It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Stagnant prices in Southwest Austin may be in line with the predictions of some local real estate experts that the market is cooling off. In a survey of more than 500 real estate agents in the Austin area, 61% said they believed the market was cooling down or stabilizing. 'It’s important to understand that this data does not indicate any drop in prices. In fact, we won’t be surprised if prices increase more, since sales price is a lagging indicator. Likewise, we don’t see a market shift to a buyer’s market. What we do predict is that the market will become more normal,' said Eric Bramlett, broker at Bramlett Residential."

"After months of heated activity, homebuyers across the country are pulling back amid rising prices, new reports show. Las Vegas’ market has also started to let out some air. Resale totals have fallen the past two months, and available inventory has climbed for three straight months, according to Las Vegas Realtors. Homebuilders’ sales totals also have dropped the past two months in Southern Nevada, and customer traffic in May was down 25 percent from its recent peak, set in March."

"'The market’s topping out,' says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. It’s 'starting to show cracks. It feels like we’ve hit the apex, and we’re moving to the other side of it. Prices have got to start moderating. Laws of housing gravity say prices can’t continue rising at double digits. It’s just not supportable. I don’t think sellers are going to sell below the price that they see in the market today. That price becomes the floor on what they’re willing to sell for.'"

"Lenders 'don’t want to lose money,' says Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. 'They’re worried that this runup in prices will end the way the last one did.'"

"More than 70% of Sonoma County’s rental housing units are single-family homes. The vast majority carry a mortgage and are owned by mom-and-pops relying on rent payments for the house itself and, of course, their income. In one recent example, the owners of single-family home rented at $2,300 per month received $7,475 over 13 months. The balance owed was $22,425. The owners ended up with $35,000 in repairs on top of the lost rent and attorney fees. All told, that’s just over $66,000 in unanticipated costs. Now the home is for sale."

"A report shows the City of New Orleans doesn’t have enough money to serve everyone who applies to the program. Eviction attorney Christoph Bajewski aid this extension will only make the housing and money crises in the city worse, impacting the landlords as well. 'There’s no doubt in my mind we will see a lot of these smaller landlords lose their houses, loses their apartment complexes to foreclosure,' said Bajewski."

"As Manhattan’s real-estate market continues to show signs of life, buyer preferences are clear: condo apartments are outselling co-ops by nearly four to one. Manhattan’s high-end real estate market is on a sales streak this year, as the elite see opportunities for discounts amid a mountain of supply. It’s a preference that’s been building for years, along with a boom in luxury condo construction that’s made more choices available. And that’s fast eroding the value of some of the most storied real estate in town, brokers say. Not even pedigreed co-ops such as 740 Park Ave. are immune. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had to whittle at least 21% off the asking price of his apartment there to find a taker last month."

"Buyers and sellers in the Toronto-area real estate market need a sound strategy and the ability to maneuver quickly in a market that has become unpredictable. After an eye-watering run-up in prices during the coronavirus pandemic and manic sales in the early months of 2021, the market seems calm – with sporadic outbursts. Christopher Bibby, broker with Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group Realty sold one unit in March for $880,000 after listing it with an asking price of $749,000."

"A few weeks later, a couple of owners in the same building asked him to achieve a similar outcome for them. Mr. Bibby advised them that a fresh supply of listings had arrived and buyers were in no mood to bid aggressively. 'Sometimes they don’t want to hear that,' he says, but changing levels of inventory require different tactics. In both cases, the owners listed with other agents. When the units failed to generate bidding wars, the sellers called Mr. Bibby back to ask what they should do next. Currently he is advising them and other potential sellers that they will have to hold off if they want a return to the level of frenzy seen in March. 'I think you have one chance – if you have certain expectations, you have to wait.'"

"Location, Location, Location co-presenter Phil Spencer discussed how London has 'fallen out of sync' with the rest of the UK when it comes to property. 'I’m trying to let a very small flat in London at the moment and rather struggling,' he laughed. Liana Loporto-Browne of Liana Loporto Property said: 'One and two-bed flats with no outside space, there’s been an oversupply of them. They’ve been sitting on the market.'"

"Business premises rents in HCMC have fallen by up to 50 percent after the fourth Covid-19 wave started late April, continuing last year’s downward trend. A VnExpress survey found that many HCMC’s houses whose rents had fallen by 40-50 percent in 2020 saw these fall further this May and June, with tenants asking the landlords for reductions because their businesses had been suffering because of the fourth Covid-19 wave. The rents of houses on Ky Dong Street in District 3 fell by half over last month."

"Trang Minh Ha, chairman of a company providing consulting services, told VnExpress that the average rent cuts in HCMC during May and June was 20-30 percent, with 50 percent the highest cut recorded. 'Houses that are rented out for running businesses have been unable to find tenants due to the previous outbreaks, and are now suffering more from the fourth outbreak,' he said."

"After analysing approximately 98,000 resales across Australia, CoreLogic found that units were more than twice as likely to sell at a loss as houses, and owner-occupiers enjoyed a higher incidence of profitability than investors. 'There are still pockets of risk in the Australian housing market, despite a broad-based upswing in values. This quarter, we took a look at the case of the Melbourne LGA unit market,' said Eliza Owen, Head of Research Australia at CoreLogic. 'The volume of loss-making unit resales had reached a record high at 173.'"