The Chicago Tribune has this update from Illinois. "Increasingly finicky home buyers are putting the brakes on the Chicago real estate market, where sales of single-family homes plunged a steep 15 percent in June from the same month last year, believed to be the biggest local drop since the housing boom began in 2001."

"June's numbers are the latest sign that not even Chicago, which has not felt the effects of the end of a five-year national housing boom as sharply as other markets, will remain unaffected by the slowdown."

"Analysts said the growing level of unsold homes will further depress prices in coming months and add to the slowdown in sales. Chicago agents say inventory levels are up 30 to 40 percent in some areas."

"One of those homes on the market belongs to Irving Birkner and his wife, Jaime, who have been trying to sell their two-bedroom condo in the North Center neighborhood since April. Birkner said the couple has had numerous showings but that buyers seem more interested in newly constructed condos nearby than in their vintage unit. A few days ago the couple dropped their asking price by $10,000, to $229,900."

"The Birkners are eager to sell because they have seen several houses that interest them, he said. 'We could take advantage of this buyer's market if we could just sell this house,' Birkner said, acknowledging the irony. 'I don't have a degree in economics, but that pretty much seems to be the way it works.'"

"Pat Callan, a broker in Wheaton, said he expects market times to lengthen. 'We'll go back to the 150-day market,' which he said was typical in the mid-1990s, before the boom."

"He described buyers as 'cautious' because they know the market is cooling. As a result, price cuts are becoming somewhat routine, he said. 'They're easily doing $5,000 and $10,000 cuts, depending on their own personal circumstances,' Callan said. 'I have seen $20,000 and $30,000 cuts, just to get some activity.'"

"June sales in DuPage tumbled 17.2 percent. Other counties seeing a sales decline were DeKalb (by 20.8 percent), Will (12.3 percent), Cook (11.1 percent), Kane (6.9 percent), Lake (7.3 percent) and McHenry (less than 1 percent)."

"Grundy County was the only one of the eight where sales increased, by a significant 24.5 percent. However, the median sales price there declined by 5.2 percent, according to the Realtors. Prices also dropped by about 4.6 percent each in Kankakee and Peoria counties, which are not included in the Realtors' Chicago data. More than a third of counties in Illinois saw prices fall in the month."

From Chicago Business. "The downtown condo market has joined the growing ranks of slowing Chicago-area real estate markets. Sales of new homes in the city fell nearly 21% compared with the second quarter of 2005, while suburban sales slid almost 24% in the April-to-June period, according to a Schaumburg-based real estate consultancy."

"The city's drop-off is a dramatic change from the first quarter. The soft market has now extended into the city condo market, which accounts for nearly all the new housing construction in the city. 'What you've seen in the suburbs for the last three quarters is hitting the city now,' says Mr. Cross. 'There is coolness now in the city market.'"

"In recent years, city housing sales have been dominated by a handful of high-rise condominium developments downtown. When one project ended, another would hit the market to keep overall sales growing. Many of those new condos were sold to speculators who hoped to sell them at a profit rather than live in them."