A report from KJZZ in Arizona. "Phoenix construction activity is getting close to levels seen in 2006, just before the housing crash and Great Recession. 'At the conclusion of fiscal year 20-21, planning will have issued approximately 47,000 total construction permits and will have completed 275,000 inspections,' said Mayor Kate Gallego."

The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. "Pueblo’s newest large-scale subdivision near Colorado State University Pueblo, is located north of Colorado 47, and west of Baculite Mesa Road. 'We have sold the majority of the 610 acres to two home builders/developers,' said Dan DeRose, who along with his partners has owned the property since it first won city approval in 2008. Landhuis owner Jeff Mark of Colorado Springs said his company will start work on the first 44 lots within the next few weeks and in four months the first houses should be going up."

"Mark said he will then kick off planning on 400 lots. 'We obviously hope the market stays strong in Pueblo for a while,' Mark said. 'And then we are going to have another 500 to 600 lots in planning right behind that. We are coming in making a major splash from a development perspective,' Mark said. 'This year we likely will do about 1,300 houses along the Front Range.'"

From Marketplace. "If you follow the housing market at any level, you know we’re in the midst of a severe shortage of homes for sale. Others say the shortage is much smaller. Brad Dillman, chief economist with the multifamily unit builder Cortland, estimates we’re short just over one million housing units, which would take four or five years to catch up. 'By my estimate, the absolute last thing you’d want to do would be to launch an expansionary housing policy right now,' he said. Dillman warned that doing too much to stimulate building could lead to a glut, which is part of what got us into this mess in the first place."

The Post and Courier in South Carolina. "As tight as the Greenville market is, there is some good news for buyers: the region’s inventory shortage isn’t quite as acute as it has been over the past several months. For prospective buyers in the Greenville market, crafting the right offer is crucial. Go too low, and they risk offending the seller—not to mention being noticeably out of whack among other offers. But even offers above list price can present hazards, given that the offer has to ultimately satisfy not just the seller, but also the financial institution writing the mortgage used to purchase the home."

"'In a competitive market, buyers who are offering well over the asking price can put the contract price over the price of recent sales in the area. So we are seeing some low appraisals,' said Robby Brady of Allen Tate Realtors. 'An experienced agent can help guide the buyer to avoid the appraisal issue, or work it out if the appraisal comes back below contract price.'"

The Daily News in Washington. "The rental eviction moratoriums are drying up Donna Britten’s savings plan. After not receiving a check in four months, Britten said she sold one of her rentals — part of her retirement nest egg. 'Everyone thinks landlords have a million bucks, and that’s not the case,' she said. 'It’s been pretty tough for a lot of people.'"

"Britten owns 30 local rentals and New Springs Property Management in Kelso. She said owners with rentals in her property management company are $81,000 in the hole thanks to tenants who are not paying rent — some since February 2020. Landlords with one or two properties are hurting the most, Britten said. When rent for one property doesn’t come in, owners struggle to cover the mortgage."

"She said security deposits often don’t make up for damages left by renters, either. One owner of a rental she manages was left with $10,000 in back rent and had to invest another $19,000 in the property before the unit could be placed on the market to sell, Britten said. Britten said 27 units under her property management company were sold because tenants weren’t paying rent."

The New York Times on Florida. "Cordelia Anderson, a Miami real estate agent, said five clients who had been looking at units in older condo buildings asked for hefty discounts after the collapse, or abandoned the coast altogether and instead wanted to search farther inland. Ines Mason bought the 14th-floor condo, perched on an island in Biscayne Bay, five years ago as a getaway. After seeing another high rise similar to her own collapse nearly two weeks ago in the nearby city of Surfside, suddenly her Florida escape turned into a source of anxiety."

"She became concerned about the structural integrity of her building, which is about 30 years old. She also worried about the financial return on her investment; her family had recently been contemplating putting the condo on the market and buying a townhouse. 'Should we sell it?' said Ms. Mason, a project manager who lives in Northern Virginia and travels to South Florida several times a year. 'Should we not sell it? What should we do? We’re kind of just holding on tight and waiting to see.'"

