The Massachusetts realtors have the July numbers out. "The state's real estate is experiencing a dramatic slowdown. Single-family house sales in July slumped 25.3 percent, while house prices declined 3.5 percent, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said today."

"The condominium market began its downturn earlier but sales slumped dramatically last month: Condo sales fell 21.4 percent, pushing the median condo price down by 4.1 percent."

"Sales of single family homes and condominiums fell across Massachusetts for a fourth consecutive month in July. 'Today’s buyers are looking for value and many are still holding out for lower prices,' observed MAR President David Wluka."

"'Increasingly, sellers also have stopped actively looking for homes until they have reached agreement on the sale of their own home,' he noted in explaining the more moderate sales pace during July."

"'With such a large inventory of unsold homes, we’re beginning to see more realistic pricing on the part of sellers, and now that mortgage rates have fallen back below 7 percent, there’s incentive for buyers to get more serious,' said Wluka."

"Data from the MAR report shows that the number of residential listings has increased 23 percent over the past 12 months, from 51,178 homes and condos on the market in July 2005 to 63,144 homes and condos for sale this past July."

From the talking points. "The 25.3 percent decline in detached single-family home sales in July represents the largest annual decrease in monthly home sales since April 1995 when sales fell 39.3 percent. The slower sales pace this July reflects a more cautious approach to home buying..along with growing resistance on the part of buyers to current market pricing."

"The number of condominiums for sale has increased 36.3 percent in the past year, from 15,174 units last July to 20,677 in July 2006."

The Boston Herald. "Bay State house sales plunged a stunning 27 percent in July, the biggest drop in 11 years, new figures show, and experts see few signs of a turnaround any time soon."

"Lots of would-be home sellers are finding no takers. Erika Cummings hasn’t gotten a single offer on her West Roxbury home despite cutting her asking price three times since listing the place in May. 'It’s really weird,' said Cummings, who just four years ago had buyers outbidding each other for the last home she sold."

"In Roslindale, JoAnne Kelly has held a dozen open houses and reduced her asking price several times, but gotten just one offer so low 'that I told the broker 'Don’t even write it up.'"

"'I’m four months into this process and I’ll tell you, I don’t see any light at the end of tunnel,' Kelley said. 'I don’t how much more (would-be buyers) could ask from me, other than my first born.'"

"Experts are split over whether the latest downturn represents the start of a major collapse, a bursting real estate bubble - or just a one-time blip. 'I suspect this is the big shoe dropping, although I have some doubts,' said Yale University economist Robert Shiller."

"John Bitner, chief economist of Boston-based Eastern Bank, said, 'Last year was not a normal, real estate market,' Bitner said. 'It was frenzied with speculators trying to buy and flip homes and first-time buyers trying to get in before mortgage rates went higher.'"

"The economist doesn’t see the latest numbers as signaling a collapse, 'just a correction in real estate that we had expected.'"