It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "According to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, fewer Bradenton area homes changed hands in April than a year ago. Homes were also taking longer to sell and sellers weren’t always getting their asking price. Rob Sartore, an associate with ReMax Platinum Realty, says he is consistently seeing price reductions by sellers for single-family homes and condos. 'No price point is immune. It’s happening across the board on high-end properties to lower mid-range properties. This is because those homes were overpriced and a direct result of the fallout from the pandemic buying spree aberration that existed until June 2022,' Sartore said."

"Hawaii's housing shortage eased somewhat with the addition of 6,071 housing units from 2020 to 2022, with help from the state's declining population, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates. According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the median sale price for single-family homes on Oahu in April was $999,995 and for condos $500,000, down 10 % and 2%, respectively, from the same month a year ago."

"Home prices in San Diego County rose in April for the second straight month, but still remained below the levels of a year ago, the California Association of Realtors said Thursday. The median sale price of a single-family home in the county was $930,000 last month, up from $915,000 in March. The April figure, though, fell from $975,000 in April 2022, according to the association. Statewide, April’s sales pace was down 4.7% on a monthly basis from 281,050 in March, and down 36.1% from a year ago."

"People are leaving San Jose by the thousands. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's City and Town population totals report, in July 2020, the city had an estimated population of 1,009,830 residents. This number was down to 981,466 residents in 2021. Now in 2022, San Jose has a population of 971,233. San Jose State Economics Professor Matt Holian says the city has seen a drop in home prices due to lack of demand. This is obviously good news for buyers, but bad news for sellers. 'As house prices have fallen the property tax base goes down and cities are able to collect less tax revenue,' Prof Holian said. 'So, that's going to affect city budgets - everything from police, schools, basic street cleaning.' Oakland and San Francisco have joined San Jose in declining population in the past years, which Holian says only makes the problems on the streets more visible with less vibrancy around."

"On the first Tuesday of every month, like-minded people gather outside the Bexar County Courthouse bidding for their next financial opportunity. 'For us, we find properties on the market that we can fix and resell and make a profit,' said Eddie Lozano, one of dozens of investors and realtors who attended April’s housing auction. In Texas, foreclosures rose by 187.3%, going from a little more than 4,000 in the first six months of 2021 to about 11,500 foreclosures in the first half of 2022, according to Attom. 'If people would just call their realtor, whoever sold them the house, tell them, 'Hey, I’m falling behind on my bills,' a lot of the times the banks will work with you to do a forbearance until you get back on your feet,' Lozano said."

"The record 2022 boom in Denver apartment construction is about to supply the city with a swath of new housing units renters sorely need, but it could mean slower rent growth for property owners, especially downtown. Construction activity continues to soar. There are more than 31,000 units under construction in the Denver metro area, which is a record high, according to the data. Once completed, Denver’s inventory could expand by almost 11%. 'Downtown [Denver] will bear the brunt of the supply wave,' Unique Properties’ Q1 2023 market insights report says."

"M&R Development and Bucksbaum Retail Properties increased their ownership stake in the apartment and retail complex known as Addison & Clark across the street from Wrigley Field, through a refinancing deal, while their Swiss partner on the project, UBS Group, lost most of its equity in the property, CoStar reported. M&R and Bucksbaum, along with an affiliate of The Dinerstein Cos., paid $100 million for the property at 1025 West Addison Street in late April. That’s far less than the $180 million it cost to build the complex. Commercial properties selling for far less than what an investor paid has become common in today’s market."

"Last month, representatives of at least three major real estate development firms contacted Vancouver’s mayor and council imploring them to create a new tax exemption and apply it retroactively. Weeks later, council’s ABC majority did just that, prompting rebuke from other local politicians and the public. Grosvenor’s senior vice-president of development Marc Josephson also wrote to the mayor and council last month about his company’s condo tower with unsold units, and their $1.65-million tax bill. Asked if Grosvenor has tried reducing the price of the homes to sell them, Josephson said: 'We are actively trying to sell these homes and are responding to market conditions.'"

"London’s cooling luxury housing market is turning into a tale of two sellers — those willing to knock down the asking price to secure a deal and those too stubborn to budge. Over half of prime homes in the city were sold at a discount in April, with the average price reduction rising to 9.1% for the first time in more than three and a half years, according to researcher LonRes. However, sales dropped by over a third from the same month last year, as some determined vendors sit on the sidelines waiting for the bargain hunt to end."

"'Sellers are referencing prices of yesteryear, while buyers are looking to a future in which they expect prices to fall,' said Anthony Payne, managing director at LonRes. 'For those vendors who fail to recognize the true value of their home in today’s market, the only path is one that leads to a downward price drift. Small price reductions that edge towards the true value of a property frequently result in a bigger reduction later down the line.'"

"'It still seems likely that this downturn is on its last legs, albeit not quite finished yet,' said CoreLogic NZ chief property economist Kelvin Davidson. House sales for the year ended April were down about 31 percent on the year earlier, while values fell 10 percent. Wellington was the weakest of the main centres, with values down 21 percent from the peak, while Christchurch was down 6.2 percent."

"A whopping 27,000 homes due to be built have been shelved by developers with warnings that they may never be constructed despite Australia facing a housing crisis with a severe shortage of rentals and properties for sale. The value of the 10,400 dwellings that have been abandoned for now in Victoria is worth a whopping $4.3 billion. 'Property developers are shelving projects because of soaring costs and lacklustre property prices. Some are even going bust,' KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said."

"The latest to go under was Tasmanian building company Multi-Res Builders, leaving multimillion-dollar projects in the lurch, while developer Property Solutions Holdings, responsible for some of Brisbane’s most famous urban renewal projects also failed recently. PBS Building, a multimillion-dollar firm which did a mix of commercial and residential projects across Queensland, NSW and the ACT, also sent shockwaves through the industry when it collapsed. Other firms to go bust include NSW apartment developer EQ Constructions and a Perth building company called Hamlen Homes with both owing millions to creditors. New home sales are almost 50 per cent lower than a year ago, the HIA report found, while lending for the purchase or construction of a new home has fallen to its lowest level since 2008."