The Stamford Advocate in Connecticut. "Drive up to the front of the home on 364 Laurel Roadin New Canaan and it can pass for any Fairfield County estate. Currently listed for $3.5 million, the eight-bedroom home has 9,200 square feet of living space, and on its over 6 acres of land are a guest house and a 15,000-square-foot 'award-winning party [and] sports barn indulging almost every hobby or aspiration.' The home last sold in 2014 and according to vice president of sales for Higgins Group Susan Leone, the home has not sold since despite being listed a few times. The property was listed in 2015 for $15 million, according to Realtor.com, and was relisted four years later for $4.9 million."

"Back on the market after another price drop, Leone said the 'unique' home and its party barn have much to offer a prospective buyer."

From Socket Site in California. "Custom built 14 years ago, the 101-acre Alamo estate at 10 Serenity Lane is centered around a nearly 13,000-square-foot 'chateau,' with a state-of-the-art, 12,000-square-foot car barn/museum that can accommodate up to 20 cars. And with the adjacent estate, which cost $135 million to develop, having sold for $19 million last year, the sale of 10 Serenity Lane has now closed escrow with a contract price of $16.9 million, which was officially 'within 13 percent of asking' but 59.8 percent, or $25.1 million, below its original list price."

The Waterloo Record in Canada. "While the market is still competitive, the frantic pace of sales earlier this year has passed, according to Toronto real estate experts. 'It’s probably the first regular market cycle we’ve seen since the onset of COVID,' said Christan Bosley, president of Bosley Real Estate. Although prices and competition vary according to neighbourhood and the property, 'we’re not seeing the same volume of offers,' she said. 'That kind of frenetic feeling is gone which is reassuring for people who realize these are regular market cycles.'"

"Agents are still getting multiple offers but not as many, and competitive scenarios are drawing fewer bidders, said Desmond Brown of Re/MAX Hallmark. 'The last three deals I’ve done, we’ve negotiated price,' he said. The slower pace of the market is changing the guidance that his team gives its clients, said Brown. 'We’ve got to start pricing closer to what we feel the market value is, as opposed to pricing it in the hopes we’re going to get multiple offers, because it’s just going to end up that we have to cancel it and relist it at a higher price,' he said."

The Canadian Press. "The numbers signalled a continued cooling in the Ontario market from the end of 2020 and start of 2021, when sales and prices were routinely breaking records every month despite the pandemic. 'The record pace of sales has run its course as pent-up demand has increasingly been satisfied in the absence of normal population growth,' TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer said. The board now feels sales have peaked this year because it is no longer reporting records being broken, but wanted to upgrade the forecast to account for year-over-year sales continuing to outpace new listings growth."

From News 2 in South Africa. "Graham and Jenni Rowe, owners of Harfield Guest Villa, have about six months left to find a buyer for their property. If they don’t, they risk losing everything they have worked for, for the past 25 years. And they are not the only ones. Across South Africa, hundreds if not thousands of guest house and B&B owners are staring the same harsh reality in the face. In a bid to stay afloat, the parents of two school-going kids had to cash in all their retirement annuities. They also asked for an extension on their bond last year and are in the process of applying for another one."

"'Luckily, we are healthy. I don’t mind working until I fall down. I don’t want to retire. I would have loved to have done this for the rest of my life. The reality is this is not going to last for another six months,' he shares. According to Graham, most guest houses and B&Bs haven’t reached 30% occupancy since 1 April last year.'We have lost two-and-a-half seasons so far as there is not one booking for the coming season.' To keep the lights on, Graham has taken on a second job as an estate agent at a well-known real estate agency."

The Edge Malaysia. "According to Rahim & Co International Sdn Bhd Real Estate Agency CEO Siva Shanker, the main issue is the oversupply of property. 'The biggest challenge is the huge oversupply of high-rise units. These are properties that were sold with the promise of very quick capital gains or high-rental returns,' he says. Siva adds that those who bought the property to flip found that there were no buyers and were forced to put the unit on the rental market. This only led to more problems, as the oversupply in the market put pressure on rents."

