It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Philanthropist Marcia Riklis is planning to take a hit on the sale of her Upper East Side home. The posh ninth-floor co-op is on the market for $6.35 million. That’s more than $2 million less than the $8.4 million she paid for it back in 2012."

"'We estimate that roughly half of the apartment buildings in New York City are losing money. It is simply unsustainable. Without help from the government, or a dramatic turnaround of the economy that increases demand for rental units, there will be a housing crisis in New York City,' said Jay Martin, executive director of Community Housing Improvement Program. 'You can argue politics, but you can’t deny the math.'"

"Robert Akhtar owns an 18 unit apartment building in SeaTac. He said cumulatively — his tenants have racked up over 70,000 dollars in unpaid rent. Akhtar said he's received offers from real estate speculators, but they're for far less than he feels his property is worth. 'It gives me sleepless nights, to be honest,' he said. 'I’m scared.'"

"Over the past 30 years, Maral Boyadjian has built up a family real estate business consisting of eight homes in Southern California that she and her husband rent out. 'We’ve been able to pay our mortgages, but we’re really in danger of not being able to on two properties,' Boyadjian said. 'This is not sustainable.'"

"Peter Gray, president of Pyramid Real Estate Group in Stamford, Connecticut, is not only a property owner collecting rent on 30 of his own properties, but also a property manager. Some of his landlord clients are having trouble paying him. 'Usually we’re one of the last ones they stop paying,' he said. 'If they can’t pay their subcontractors, they are hurting. I’m seeing landlords who can’t pay for trash removal. We’re getting ‘no heat’ calls. They aren’t paying real estate taxes. They aren’t paying their mortgage.'"

"'There’s been no other industry here in California that’s been asked to provide their product or service for free,' California Apartment Association Executive Vice President Debra Carlton said. Carlton said that many rental property owners have just 'left their keys' and 'walked away' from their property. 'I think that’s a big concern for [the] Legislature. People [are] even leaving California.'"

"'The real estate cycle is in the slump phase,' says Jennifer Hunt, vice-president of research at the Real Estate Investment Network. Hunt points to prices being in a prolonged down-cycle in the city with the benchmark price of a home falling from about $470,000 in 2015 to about $424,000 last month, based on Calgary Real Estate Board data. Just don’t expect an immediate return on investment, says a veteran city realtor. 'Most investors right now realize they’re not buying for positive cash flow today,' says John Hripko, owner/broker at John Hripko Real Estate Team with Royal LePage."

"Landlord Shaftesbury slashed the value of its London restaurants, bars and stores by almost £700 million (S$1.24 billion), as it braces for further pandemic restrictions to hit the capital's West End. The landlord warned of more challenges ahead, as rent declines spurred a 24 per cent drop in net property income. Vacancy rates have risen disproportionately in Shaftesbury's portfolio of apartments that sit above its stores and restaurants, chief executive officer Brian Bickell said."

"Following the capital raise, Shaftesbury has repaid some loans in anticipation of further valuation falls next year. It has also secured waivers from lenders where it is at risk of breaching covenants relating to income cover after rental collections fell. 'It certainly won't all be over by Christmas, and may even not all be over by next Christmas,' Mr Bickell said."

"Property prices in one of the most expensive real estate markets in India -Mumbai- are cooling off amid pandemic and oversupply of unsold units. Developers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area (MMR) are offering 10-15% discounts on new launches. Builders who operate in upscale south Mumbai areas such as Parel, Prabhadevi, and Worli said prices have dropped by as much as 20% on new homes in the area. Flats remain unsold in projects which were launched even 1-2 years back."

"Dozens of rental rooms and houses once occupied by Malaysians working in Singapore have been left empty after the border was closed since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fadhli Ishak, 32, who rents out rooms in two properties here, said that out of the 20 units he has, only three are being occupied. 'All rooms in the two buildings used to be full before the closure of the border but they’re now all quiet.'"

"Property agent Mohammad Fansuri Md Halim, 30, said that the number of rooms and houses that have been left without tenants has increased by more than half since the movement control order. 'There is currently an oversupply of rental properties in areas around Johor Baru and Gelang Patah as the target group that used to rent these places are no longer here,' he said. Another property agent who only wanted to be known as Ong said some customers have also decided to sell off their properties, as they could no longer look for people to rent. 'I expect the number of people wanting to sell properties to rise in the months to come,' she said, adding that fewer people wanted to buy property now."

"The coronavirus pandemic has put Chinese buyers off international real estate, a survey conducted last month by brokerage and investment group CLSA has found. CLSA polled 1,600 respondents in 234 Chinese cities and found that 82 per cent had no intention of buying overseas property in the next 12 months. Souring relations between Beijing and Canberra have made Chinese investors much more pessimistic about buying houses in Australia. 'Certainly, the recent breakdown in relations between Australia and China does not bode well,' the report said."

"Property buyers in Melbourne can expect more bargains than anyone else in Australia, with more than one in 10 home owners offering a discount on the sales price – a number nearly 10 per cent up on this time last year. New Domain figures reveal that 12.7 per cent of vendors in November gave buyers a markdown on the advertised price tag, compared to just 3.7 per cent doing that in November 2019."

"'Having been through what we just have, people are more likely to ask a more realistic price from buyers, and meet the market, so agents don’t have to discount. On the other hand, there might be a lot more vendors who are stressed, which would explain why a bigger percentage of properties are being discounted, and buyers might be happy to take the first offer that comes along,' said property analyst Angie Zigomanis."