The Lowell Sun reports from Massachusetts. "More and more local sellers are having to bite the bullet and accept offers below their property's valuation. 'It's not a statement of the accuracy of the assessment so much as which way the prices are heading,' said Middlesex North Register of Deeds Richard Howe Jr. 'Obviously, they're heading down.'"

"In the months of May through August of 2005, 9.2 percent, went for less than their assessed value. During the same time period this year, 19.9 percent, went for less than their assessed value. Chelmsford Assessor Frank Reen has seen an even more dramatic trend in his town. He reported that 39 percent of residential sales in 2006 have been for less than assessed value."

"Howe said there are plenty of indicators that the local market is on the decline. His registry covers Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, Westford and Wilmington. 'You can drive through any neighborhood and see all the for-sale signs (or) look at housing lingering on the market for a longer period of time,' Howe said."

The Staten Island Advance from New York. "Buyers are finding themselves solidly in the driver's seat for the first time in a long time, experts say. Home sales dropped 16 percent and housing inventory rose 25 percent, according to figures from the Staten Island Board of Realtors. A ranch that last year might have sold for $525,000 could sell today for $450,000."

"Realtor Tom Maira said he advises sellers to be realistic in a changed market. He said one couple insisted on listing their house at $600,000 when the house was worth closer to $530,000. They ended up dropping the price by $50,000 and the house is still on the market. Maira said he released them from the exclusive listing when they declined to cut the price further."

"'The buyers know in their gut what the house is really worth,' said Maira."

"Inventory has grown on the South Shore and there are more deals to be had, according to Realtor Patrick Gallagher in Annadale. 'Buyers are definitely holding back,' said Gallagher. 'It's like they are sitting on the fence waiting for the price to come down.'"

The New York Magazine. "The seller’s market has finally started to turn into a buyer’s market—or at least the beginning of one. According to a report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel, the number of sales last spring—traditionally the busiest season—were down 14.8 percent from the year before."

"Those who bought at the exuberant height of the market—are wondering if now is the time to cash out and take cover in a rental. Some sellers are watching weeks turn into months. Some, in a hurry to unload, are slashing prices twice and three times."

"Buyers, meanwhile, are wondering if there will be even better deals in six months. Alyssa Gelper, a lawyer who abandoned her search for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment last spring ('I didn’t want to be the last sucker to buy high before the market tanked'), has decided the waters are safe to wade in."

"In a very short time, the rules of the real-estate game have changed dramatically—and buyers are more in control than they have been in a while. 'They’re taking their time, and they’re not afraid to make an opening offer that’s 10 to 15 percent off the asking price,' says Corcoran’s John Gasdaska."

"The supply of new condos for sale has more than doubled in the past two years, notes appraiser Jonathan Miller. What’s more, some 24,000 units have been approved to go on the market by the end of 2006, an astonishing number considering that altogether only about 15,000 condos, co-ops, and townhouses are sold in any given year—20,000 at the market’s peak, according to Jeffrey Jackson of MMJ Appraisals."

"High-profile projects like Downtown by Starck, Bryant Park Tower, 99 Gold, and Schaefer Landing are giving discounts, and other condo developers are bailing out before they even break ground. Last week, it was reported that the developers of 485 Fifth, a new designer condo going up at Bryant Park, were essentially abandoning the project because half the units remain unsold, at over $1,000 a square foot."

"The growing list of casualties includes Williamsburg’s 55 Berry (which is now turning rental) and 133 Greenwich (they’ve put the land up for sale). The glut is affecting everyone in the market, whether they’re trafficking in new stock or a prewar."

"Carol Candiano’s already moved to the West Twenties while her Upper East Side one-bedroom awaits a buyer at $425,000. 'We had someone lowball the apartment and offer $340,000. I told my broker to tell him to get lost,' she says. 'Just because the market’s a little soft doesn’t mean I’m going to have a fire sale. If I have to, I’ll rent it out. I refuse to be desperate.'"

"Cookie-cutter condo buildings constructed in the eighties may offer bargains, if you don’t care about bells and whistles. Units in these buildings can have a hard time measuring up to apartments in the shinier, sexier tower next door, so their sellers will have to compete on price. 'In last year’s world, you were getting very little discount,' maybe 5 percent, if that, says appraiser Jeffrey Jackson. 'In today’s market, that discount could be as much as 10 to 20 percent.'"

"'Developers don’t want to make it look like they’re negotiating on the price,' says Dolly Lenz, vice chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Still, a bargain is a bargain—and that’s a word we haven’t heard in a long time."