A report from the Seattle Times in Washington. "Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere, said in a statement the boost in inventory could cool off listing prices. The average list price in King County for single-family homes fell about 7% from March to April, according to Gardner. (Houses often sell over their list price, and it’s too early to know whether that is a trend.)"

"Given rising costs and high demand, Spanaway-based broker Robbi McCarver suspects some buyers could be taking a break from the process — despite new inventory. 'It feels like maybe buyers are just so defeated that a lot of them are dropping off,' said McCarver. 'They’re just tired. They have nothing more to give.'"

"Demand is also high in Yelm, Lakewood and Steilacoom, which is near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, McCarver said. 'We can’t touch anything right now in Steilacoom,' she said. That means buyers still have to compete. With many of her clients using zero-down loans from the Department of Veterans Affairs, McCarver is urging them to put down any money they can to compete. 'Something is better than seeing zero,' she said."

"For now, in contrast with some homebuyers spending months searching, 'my clients looking at condos really are able to find a place in a couple weeks,' said Windermere broker Javila Creer. 'There’s plenty to look at.'"

"In the midst of the slowdown in the condo market, construction has continued on several high-end new condo buildings. The Spire, a 41-story luxury tower near Denny Triangle in the final stages of construction, recently offered price cuts of around 10% on some units."

The Denver Post. "Colorado’s red-hot real estate market may cool as it runs into the frigid winds of limited housing availability and skyrocketing prices. 'Despite the brief slow down during initial lockdown orders, the real estate market shows no signs of slowing,' says John Skrabec, president of Live Urban Real Estate."

"The market may ease as some homeowners stop struggling to make their mortgage payments or end taking advantage of forbearance, says Stacie Staub, CEO of West + Main Homes. That shadow inventory of distressed properties may soon start showing up for sale and help ease the housing crunch."

From KARE 11 in Minnesota. "Buying a home is an emotional experience. It can be fun and exciting, yet scary and overwhelming at the same time. Kevin Curtis has been in the real estate game for nearly 20 years. Most realtors would discourage buyers from waiving their inspection, but Curtis says it’s an unfortunate reality in this market. 'I would bet you it's close to 80%,' Curtis says. 'Eight out of ten buyers are waiving inspection in those more average price points.'"

"Even though it’s a crazy market right now, Curtis says buyers are smart and they know how to value a home. If they think a home is overpriced, they’ll stay away from it. 'It's strange. In Minnesota people aren't offering less, they're just deciding to watch it and see if it comes down.'"

The Oregon Bee. "As is also true of several other Inner Southeast neighborhoods, Woodstock has been seeing a lot of proposed and emerging apartment complex developments recently along the boulevard. Commenting on all of the large apartment developments spread across Inner Southeast Portland, and referring to the Mill Creek proposal, Brentwood-Darlington resident Shauna Vincent remarked on social media: 'I wonder what the rents will be? How many more empty overpriced apartments do we need?'"

The Brooklyn Eagle in New York. "Faced with the slowdown of the luxury condo market, Avery Hall Investments, a development and architecture firm, has changed its new development, One Boerum Place, to luxury rentals. Bloomberg News reported that the company, back in 2016, spent $76.5 million for the main plot and $15 million for the air rights. At the time, the condo market was booming, and one Boerum Place 'was very much envisioned as a condo,' founding partner Avi Fisher told Bloomberg News."

"Then the pandemic hit. In March 2020, the number of contracts signed for new condos in Brooklyn went from 12 to four, despite the fact that the number of listings went up. By the fall, the number of unsold condo units had reached a level not seen since the 2008 'Great Recession.' The company then adapted to the situation. One Boerum Place is now a luxury rental development. Luxury rentals have also taken a dive during the pandemic."

From WIVB on New York. "State lawmakers have put the brakes on evictions for another three months. But landlords are now in a tough spot. Buffalo attorney Loran Bommer, who represents hundreds of area landlords, tells us his clients say they have not received any financial assistance from the government. 'My clients are desperate,' Bommer said. 'You are talking people that, being a landlord is their business, this is not a hobby. As a business they live on their residuals, they live on the profits. They have no money to pay their bills, they can’t pay their mortgages, they can’t buy their food.'"

From WGN TV on Illinois. "Michael Glasser, landlord and president of the Neighborhood Building Owner’s Alliance, says, 'many of us are struggling to pay our bills.' Glasser says a survey of its alliance members projects unpaid rent for the Chicago area is around $1 billion since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2021. Governor JB Pritzker just extended the moratorium on evictions until the end of May. While that’s welcomed news to renters on the verge of losing their homes because of financial hardships created by the pandemic, smaller landlords who haven’t been paid in months are also on the verge of foreclosure."

"'We don’t want to see landlords losing their property over this,' said Paul Arena, director of Legislative Affairs with the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association."

The Daily News in California. "A dozen people have been indicted in connection with an alleged mortgage fraud and 'green' loan scheme that operated throughout Southern California and resulted in losses of about $15 million, the California Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday. The indictment charges the defendants with a variety of counts, including conspiracy, mortgage fraud, grand theft, identity theft, forgery, filing a false or forged document and money laundering."

"The defendants allegedly exploited the Yrgene Energy Fund and Renew Funding, companies that provide funding to licensed contractors for energy- efficient home improvements for homeowners, and used false identities to get mortgage loans from conventional banks and hard money lenders, according to the Attorney General’s Office."

From Market Watch. "As with other financial indicators, the CFPB found there were significant disparities based on race and ethnicity in whether a borrower was likely to still be in forbearance on their home loan as of March. More than 9% of Black mortgage borrowers were in forbearance, while the same was true of more than 8% of Hispanic borrowers. In both cases, that’s significantly higher than the forbearance rate among white borrowers, of whom less than 4% are in forbearance."

"But the group of borrowers who were most likely to be in forbearance as of March were those who were already behind on their mortgage payments before the pandemic began. The CFPB found that 18.6% of borrowers who were 30 or more days delinquent on their loans as of February 2020 were in forbearance as of March 2021. That’s more than four times higher than the percentage of borrowers who are now in forbearance but were current on their mortgage before the pandemic."

"Additionally, homeowners who have less equity built up in their home were more likely to still be in distress. More than 15% of borrowers who had a loan-to-value ratio above 95% were in forbearance on their mortgage, while nearly 9% of borrowers with a loan-to-value ratio of between 80% and 95% were in the same situation. In many cases, these borrowers likely took advantage of programs that allowed them to purchase homes with a small down payment, including the FHA program that only requires a 3.5% down payment."

"A separate report from the CFPB, meanwhile, showed that consumer complaints regarding mortgages had risen significantly in March to the highest volume in nearly three years. One of the more common topics cited in these complaints was concern about communications from mortgage servicers to borrowers who were still in forbearance."

"'Some consumers expressed frustration that servicers did not communicate clearly about which relief options would be available when their forbearance period ended,' the report noted. 'In particular, some of these consumers were concerned about what would happen to forborne payments and about whether they could extend a forbearance period.'"