The Times Argus has this update on Vermont. "After five years of record climbs, Vermont's housing market appears to be leveling off. Properties are starting to spend more time on the market, for one thing."

"The additional housing stock has allowed buyers to be a little choosier, according to Kathleen Sweeten, executive VP of the Vermont Real Estate Information Network. 'What a difference a year can make. Buyers don't have to rush in and make an offer now. They can be more selective.' Her opinion was borne out in conversations with Realtors around the state."

"Realtor Jim Watson said the impact of the additional housing stock is easy to see in Rutland, where the average time for a home to sell last year was 90 days. Now, a home spends an average of 150 days on the market, he said. 'For every buyer, we now have more inventory sitting in that price range,' he said."

"That change has helped shift the balance of power away from sellers who have had all the advantage in recent years. 'It's more of a neutral market,' he said. 'It was a seller's market until last July, but it was crazy, it couldn't be sustained. The change came in July; all of a sudden, we knew what the value of properties was again.'"

"Pricing properties has been an imprecise science for Watson and other real estate agents, because sellers have been able to name their price for years now. Now, some sellers are having a hard time giving up their high expectations, some agents said."

"'People have a very inflated idea of what their properties are worth now because everything has been so high-priced the last few years,' said (broker) Carol Ellison in Barre. 'I've done assessments recently where people have seen ads of what other people are asking and they expect a lot more,' she said. 'But a lot of the people who are asking more are the ones whose property is just sitting on the market now.'"

"She said, 'The market has been so inflated that now that it's stabilizing, it's difficult to price property. I've never had a more difficult time pricing property. Call me in July. Right now, it's in a state of flux.'"