential buyers and sellers who can't agree on pricing, but Marinoff has predicted that there will be a wave of transactions on distressed deals as companies burn through their cash and forbearance measures expire. 'In Miami Beach alone, I anticipate at least 50% of the hotels there filing for bankruptcy in the coming months,' he told GlobeSt."

"'Some funds are offering rescue financing to distressed hotel owners, but that comes with onerous interest rates ranging from 12% to 20%,' he said. 'Most of the hotels that trade next year will be 50% to 60% of the pre-COVID valuation. That’s the kind of discount investors are seeking, and it will be attainable for some of them,' Marinoff predicted."

From WHYY on Pennsylvania. "Philadelphia’s real estate market survived 2020 — but analysts and developers are holding their breath for what comes next. Andrew Svekla, manager of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Office of Smart Growth, said that while high-cost markets like New York and San Francisco had seen precipitous drops in rental costs, most estimates pegged Philly with only single-digit percentage point declines. 'The exodus has been more muted here,' he said."

"Some parts of the city’s real estate market, though, were devastated in 2020 — particularly what was considered an already weak commercial office sector. Robert Fahey, a vice president with the commercial real estate firm CBRE, said financing for large format tower projects generally had gotten tougher, and for conventional multi-tenant office towers even more so. 'Density is not good in a pandemic world. You go to dense places for all the stuff that comes with it — it’s been totally squashed,' said Leo Addimando, president of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia. 'I’m optimistic. I think it will all come back. But will people still want to live in a small apartment?'"

From Evanston Now in Illinois. "The coronavirus pandemic and a variety of other economic factors are causing Evanston landlords to lower the rent, offer other incentives, or sometimes both. 'This is an especially good time for a tenant to find an apartment' says John Ruckdaeschel, a broker with Apartment People in Evanston, an agency that helps prospective renters find a place to live. 'One month’s free rent is very typical,' Ruckdaeschel says, although bigger breaks are possible as well. He also says rent reduction of 10-12% is another common option."

"'There is a surplus of apartments in downtown Evanston and in outlying neighborhoods and a higher number of vacant units,' he says. So landlords are offering deals to help fill those vacancies. Landlords who 'did not get very aggressive on pricing in late summer have significant amounts of vacancies,' Ruckdaeschel notes. He’s aware of one building on Central Street with 20% of its units unfilled."

"Often, the deals are way more than just a free place for Fido. Ruckdaeschel says one client of his received three months’ free rent, a $1,500 credit, and three months free parking at the Avidor, a new high rise for those 55 and older. 'In the 20-plus years I’ve been doing this, I don’t recall incentives at the three month level ever being offered here in Evanston,' he says."

From KQED on California. "Meilin Liu posted two rooms for rent in a duplex she owns near downtown Oakland. And she waited. She expected the rooms to be rented in a matter of days. Liu said before the pandemic her inbox would be flooded with requests from people eager to move in. 'Usually it's one move out, one move in. But this is the first time, after I managed for 20 something years … I have to sit on the market for months,' she said."

"With the economic fallout from the pandemic, the rental market is changing. Layoffs and remote work have led many workers to flee the Bay Area. In response, prices are plummeting — median rent on a two bedroom apartment is down 13% in Oakland and 24% in San Francisco since March, according to Apartment List. That’s opened up an opportunity to get more landlords like Meilin Liu to rent to people who have been homeless — something they have been reluctant to do in the past."

"Stephany Ashley, Northern California director of housing services for the nonprofit Brilliant Corners, said the current rental market has created a lot of choices for people. 'We can say, 'Hey, where do you want to live? Is it Bernal Heights? Bayview? Do you want to live in North Beach or do you like the Tenderloin?' People get that level of choice,' she said."