An update from the Boston Globe. "Home sales across the state fell nearly 11 percent in the second quarter as the real estate market slowed, with Cape Cod, central Massachusetts, and the Northeast and Southeast corners of the state experiencing the sharpest declines. The price of single-family homes also dropped. The drop was largest in central Massachusetts, where prices were down 3.3 percent."

"Condominium sales also slowed in the quarter: Sales fell 8 percent in Greater Boston and 34 percent on Cape Cod. 'We're going through a correction' on Cape Cod, said Thomas Dillon, a Hyannis agent. 'We went through five years of insane growth.'"

"Barnstable County experienced the single largest increase in foreclosure filings in Massachusetts, 78 percent. 'A lot of people who bought in '04 or '05 bought doing 100 percent financing with interest-only loans,' Dillon said. 'I think a lot of them didn't understand what they were doing, your payment was $999 and all of a sudden it's $2,999.'"

The Standard Times. "A glut of single-family houses for sale is causing a 'correction' in the once hot SouthCoast real estate market, dropping prices from record highs and producing patient buyers. 'For Sale' signs are sprouting in front lawns of both condominiums and single-family houses in record numbers."

"'This spring, the number of single-family properties for sale across the state reached a new all-time high,' the Realtor group reported. 'Over the past year, the inventory of detached homes and condos on the market rose steadily by 27 percent, from a monthly average of 49,931 listings in the second quarter of 2005 to 63,433 in the same quarter this year.'"

"Prices are dipping for house rentals, both seasonal and yearly leases, Jocelyn daLuz, a Realtor in Mattapoisett said. 'We are seeing houses that rented for $1,700 a month a year ago now renting for $1,500 a month,' Mrs. daLuz said."

The Boston Herald. "'We’ve seen a lot of shyness on the market,' said Jay McHugh, broker in Brookline. Whereas house-hunters attending open houses previously would follow up for a second showing or an offer, they’re now sitting tight."

"'It’s almost like they’re afraid to make a decision in fear of learning that their seller was prepared to drop (the price) if they had not made an offer,' McHugh said."

The Telegraph. "Pompea Halliday is helping her brother sell his three-bedroom ranch on Wallace Avenue in Auburn. 'We have had at least 12 people come and look at the house,' she said. 'No one is interested enough to make a bid yet, but I didn’t expect that so soon. If it has the right price, it will sell. If it doesn’t, it won’t,' she said. 'I look at this as a normal market rather than a declining market. It was excessive, to say the least, in the past.'"

From News Day. "The downturn is coming. Long Island's housing market is heading for annual price declines, probably in the next few months, experts said. The market is 'going to turn down, but it's not going to be dramatic,' said Emmett Laffey, chief executive of Century 21, with 16 offices regionwide."

"In the first half of this year, residential inventory on Long Island doubled that of a year earlier, Laffey said. 'When you have double the inventory, prices will soften,' he added."

"Experts said this market has not begun to mimic the downturn of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when prices plummeted. The difference? 'There's no panic,' said Linda Bonarelli, a broker in Huntington. 'And there's no reason to panic.'"

"The market between $600,000 and $1.2 million is 'just flooded with homes,' allowing for potential price declines, Laffey added. And that leaves buyers in control. Said Martin Cantor, economist for a Garden City advocacy group: 'I think sellers shouldn't panic..but buyers are holding the ace in the hole.'"

From Business Week. "The housing market turned in one of its worst performances in years. 'There's a lot more merchandise and tremendous amounts of price reductions,' says Phyllis Haber, a realtor on New York's Long Island. 'It's crazy. It's like someone waved a wand and everything changed.'"