The Chicago Tribune reports on condos. "So far the housing slump has been marked by slowing sales. Now there are signs that rapidly falling prices could be on the way. Earlier this month a Chicago developer sold 150 condominiums in a two-hour lottery by discounting prices about 20 percent from what he would have asked last spring, an indication that industry observers say could signal widespread price reductions here and around the country."

"'We're responding to a dramatically changed market,' said Nicholas Gouletas, who plans to conduct lotteries to sell about 2,000 more units in nine other projects he is developing in Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando and Boynton Beach, Fla. 'Let's admit it's a buyer's market and what they want is the best price they can get.'"

"Gouletas figures he will avoid the expense of 2 1/2 years of mortgage interest payments, marketing, maintenance, insurance and taxes by not struggling to sell condos against the headwinds of a slowing housing market."

"For those anxious to assess how far the decelerating housing market will fall, a lottery sale like this could indicate a steeper decline in prices as veterans in an industry replete with optimists head for the exits to salvage profits and avoid big losses.

"The distress reflected by Gouletas' lottery here is not an isolated incident of one unlucky project in a so-so location. In New York and Washington other developers are abandoning plans to convert big apartment buildings into condos."

"A day after Gouletas' lottery the nation's largest apartment real estate investment trust closed on a $96 million deal to buy a 256-unit apartment building in suburban Washington from a developer whose condo conversion plan evaporated. The REIT plans to close soon on the $200 million purchase of a 300-unit building in New York that met the same fate."

"Prices for these apartment buildings probably have fallen about 20 percent from their peak in the summer of 2005, said Jonathan Litt, senior real estate analyst for Citigroup Investment Research in New York. Nationwide, profits for condo developers have fallen from 50 percent to '20 percent for some, and for many to zero or less,' Litt noted."

"Chicago condo developers face some rough times ahead, Litt added. 'This has been on the radar screen for a couple of years because developers have brought on a lot of inventory,' he said."

The New York Times. "As housing sales soften in some areas, rentals are beginning to look good to sellers who do not want to cut prices. Owners who have properties that might have listed for $1.5 million a year ago may now have to lower the asking price to $1.1 million to make a sale, and so they rent instead. 'People are not willing to take the hit,' John Pfeiffer, who handles executive relocations said."

"'Over the last four months, I’m seeing two things,' said Alix Sara Prince, of Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye, N.Y. 'Those who want to wait out and rent until the market recovers, or those who are strapped because they have to leave town and put their house up for rent.'"

"Ms. Prince says she has 13 homes available for rent at $11,000 to $35,000 a month in the three towns she serves in southern Westchester County, almost twice as much in that price range as last year. Quite a few rentals, she said, are sitting around unrented."

"Sheldon Dubrow, who is also a builder, is not getting any bites on a $1.99 million home he owns in Brookline, Mass. Now he’s hoping that he can rent it for $8,500 a month. Dubrow put his 4,500-square-foot house on the market almost a year ago. He has lowered the price once, but still, buyers are not pouring in."

"In June, when his real estate agent 'talked to me about renting, I wasn’t too excited,' Mr. Dubrow said. But his attitude has changed."