The Mail Tribune has an update from Oregon. "'For Sale' signs are getting thick in west Medford. A dip-stick check into the Southern Oregon MLS single-family residence inventory earlier this week showed 315 houses on the market. That's up 453 percent from the 57 that were available through the system a year ago. Overall, there are nearly 1,750 houses available via SOMLS, not to mention sellers outside the system."

"'There were people who saw the market was up a year ago who weren't prepared to sell, and now they are prepared and willing to put their house on market,' says Rick Chezik, an agent in Medford. 'They just didn't choose the optimum time.'"

"Unlike the past few summers, patience appears to be a virtue for buyers. West Medford mirrors much of what is going on throughout the county. West Medford eked out a 1 percent gain of $1,500 for a median price of $207,000. East Medford's median sales price dropped 2 percent to $280,000 on 73 sales, the most transactions since September."

"'When the sales volume consistently drops for 14 months, eventually prices have to react to that,' said appraiser Roy Wright. 'When the sales volume is down, I don't get too excited about that, it's just a cycle. But I'd be concerned if there were three months of decreased prices, that would be an identifiable trend, especially when considering we're going into the best sales months of the year. If that were the case, I'd say things are going south.'"

"Chezik believes Ashland and Jacksonville are candidates for a change of pace. 'I think both areas are terribly inflated,' Chezik says. 'It doesn't take a CPA to see what you're paying in Ashland and Jacksonville and that you could buy an equal property for less than 13 miles away. You are paying more per square foot and what are you gaining? Probably a higher tax base and an older structure.'"

"The Phoenix-Talent area saw a 12 percent uptick in median price even though the number of transactions dwindled 45 percent. In Central Point, there were just 18 sales, a 61 percent drop from May 2005. Eagle Point, perhaps the most erratic of the county's urban real estate areas, saw a 13 percent decline in its median price to $250,000 on 11 sales."

"New home sales, representing 23 percent of the total deals in the county, are nearly 40 percent off from last year. Rural home sales fell 34 percent."