The Belmont Citizen Herald reports from Massachusetts. "Despite the proliferation of 'For Sale' signs, Belmont realtors say there’s nothing wrong with the local housing market. 'It’s not a crash, it’s a slowdown,' said Peter Boyajian. He said there are a lot of reasons for this occurrence, not the least of which is a dramatic increase in inventory, 'probably double to triple what we were seeing a year and a half ago.'"

"Boyajian said his company refuses to take overpriced listings or to work with sellers who expect an unreasonable price for their home. 'You have to take into account what you’re selling,' he said. 'Marginal properties won’t sell. There’s no room in this market for junk, unless the price reflects it. It used to be that you could look at the past six months for price comparison, but by now that information is out of date.'"

"And if an offer is made? 'Grab it and run,' (realtor) Gerard Natoli advises. 'If it’s a reasonable offer, take it. The competition is fierce and you might not get a better one.'"

The Patriot Ledger. "The median single-family home price on the South Shore dipped 1.4 percent to $360,000, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported yesterday. The condo sales volume fell 6.2 percent on the South Shore, compared with the statewide drop of 8.9 percent. The median condo price fell 3.1 percent to $255,000 on the South Shore."

"The sluggishness of the market is reflected in rising inventories of unsold properties. There are now 63,433 residential properties for sale statewide, a 27 percent increase from the second quarter of 2005. 'There’s a lot of inventory out there,' said Mary O’Brien, manager of Century 21 in Hanover. 'Buyers are looking at 20 to 30 properties and they’re in no hurry.'"

"Steve Fuller, an agent in Hanover, said many home-sellers have unrealistic expectations of a selling price in the current market. 'They always have it in their head about the things that sold last year. They won’t listen to what we tell them about prices,' Fuller said."

"David Wluka, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, agreed that convincing sellers of the new reality is currently agents’ toughest job. 'It’s very hard work to do current market pricing, and then to convince sellers what current market pricing is,' he said. 'The buyers are out there, but because there’s more inventory out there, they’re still not in a hurry.'"

The Boston Globe. "Brockton-area banks are banding together to slow a rapid increase in foreclosure filings in their community. The initiative is a reaction to soaring foreclosure rates in Brockton and across Massachusetts in the wake of a housing boom during which many homeowners took out loans with low introductory payments to buy houses they could not, in the long run, afford."

"Brockton homeowners received 298 foreclosure notices from mortgage lenders between January and June 30, a 148 percent increase in two years. That exceeds the 88 percent statewide increase over the two-year period. 'We're headed toward crisis,' which could hit 'in the next six months to a year,' said Carol DeLorey, who heads an affordable home project."

"A variety of mortgages are causing the financial difficulties, including adjustable rate, interest only, and no-down-payment loans; but all had something in common: easy financing with low initial payments that made it possible to buy a house as prices were climbing. Now that interest rates are going up, monthly payments are increasing, causing some homeowners to fall behind."

An editorial at the Republican. "Remember the housing boom? It won't be all that long before someone asks that question, without the slightest trace of irony in his voice. The housing boom is over. It's over in Massachusetts and it's over across much of the nation."

"Despite what some would have had us believe, the housing boom of recent years could not have been sustained. There are those who argue, quite convincingly, in fact, that the Federal Reserve created the housing bubble after the collapse of the stock market early in 2000. The hyperextended rally on Wall Street, of course, had some cheering that the old rules had been replaced by a new paradigm. They hadn't."

"Now, that movie is playing again, this time with the deflating of the real estate bubble. It is possible that the wild ride that the housing market had been on will come to a tamer end. What's indisputable is that the once white-hot real estate boom is no more. And that there is no next bubble that is evident on the horizon."