A report from WMAR in Maryland. "Real estate agent Michelle Pappas has been selling real estate for 21 years, riding out the housing market's twists and turns. Especially, in the last six months. Pappas says she's noticed some changes recently. 'The comps aren't quite lining up with the current market conditions,' she says. 'So, if you pull the comps for the house that you're going to price, that's not the same market even three months ago than we are today. We've seen the inspections come back into place. That's caused some deals to fall apart in the last month or two. Issues that come up and the seller doesn't want to reduce their price and/or do the repairs and then the buyer is less enthralled with the house.' Yet, she has good news for those who've been trying to get into a new home. 'With some inventory staying on the market longer, forcing the seller and or their list agent to reduce the price,' she says."

Gulf Shore Business in Florida. "The Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Charlotte County, saw one of the steepest year-over-year declines in home sale prices. The median home sale price in the Punta Gorda MSA fell 8.6% compared to the same period in 2024, tying with Crestview for the fourth-largest decline in the U.S. Only North Port-Sarasota (down 12.1%) and Cape Coral (11%) had greater losses. Charlotte County home prices are in a correction phase after what Realtors call 'the cowboy market' of the pandemic years, said Cindy Marsh-Tichy, president of Realtors of Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port-DeSoto Inc. 'The market is pretty stagnant; this happens every few years,' she said, but offered glimmers of hope to sellers. She suggested that although it’s a good time for buyers, sellers may want to hold off until prices begin to rise again. The market is truly a buyer’s market with inventory levels of 8.3 months for single-family homes and 12.7 months for condos and townhomes."

WOKV in Florida. "One Dream Finders Homes homeowner is taking Action News Jax through her home, showing examples of what she calls poor craftsmanship, work left undone, and repairs that could cost thousands of dollars. And she’s not alone. Some homeowners tell Action News Jax’s Deja Mayfield that they feel like they’ve been robbed. One owner told Mayfield she still can’t get the repairs she’s been asking for since 2021. 'We invested a lot of money in this house,' Robin Barrett said. Barrett purchased her brand-new $420,000 home in Clay County four years ago, and she took us through her home, pointing out problem after problem. 'I would call my realtor, who would call them and go, ‘Listen, this is unacceptable,’ and they’re like ‘Oh well. If you want to back out, we’re going to keep your deposit,’ Barrett said. " … I’ve talked to other neighbors who said basically they did that to them too. ‘Hey, you can walk away, we’ll just keep your money.' Barrett said she and her husband are still left feeling helpless, having to make these repairs on their own. 'We didn’t expect to have to fork another 30, 40, $50,000 to fix what they didn’t finish,' she said."

Covering Katy in Texas. "A recent analysis from the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (FBCAD) revealed that nearly 60% of homeowners in the county saw their home's taxable value decline in 2025. While that report was based on property appraisals, local MLS sales data from Katy and Fulshear shows many of the same underlying trends — including growing inventory, longer time on market, and price adjustments. Median Sale Price (June 2025): $364,740, down 9.0% from $401,000 in June 2024. While appraisal values and market prices are calculated differently, both datasets point to the same conclusion: the housing market is normalizing after years of rapid growth."

From Oregon Live. "A 35-story high-rise that brought the storied Ritz-Carlton brand to Portland has gone back to the lender. Ready Capital announced the long-expected transfer Tuesday evening, saying it had taken possession of Block 216. All parts of the mixed-use building — which includes offices and Ritz-Carlton-branded hotel rooms and residences — will continue to operate as normal, the company said. In March, Ready Capital said it planned to take control after only about a dozen of the building’s 132 condos had sold and less than a quarter of its office space had leased. In a court hearing in April, a Ready Capital attorney said the building was 'completely underwater.' Court documents stated that appraisals completed after Block 216 opened valued it at $425 million, tens of millions short of the construction loan. One of the firms’ top executives, Barclay Grayson, sued his employer in Multnomah County Circuit Court, claiming it failed to close a deal struck nearly two years ago to sell him a Block 216 penthouse, as The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported. As first reported by Willamette Week, he appears to be on the hunt for a new job. 'I’m seeking a new role and would appreciate your support,' Grayson wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn. 'If you hear of any opportunities or just want to catch up, please send me a message or comment below. I’d love to connect.'"

