The New York Post has this update from the Big Apple. "Not only is the inventory of available housing in New York at a 10-year high, prices for properties are sliding in the opposite direction, as the sellers' market has all but faded into the sunset."

"'Buyers have been telling us it is now fairly common for the brokers to tell them that the price is negotiable even before they ask,' said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel appraisal firm. 'That's not something we have seen until very recently.'"

"With the glut of new construction flooding the market with condominiums and co-ops, developers and their publicists are upping the ante to help move inventory, not to mention formerly unheard of negotiability."

"Things are getting so competitive throughout the city that one condo development at 55 Berry in Williamsburg is reportedly throwing in the towel and switching from sales to rentals after posting numerous price reductions. 'Sellers who were unable to move their properties in the spring may be feeling more pressure to be realistic as inventory builds, despite the easing off of mortgage rates,' Miller added."

"The price slashing isn't just affecting the average buyer; even the high-end market is feeling the heat. NBC anchor Stone Phillips had to drop the price of his co-op just off Central Park West over $1 million to $4.45 million before he was able to unload it earlier this month. He first listed it last fall for $5.5 million."

"Britney Spears had to wait even longer before someone snapped up her NoLita apartment, which she listed for $5.5 million in 2004. The 4-level pad eventually went to contract a few weeks ago for about $4.45 million. And Star Jones has just taken her Yorkville triplex apartment off the market after it sat for over a year and a half, with a last asking price of $2.25 million, down over $300,000 from her original price."

The New York Sun. "Investment crazes come and go, invariably bloodying the eager buyers who are 100% convinced they've latched on to a sure-fire winner. The latest is the housing boom, which some Wall Street professionals insist has already evolved into a housing bust."

"The chief investment strategist of Raymond James Financial, Jeffrey Saut, is warning clients that the ongoing collapse of residential real estate has far-reaching implications for both the economy and the stock market. The associate editor of a monthly investment letter, Michael Larson, tells me the market is on the verge of realizing the third phase of the housing bust, which he believes has very negative implications for stock prices."

"The first two were the stiff declines in homebuilders and suppliers of home products. Next on the list, Larson says, are the financial institutions, notably those banks and sub-prime lenders that provided the financing for super high loans on inflated properties."

"Larson notes that a lot of people on Wall Street seem to think the likely end of higher interest rates in the current credit-tightening cycle is a significant plus for the economy as a whole since it should ensure a soft landing. Our housing bear disagrees. On what basis, he asks, is it rational to expect a soft landing in a period that has produced the biggest real estate bubble in history?"

"Private investor Neil Weisman..thinks it will take the housing industry at least five to seven years to work off its excess inventories, rather than the one to two years many Wall Streeters are projecting."