The Wall Street Journal reports on the 'McMansion glut.' "The golden age of McMansions may be coming to an end. These oversized homes fueled much of the housing boom. But thanks to rising energy and mortgage costs, shrinking families and a growing number of retirement-age baby boomers set on downsizing, there are signs of an emerging glut."

"Mickey and Jane Finn put their five-bedroom, 6,200-square-foot home in Leesburg, Va., on the market in April, but already they've cut the price to $899,900 from $1.1 million. Now, they've decided to put it up for auction. Down the street in their leafy subdivision, two similar-sized houses are also on the market, and around the corner, five more have for-sale signs."

"The Finns, who paid $692,000 for the new house in 2002, recently retired and, with their two children grown, they're eager to move to a place half the size. 'We don't need this big a house anymore -- if we ever did,' says Mr. Finn."

"Since February, Kris and Ray Victory have been trying to sell their five-bedroom house in Brookville, N.Y.. The couple raised three children in the 8,000-square-foot home, but they say younger families seem turned off by its $1,000-a-month utility bills and $25,000 annual taxes. 'Buyers tell us it's too big,' says Mrs. Victory. The couple recently shaved $200,000 off the $2.35 million price."

"Already, the McMansion oversupply is acute in places like Loudoun County, Va. In the fast-growing area northwest of Washington, D.C., thousands of hulking, red-brick colonials sprouted over the past 10 years on quarter-acre lots that had been carved from farmland and woods. In May, 4,719 houses were for sale, more than three times the year-earlier level."

"The number of sales dropped 39% to 484 in the month, and the number of days a home remained on the market lengthened to 70 from 14. 'Sellers are dying out there,' says local real-estate broker Michele Stash."

"In Phoenix, David and Mary Mumme are selling their 4,938-square-foot house, partly because their oldest son is heading to college and partly because maintaining the house and yard takes about eight hours a week. They're asking $1.8 million, about three times what they paid for it six years ago, because they saw nearby houses sell quickly for about $2 million last year."

"But even though the house has 12-foot ceilings, marble countertops and skylights in the closets, no one has made an offer during the month it's been on the market."

"John and Barbara Fiore, both 54, had to slice $50,000 off their $900,000 price to move their 5,500-square-foot house in Warwick, N.Y. Ms. Fiore says she worried that no one would want her six-bedroom home while it sat on the market all last year, because today's families are smaller. (The eventual buyer was a married doctor with three young children.)"

"The delay in selling 'was scary,' says Mrs. Fiore. The Fiores, who built the house 14 years ago, now live in a three-bedroom house nearby that's less than half the size."

"In one Loudoun subdivision, Tom Green, put his five-bedroom house on the market six months ago for $1 million so he and his wife could downsize to a $592,000 townhouse nearby. But his home had to compete with 38 others for sale in the neighborhood with four or more bedrooms. His 5,600-square-foot, five-bedroom house, which he bought new for $515,000 in 2000, didn't get a nibble for months."

"Finally, a relocating California family agreed to buy it if the Greens would..slash the price to $820,000. The Greens complied. The buyers say they were emboldened to make their demands when they saw how much the market had cooled since April 2005."