The New York Times reports on Connecticut. "Listings throughout Connecticut are cluttered with winter leftovers. The inventory of available houses is up almost everywhere, suggesting that sellers who want their properties to move quickly have to come to terms with a cooling market. Pricing a house realistically is crucial in this more-competitive market."

"'You've got to be right on the button now with prices,' said (broker) Rick Higgins in Fairfield. 'People aren't going to overpay, they're afraid to overpay. Before, people felt, 'Well, if we overpay, we'll be O.K. in six months.'"

"The inventory of available houses in Fairfield County is up roughly 30 percent over last year. Darien's inventory is up about 40 percent over a year ago. In Westport, 115 of the roughly 300 homes on the market earlier this month were in the $2-million-and-up range. 'That's huge, that's like a year's worth of inventory,' said (agent) Darcy Sledge. 'There's a lot of new construction sitting. Buyers in that range are being very choosy.'"

And from the Journal News in New York. "The number of homes available for sale in Rockland County soared more than 80 percent during the first quarter. The inventory of unsold homes in Rockland rose to 1,325 from 734 a year ago. In Orange, the inventory of unsold homes rose to 2,796 from 2,122, a 31.8 percent increase."

"'What you're seeing here is a little bit of resistance to the higher-priced listings,' said Cathleen McVeigh, regional sales manager for M&T Bank in Westchester and Rockland counties. With interest rates rising and talk of a housing bubble bursting, home buyers are willing to wait, she said."

"'On the other side, there are sellers who have known that it's been a seller's market for a long period of time, and they're aggressively pricing their house,' McVeigh said."

"(Agent) Peggy Connolly said she had noticed a shift in the market. 'The market is softening. We have as many reductions every day as we have new listings,' she said, referring to sellers who are lowering prices to entice buyers."

"Still, many first-time home buyers may find Rockland's prices a bit out of reach. After such long and steady climb, Bruce Mason, an economist in Orangeburg said, 'If we had no price appreciation, that wouldn't be a bad thing.'"