It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Cape Coral homeowner Larry Bray listed his house for sale in April and thought he had a deal. 'We got a low-ball offer and accepted it because it was still within what we could afford to leave it for, and then it fell through,' he said. The home is now back on the market. 'I just want to walk away and say goodbye to Cape Coral,' Bray said."

"The housing market in Sarasota and Manatee counties continued its cooling trend in June. Single-family home prices fell sharply in both counties year-over-year, with Manatee County posting the steepest decline. There, the median sale price dropped 15.2 percent, to $440,000, while in Sarasota County, it fell 8.1 percent, to $455,000. 'Sellers have to adjust,' says Inbal August, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman. 'We’re in a buyer’s market now. There’s a huge amount of inventory to choose from, and people are no longer making random offers. People need to stop comparing everything to the pandemic. That wasn’t normal. A house that was $700,000 may now be $550,000. You can refinance [an interest rate], but not a purchase price, so there are more opportunities.'"

"Real estate pros say the combination of modest inventory increases and sellers' greater willingness to trim asking prices may make the fall season a little more palatable for prospective home buyers in Massachusetts. Cheryl Eidinger-Taylor, of ERA Key Realty Services in Whitinsville, said she has noticed home prices experiencing 'notable shifts,' with inventory and price adjustments increasing due to sellers listing homes at higher prices than the market is willing to support. 'We are seeing more price changes than we have seen in a long time,' she said. 'In MetroWest and Middlesex County, we have seen an actual on-market increase (in inventory) of about 30% and we’ve (also) seen a 30% increase in price changes. This indicates that home sellers are coming on thinking they could push it a little higher and the market is rejecting that.' Hopkinton: Median single-family home sale price through June 30: $983,000, down 14.4%. Last year's six-month median sales price was $1,148,750. Milford: Median single-family home sale price through June 30: $525,000, down 6.3%. Last year's six-month median price was $560,500."

"The Maryland REALTORS® reported that statewide housing market experienced a modest slowdown in June. Worcester County data revealed a more dramatic decline of a nearly 11% decline in homes sold year over year, and an average sales price decline of 13.1%, from $513,866 in ’24 to $446,328 in ’25. Meanwhile, homes are sitting longer on the market across the country, and price reductions are on the rise. 'Maryland, along with other markets across the country, is seeing an increase in the number of price reductions. If this continues, it could indicate a shift toward a buyer’s market,' said Cheryl Abrams Davis, 2025 President of Maryland REALTORS®."

"More houses are coming on the market, but a lot of them are just sitting there. 'Business is a little bit different,' said Tiffany Russell, a realtor in Austin, Texas. For Susan Cioffi in Tampa, Florida, 'It’s still a little slow compared to the last couple of years,' And in Bellevue, Washington, Michael Orbino said, 'There’s no question that deals are harder to pull together.' Russell said, in the peak COVID times of low interest rates, a rush of people moved to Austin and pushed home prices a little too high. 'They were putting in offers, you know, $30,000 and $50,000 over ask and essentially over inflating our market,' said Russell. Some of those buyers are now looking to sell. And they’re finding they just can’t make their money back."

"The housing markets in Maricopa remain firmly in buyers’ territory, with supply far outpacing demand, according to the Cromford Market Index. Mike Orr, who founded the Cromford Report, created a formula to help the real estate industry know which areas are in demand, and which are flooded with options for buyers. His most recent data shows Maricopa with a score of 50.7, indicating roughly twice as many sellers as buyers. 'Anything below 90 is a buyers’ market,' Orr said. 'If it’s around 50, it means there’s twice as many sellers as buyers. So, if you’re selling, you’ve got a lot of competition. If you’re buying, you’ve got plenty of negotiating power.' Orr said Maricopa’s score reflects an ongoing surge in homebuilding coupled with relatively weak demand. ''These areas have a lot of new construction,' Orr said. 'There’s no shortage of homes to choose from.' Metro Phoenix markets closer to the urban center, such as Tempe or Paradise Valley, show stronger demand because of limited land for new builds, Orr said. However, even those markets have softened compared to the pandemic-era boom of 2020 to 2022."

"The town of Truckee wants to increase the number of long-term rental properties available for local workers, offering financial incentives to property owners who offer these leases. David Polivy serves on the town council and worked to get the landlord incentive programs up and running. 'One of the issues here in Truckee is that we have enough houses. They're just not all being utilized to their fullest and best use all the time,' he said. 'We don't have a shortage of physical places to live, and so a lot of what we've really been working on is how do we unlock our existing housing stock in order to use it more efficiently.'"

"Let’s finally dispense with the idea that housing is a foolproof financial asset. The Canadian real estate free-for-all is over. The market hasn’t collapsed, by any means. But some of the hottest pockets, including Toronto and Vancouver, are struggling. Condo sales have crashed. Nationally, average home prices are about 15 per cent off their peak, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data. The housing hangover should have lots of Canadians questioning their faith in real estate as an infallible asset incapable of depreciating. 'It seems like every generation has to put their hand on the stove and get burned before they realize that wasn’t such a good idea,' said Mike Moffatt, an economist and founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative."

"Starting in the early 2000s, Canadian housing went on a run for the ages, with the average national price of a home rising fivefold. It was an era that converted masses of Canadians to real estate evangelists who poured their savings into the market and began treating their homes as retirement funds. Canadian housing soon took on a global profile as one of the world’s most overpriced markets. But the more the predictions of its demise didn’t come true, the more Canadians were seduced by the fortunes that could be made in real estate. 'It led people to believe that maybe this is a permanent fixture,' Mr. Moffatt said."

"‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,' the writer Samuel Johnson declared in 1777. However, it seems that many Londoners — swathes of the middle-classes and the super-rich — are giving up on buying property in the capital as they suffer under the weight of Rachel Reeves’s tax changes. Analysts blamed global anxiety about Donald Trump’s tariff war, higher domestic taxes and too many properties on the market for the gloomier predictions. 'Many of the international buyers who used to drive the ultra-prime market, particularly from the Middle East and parts of Asia, have left London,' says Becky Fatemi, a partner at Sotheby’s International Realty. The property tycoon Nick Candy, who is the treasurer of Reform UK, says crime is also putting off wealthy buyers and residents. 'When people don’t feel safe in a city or face confusing and inconsistent tax policy, they stop investing in it,' he says."

"Recent housing affordability rankings have been notable for one thing - Auckland hasn't been in the bottom 10. But in the most recent Demographia research, it came in at 16th. Kelvin Davidson, chief economist at Corelogic, said it was clear the picture had changed for Auckland, 'The word shortage is just not talked about anymore. There seems to be a bit of an equilibrium going on at the moment. I think Chris Bishop's comments a couple of days ago, about decoupling this idea that, you know, to have a strong economy, we have to have a strong housing … I think is a great thing. We don't get richer as a country by buying and selling each other's houses.'"