A report from the Real Deal on Texas. "The median sales price in the area was $466,705 last month, down 15 percent from $550,000 in April 2022, the Austin Business Journal reported, citing data from the Austin Board of Realtors. The drop in prices bodes well for a market that saw home values skyrocket for months on end throughout the pandemic, causing buyers to make offers far above asking prices. Listings often closed a day or two after hitting the market. However, stability has arrived following the housing boom’s peak last summer. Current market conditions equate to more time on the market, meaning buyers can more carefully weigh their options before making bids, and sellers are forced to lower prices. 'The doubling of mortgage rates over the past year-plus has slowed the pace of home sales in our region,' Clare Losey, a housing economist with ABOR, told the outlet. 'As such, homes are spending more time on the market. The rise in active listings has brought much-needed inventory to our market.'"

The Las Vegas Business Press. "A recent Las Vegas Realtors report shows local home prices rebounded a bit after stalling for months, while sales continued to slide. LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during April was $430,000. That’s up 1.2 percent from $425,000 in March but down 9.5 percent from $475,000 in April 2022. It’s also down from the all-time record home price of $482,000 in May 2022. Compared with one year ago, total sales values in April were down 41.2 percent for homes and down 34.9 percent for condos and townhomes."

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. "This time last year, homes were flying off the market. Now? It’s a much different story. For the fourth time in the last five months, median home prices in Greater Boston fell in April. Sales volume declined too, in what is typically a season of escalating home sales, a sign of how sharply the rise in mortgage interest rates has spooked potential homebuyers and sellers alike. Spring is typically the busiest time of year in Boston’s housing market, and after a rocky few months it appeared in March that the market may have been sputtering back to life, with prices up year-over-year. April’s declines tell a different story."

Go Banking Rates. "Uncertainty about the economy and a rise in unemployment could hasten the housing market downturn, creating the largest housing correction in the post-World War II era. The current correction stands as the second largest in the post-World War II economy, behind the housing market crash and mortgage crisis of 2008. To put it into perspective, even a 20% drop in housing prices through 2023 would not put home prices back at their pre-pandemic level."

"'[W]hat we’re doing is we’re giving back perhaps at most, a third or a quarter of the gains that we realized,' Macro Trends Advisors founding partner Mitch Roschelle told Fox business. 'But that doesn’t help somebody who just bought a house at the top of the market and now has something that’s lost 10%.'"

From Bisnow. "After months of hoping for a better outcome, more office owners are cutting their losses and offloading distressed properties at bargain basement prices. Landlords are taking major losses on buildings across the country, with some properties trading at as much as 80% below previous valuations, according to The Wall Street Journal. The trend follows months of rising vacancies and depressed rent growth, made more severe by rising interest rates that challenge refinancing. As more owners see the writing on the wall, listings are up and the volume of sales has begun to rise."

"The fire-sale trend is expected to continue in the coming months as billions of dollars of office-backed mortgages come due. The delinquency rate for office loans landed at 2.77% in April, the highest rate since August 2019, Trepp data shows. In the first week of May alone, 11 office properties sold at auction. On average, buildings were sold at 31% below the seller’s initial expectations, whereas one year prior, sellers accepted an average discount of about 7%, Ten-X said."

From Blog TO. "While Canada may be home to two of the worst housing bubbles in the world, high interest rates and costs of living in general have meant a massive tumble in once red-hot housing markets, in both sales volumes and average prices. While Toronto is still extremely unaffordable, prices are actually far lower than they were at this time last year, according to the latest numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association. In Toronto, the average home clocked in at 8.3 per cent less last month than in April 2022. Seasonally-adjusted figures from the CBC show Windsor-Essex prices have fallen a whopping 16.5 per cent year-over year (from $631,667, on average, to $527,482), followed by St .Catharines (down 14.2 per cent to $710,715), London and St. Thomas (down 13.5 per cent to $634,864), Hamilton-Burlington (down 11.2 per cent to $876,229), and Kitchener-Waterloo (down 11 per cent to $789,359)."