"'There will continue to be an oversupply situation; there will be many people who have properties for rent but no tenants. This situation will be around for a long time. Nothing can be done immediately. The only way is to slow supply,' he says. 'Even if you [control] the new incoming supply, the existing supply is still there. There is really nothing you can do to alleviate this problem. It is like balls that are bobbing in a lake but the lake has a small outlet. Those balls will be bobbing around for a long time.'"

From News.com.au in Australia. "Rather than lying awake at night like their parents’ generation wondering if a rate rise would make their financial future all the more challenging, the atmosphere for the current generation of mortgage holders has been far more relaxed. In the past three decades the RBA has slashed interest rates every five months on average. With the RBA cash rate now sitting at a record low 0.1 per cent, there is simply no more room for the Reserve Bank to cut rates further without taking the cash rate to 0 per cent or below."

"A recent analysis by US investment J.P Morgan revealed the interest rate futures market expected around 0.4 per cent worth of rate rises over the next two years, 1 per cent over the next three years and roughly 1.5 per cent over the next four years. If 1.5 per cent worth of interest rate hikes was to be priced into the current average variable rate, the average interest rate on a variable rate mortgage would rise to 4.6 per cent per annum."

"For an average buyer who recently purchased a home with the average mortgage of $504,000 who got a good deal of 2 per cent rate on a fixed term mortgage, the reversion to a variable rate loan amid rising interest rates could mean interest repayments more than double in an instant. As a result, monthly repayments would rise by $722 per month (38.6 per cent) and the household could find themselves in financial stress if they did not swiftly adjust their spending to their new mortgage servicing costs."

From the Epoch Times. "Following a recent warning from China’s top banking regulator about a possible bubble in the Chinese housing market, mainland Chinese media company ARCHINA published an editorial emphasizing the communist regime’s concerns and the need to enforce tighter regulations. The move comes after U.S. policymakers announced raising interest rates by the end of 2023. According to official data, the relative property prices in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong rank among some of the highest in the world, suggesting the boom could transform into a bubble."

"On June 10, on a Shanghai financial forum, Shuqing Guo, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, warned, 'Those who speculate on foreign exchange, gold, and other commodities can hardly make a fortune, just like those betting that the housing prices will never fall—they will pay a heavy price in the end.' Guo’s comments shook the financial market. On June 12, ARCHINA published a commentary on Guo’s statements, headlined 'It is time for the real estate speculators to give up their fantasy.'"

"The article said Guo’s phrase 'heavy price' suggests that the situation is serious, but his words indicate that the Chinese regulators are confident in controlling the housing prices. It also said that the era of real estate arbitrage is coming to an end. Despite financial regulations, hidden issues in China’s property market still exist. So strict rules, including requiring proof of source of funds, are necessary to slow down the real estate frenzy."

"On Aug. 16 last year, Guo published an article on Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party’s official theoretical journal, and wrote: 'Unswervingly fight the battle to prevent and resolve financial risks. … The real estate bubble is the biggest gray rhino that threatens the safety of the financial market.' The 'gray rhino' refers to an imminent threat that follows a series of warnings that people have ignored."

"Qingyou Guan, the chief economist of the Economic Observer, published an article on Chinese news portal Sina on housing prices. The house price to income ratio indicates that the properties in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai are alarmingly high, with percentages of 57.97, 55.80, and 45.55. These cities exceed Hong Kong’s housing price to income ratio and are one of the most expensive places to buy real estate."

"Guan also pointed out that one of the key indicators to check whether the boom is turning into a bubble is the real estate price to rental cost ratio. Because the expenses of properties significantly exceed the rents, investors are speculating a rise in prices, hence heating the market and leading to a potential bubble. Shenzhen’s ratio has reached 82.15 percent, making it the highest in the world. Beijing and Shanghai rank fifth and sixth in the world respectively. Guan said that there are bubbles in the housing prices of these cities."