From KQED. "President Donald Trump’s executive order promising to crack down on street homelessness across the country drew prompt criticism from service providers in California and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, which called it a harmful imitation of the state’s approach. The order, signed Thursday, also calls for increased institutionalization of people with mental illness and promises to defund the state’s — and nation’s — longstanding 'housing first' policy, among other provisions. It essentially means providing housing without requiring that someone be enrolled in substance abuse or mental health treatment, though those services are typically offered. 'Does that mean we do drug testing?' asked Vivian Wan, CEO of the nonprofit Abode Services. 'Do we ask people, ‘Are you sober?’ The devil is in the details.'"

"But other observers have welcomed the move. Paul Webster, a senior fellow at the conservative Cicero Institute, called it 'a huge step in the right direction.' He pointed to Los Angeles, where seven unhoused people, on average, died each day in 2023 — a rate that’s 4.5 times higher than the general population. Drug- and alcohol-related overdoses accounted for 45% of those deaths, the Los Angeles Times reported. 'We’ve known for years that homelessness isn’t just about housing but that it’s about folks who’ve got serious illnesses, addictions, mental health challenges, behavioral health challenges,' Webster said. 'This is a humanitarian crisis on the streets of some of our largest cities, and we’ve ignored it for far too long.'"

From Wealth Awesome. "In 2022, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops didn’t have enough rooms for students. The school had to bring in a 113-bed workcamp from northern B.C. as a quick fix. Now, less than three years later, TRU is thinking about closing a 305-bed dormitory. This big change is happening because fewer international students are coming to Canada. 'The international demand has tapered right off because of the federal changes,' said Matt Milovick, TRU’s vice-president of administration and finance. He added, 'The dramatic decline for international applicants is really going to start to be felt this fall and next fall.'"

The Financial Times. "This summer it will have been five years since the UK housing market reopened after seven weeks of pandemic-induced shutdowns. Before the pandemic, Hamptons lead analyst David Fell explains, the typical time between a home being put on the market was a decade or so; that average has now halved. 'Of the homes put up for sale in 2025, more were bought in 2021 than in any other year,' he says. The change is most evident in the countryside but Fell stresses there is a similar pattern across suburban areas too. Such a change feels particularly impactful because of the sheer volume of sales in 2021. 'During the pandemic people jumped without looking — or at least with less research than they would have done if they’d moved in, say, 2019,' adds Fell. 'Perhaps they’re less happy with the area than they thought they might be,' he says — or even just dissatisfied with the broader move from the city to the country."

"'Covid buyers are facing a reality check,' says Philip Harvey, senior partner of buying agents Property Vision. 'For some, the idyllic house on the sea, for example, has started to feel like an expensive miscalculation and we’re seeing that reflected in the number of properties quietly returning to the market,' says Harvey. In the countryside, where the pool of buyers has contracted, price cuts are common. In Cornwall, 42 per cent of homes for sale in May and June were reduced in price, compared with 36 per cent in London, according to Rightmove. 'Homes in country villages more than 20 minutes from a station or with poor local amenities are being cut by as much as 20 per cent, especially those on for more than £2mn,' says Harvey. 'Scour Rightmove for everything that has sold in the past year: understand the pros and cons of each home; identify the key features that make a great home in your price bracket,' he says. These are useful 'checks and balances' restraining the sort of impulsive Covid-era purchases that buyers are now regretting. 'Finally, don’t be afraid to lowball: your fear the seller will never speak to you again, or that a bidding war will leave you overpaying, is typically unfounded,' he says."

The Helsinki Times. "Landlords in the Helsinki region say rent prices are no longer the main obstacle to filling vacant apartments. The problem, they argue, is a shortage of reliable tenants. Juha Parviainen, a property investor with two decades of experience, said one of his apartments in East Helsinki has remained empty since March, despite a 10 percent drop in rent. 'I've already lowered the rent, but it's still hard to find a suitable tenant,' Parviainen said. 'It's not the price anymore.' He holds regular viewings to attract tenants but said attendance is low and often unreliable. 'There might be five showings booked, and only one person shows up, if that. The rest don't even cancel,' he said. Martti Korhonen, chief actuary at Statistics Finland, said the decline is due to oversupply. 'There are simply more rental flats than people who want them,' he said."