It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The epic housing shortage that began before the pandemic and then was exacerbated by it may finally be starting to ease up. More supply is suddenly coming on the market. In June, new listings increased 5.5% year over year and 10.9% compared with May, according to Realtor.com. Among the nation’s larger cities, the 10 markets with the highest new listings increases posted gains of 20% or more from a year ago. The jump in inventory is surprising, because new listings historically fall between May and June."

"The red-hot housing market in California is finally starting to cool. The cooling was more apparent in the Los Angeles Metro area, where the median home price — $725,000 — remained unchanged from last month; along the Central Coast, where the median sales price dipped 2.8% in May, and in California’s far north, where the median sales price slipped from $367,250 to $365,000. 'Buyers are getting fed up at this point with submitting as many as eight to 12 offers and getting rejected,' said John Graff, a Los Angeles-based broker. 'They’re throwing up their hands at this point.'"

"Zillow economist Nancy Wu says that inventory in the Bay Area is up 6% and up 25.6% from last year. Wu says the fact that more properties are hitting the market now could be a good thing for buyers who have been frustrated by constantly being outbid by other people who are willing to go far above the asking price and pay with cash."

"Singer Aaron Tveit is in contract to sell his Astoria penthouse — at a loss. Tveit bought the unit for $900,000 in 2016. Its last asking price was $875,000."

"Exhausted from dealing with a homeless camp next to his Capitol Hill home last summer, Brendan McCormick says he and his wife brought their townhouse to market last August. They found potential buyers frightened by homeless camps in his neighborhood. McCormick said after half a dozen screenings that buyers generally liked his house but were 'concerned about the homelessness in the city,' he said. 'We were told right away that you had a lovely home, but we’re worried about what’s going on in the city of Denver right now.'"

"McCormick said he took his house off the market and decided to stay. Like many other homeowners in central Denver, he is tired of navigating his neighborhood homeless camps and has lost patience and compassion. Although he says some politicians have listened to his complaints, not much has changed. 'I’m afraid we’re at the point where we may see vigilante justice and that’s not where anyone wants to see this city.'"

"Last spring, in the midst of a construction boom, the cost of lumber skyrocketed to a 13-year high. North Carolina State University supply chain management expert Robert Handfield said what goes up, must come down. 'I figured it would come down at some point,' he said. 'But, no one saw it coming this fast, I think.' Handfield added that people in the middle of buying a home should not expect to see a discount due to current lower lumber prices. 'A lot of that lumber was already purchased or was already paid for,' he explained."

"Contrary to many reports, rent of a one-bedroom apartment comes as cheap as Dh20,000 in certain neighbourhoods in Sharjah and Dh35,000 in Dubai. It might go down further – due to the abundance in supply. While landlords are used to increasing rents when the demand was high, they need to adjust their mindset to the low-demand scenario and the new norm. We are a lower part of the real estate market cycle. Until demand picks up, we need to accept the current market reality. From a landlords' it has become a tenants’ market. This is the reality. Let’s face it."

"Real estate statistics show more than 105,000 apartments lie vacant in various regions of the country, most of which are in the Hawalli Governorate, which means that about a third of the country’s apartments are uninhabited. The increase in the number of vacant apartments in Kuwait coincides with the actual application of the policy of adjusting the demographics, which began a few years ago and the situation worsened with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the departure of hundreds of families from Kuwait, which hit badly the real estate owners. At least one third of the apartments in the various governorates are empty, which has forced many residential property owners to reduce rents by 15 and 25 percent in some areas, especially since most of the owners have to commit to their obligations to the banks."

"In the first six months, 7,040 new high-end housing units were launched in HCMC, up 123 percent year-on-year, accounting for 59 percent of new supply. Mid-range supply rose 295 percent to 4,908 units, accounting for 49 percent of new supply, while no new affordable unit was launched, according to a report by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction."

"This shows an imbalance in the HCMC real estate market where developers focus on the high-profit, high-end and luxury market while ignoring the affordable segment, boasting strong demand. The HCMC Real Estate Association predicts the imbalance would cause negative consequences in housing security."

"Despite the uptick in the property market, not all condos are doing well. Sometimes it’s due to oversaturation, like in Holland V, while other times it may be issues like unpopular unit layouts. It’s clear as day to see that price points are a massive, massive factor in how well a new launch performs. As in the case of new launches like Hyll on Holland or RV Altitude, a price reduction definitely was able to significantly move units. Depending on how the market moves, and whether the Covid-19 situation seriously improves, some of these may look to relaunch at more competitive prices in order to get sales going."

"A slight drop in property values in New Plymouth could be the first sign that months of accelerating prices may be starting to ease, Taranaki realtors say. Nick Goodall, CoreLogic's head of research, said the rate of growth in June slowed in 12 of New Zealand’s 18 largest markets. 'The figures don’t lie, and I think we will see a levelling out,' said Real Estate Institute of New Zealand New Plymouth ambassador Garry Malcolm. 'I think a lot of buyers, particularly first-home buyers, are becoming disillusioned with the market. They have missed out a lot of times. We are finding that first-home buyers have taken a step back and are waiting for prices to fall following the new regulations for property investors introduced by the Government in March.'"

"Did you hear that household wealth has hit another record high? Australia's households just keep getting wealthier, apparently. In December, wealth per person hit a new record, and in the March quarter it hit another record of $492,055 — up $19,494 in three months. Does that feel reasonable to you? Remember 'wealth' and 'income' are different things. 'Wealth' refers to the economic resources held by members of a household after all of their debts are theoretically paid off."

"Surging property prices have been responsible for the bulk of the sharp increase in household wealth in the last year. However, economist and report author Anthony Shorrocks also made the point that global wealth creation in 2020 appeared to be 'completely detached' from the economic woes resulting from COVID-19. 'If asset price increases are set aside, then global household wealth may well have fallen,' he noted."