It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Four years ago, Alexandra West bought a house in Sacramento, California, for just under $300,000. She agreed to a five-month lease, starting at the end of January 2020. 'She owes well north of $20,000 in back rent,' West said. 'There’s been a massive amount of coverage about tenants’ plight, but there’s been little to no talk about the people like me who are facing a financial cliff.'"

"Debbie and Wayne Penczek own nine units in the Baltimore area, charging from $850 to $1,300 a month. Five of their tenants aren’t paying rent. 'This was our retirement,' said Debbie Penczek, 65. 'And basically, we’re missing every month anywhere between $5,000 and $8,000.' They’ve been able to pause some of their mortgage payments, although one lender suggested they tap their individual retirement account. They’re still responsible for their properties. 'You feel like, well, the first opportunity we get, we’ll sell the properties,' Wayne said."

"Justin Bieber ended up half-a-million short in Beverly Hills, where he just sold his 1930s Colonial-style home for $7.955 million, The Times has confirmed. The pop star paid $8.5 million for the property just two years ago."

"Purchased for $3.525 million in April of 2017, the home at 389 27th Street returned to the market priced at $3.75 million this past November. The resale has just quietly closed escrow with a contract price of $3.500 million, down 0.7 percent from the second quarter of 2017 on apples-to-apples basis while the Bay Area index for single-family home values was up 21.1 percent over the same period of time and the 'median sale price' was up as well."

"New York City rents and home prices both dropped at their fastest annual pace on record in January, signaling that the city’s real estate market is still declining sharply, according to StreetEasy. 'It’s rare that we see record high price drops in both the rentals and sales market, but landlords and sellers are dealing with the same issue right now — a surplus of competition and not enough demand. Asking prices and monthly rents are coming down quickly, which means that landlords and sellers are finally facing reality. With inventory levels as they are, there’s currently no end in sight when it comes to falling prices.'"

"Strata recently found that condo values in some of Toronto's most in-demand neighbourhoods (such as Yorkville, The Annex and Casa Loma) dropped a whopping 30 per cent. More condos are hitting the market because Airbnb operators are selling their short-term rentals (with no tourists coming to town, investors are looking to offset their losses), students are no longer renting units and more people are choosing to live outside the city."

"Dubai’s real estate market has made a 'hard landing' but lower prices may be a good time for investors looking to buy, according to a major Emirati property developer. 'We had a slowdown in the economy, and in the property market since [2018 and 2019], things were already coming down,' said Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Damac Properties. 'We were having [a] soft landing … and Covid made it [a] hard landing.'"

"When is the best time to invest in an inner-city apartment? 'I think now is a really good time to put your money in the inner city,' says David Carrozza, of Cobden & Hayson, who is selling a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s Park Regis for $420,000 to $460,000. 'The city markets have all been affected by COVID-19, and in Sydney, rental returns have fallen by 25 to 30 per cent, and prices have been softening. A lot of properties, in addition, have been empty for quite a period of time.'"

"'The lumber prices are so unstable,' said National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard. 'It’s so consistently rising that they have to put ‘escalator clauses’ in the contract and the customers have the right to walk away – and now they’re starting to.'"

"The House Committee on Financial Services heard testimony on what happens when short-sellers, social media, and retail investors collide—as they did on January 28. Danielle Perreault of Saco, says she trusted in Robinhood’s motto: 'Let the people trade.' '…and I think they’ve gone from being Robin Hood to the Sheriff of Nottingham,' Perreault said."

"Perreault said, 'They essentially cut off demand for this for the stock from the retail investors, of which I am, and eliminated the demand. There only being supply, the price plummeted and people lost millions if not billions of dollars. There are a lot of people who threw money they could not afford to lose into this… rent money, mortgage money, taking out a loan, borrowing from their 401(k) to buy the stocks, seeing the trajectory. It’s heartbreaking for those folks.'"