The Evening Standard in the UK. "A mile-long crater now sits alongside Euston station — a daily reminder of the havoc wreaked by HS2. In this corner of Camden, construction of the high-speed rail link has seen homes and businesses in its path demolished and left homeowners trapped in unsellable properties. Now there are fears that these sacrifices might have been in vain. The Government has confirmed that the final 7.2km leg between Old Oak Common into Euston is on hold. The disruption has severely dented property prices, with hundreds of homeowners trapped in homes that they cannot sell."

"Flats in Darwin Court used to go for £1.1 million but now fetch around £850,000 to £950,000, says Hamish Gilfeather, director of Primrose Hill estate agent John D Wood & Co. According to actress Annabel Leventon, who lives in the block, values slumped by around £200,000 when HS2 was announced and have not gone back up. One of her neighbours, who had to sell after going through a divorce, was forced to accept a 'horribly reduced' price, Leventon says."

From Bloomberg. "Vienna became the weakest housing market among major European capitals, posting a double-digit decline that surpassed even hard-hit Stockholm, according to the inaugural Bloomberg City Tracker. The Austrian capital posted a drop of 12.2% from peak levels a year ago, while Stockholm was down 6.4%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the Austrian capital, stricter mortgage rules are exacerbating the slump, dragging down offer prices in May to an average of €7,084 per square meter. Further declines are anticipated."

"Alongside Vienna, Sweden’s tendency for shorter term loans made it particularly vulnerable to rising rates, dragging down prices in Stockholm. The latest data for Dublin show that the once-hot market is cooling, with a decline in March of 2.4%. The Irish government is considering the reintroduction of mortgage relief to help strapped consumers. Despite a housing shortage, prices in Berlin have also slipped, declining by 1% in April."

ABC News in Australia. "Liquidators are investigating how many contractors have been left unpaid and homes left unfinished after the collapse of a Tasmanian building company. Contractors claim they are tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket after Multi-Res was placed into liquidation on Sunday. It has left behind unfinished builds in the Hobart suburbs of Risdon Vale and Bridgewater. Limcora Plumbing and Drainage managing director Alex Nelson also claimed his company was owed more than $110,000 by Multi-Res, for six weeks of work. 'I really think we'll be lucky to see 20 cents in the dollar,' he said. Electrical contractor Kyle Skipworth said he was even less optimistic. 'From what I've been told, I'll be lucky if I get five cents in the dollar.'"

The South China Morning Post. "A first-quarter rally in Hong Kong's home market turned out to be remarkably 'short-lived,' as sales have now slumped and sellers are slashing prices to get deals done amid a 'downward trend' that will last through the year, according to property agents and analysts. This is already evident this week, with some owners selling flats at a loss, according to agents at Centaline. On Tuesday, one owner lost 5.4 per cent after selling a two-bedroom apartment at Mountain Shore in Ma On Shan for HK$7 million after five years of ownership."

The Wall Street Journal. "China’s post-Covid growth spurt is sputtering and its youth unemployment rate hit a record high, signaling trouble for a recovery that was expected to boost global growth. One of the most dramatic data points was the unemployment rate for Chinese aged from 16 to 24, which rose to a record of 20.4% last month. The rate has steadily increased from 16.7% at the end of last year."

"Bruce Pang, chief China economist at Jones Lang LaSalle, believes that while the economy could use some stimulus, China’s central bank will likely have to hold off on any plans to ease monetary policy, in part because of concerns about inflating asset bubbles. Tuesday’s release of weaker-than-expected data 'shows how difficult it is to keep the growth engine running after restarting it,' Mr. Pang said."

"In Beijing, Yao Jiaoqing said she quit her job as a coffee shop barista last month because she couldn’t endure the grind of the work while getting paid a monthly salary of less than 3,000 yuan, equivalent to around $431. Ms. Yao has held different jobs in the telecom and online travel industries after graduating from college in 2018. Ms. Yao said she estimates, based on her peers, that joblessness among her cohort may be even higher than the official data indicate. 'I look around at my friends of similar ages, about a third of them don’t have a job now,' she said. 'I just want to lie flat,' she added, using a popular slang term akin to dropping out of the rat race."