The Boston Herald reports on the latest numbers. "New figures confirm the Bay State is in the throes of a fierce housing downturn. Data released yesterday show Massachusetts is facing its steepest house-price drop since 1993 amid growing foreclosures and the slowest August market in more than a decade."

"Market watchers say the latest numbers all point to a housing sector in big trouble. 'There’s no question the market is in decline,' said housing economist Karl Case of Wellesley College. 'Demand has dropped, inventory is building and people’s houses aren’t selling.'"

"Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said prices are dropping because 'buyers are tasting blood, and they’re starting to get more aggressive (about) pricing.'"

"Employment numbers already show that the construction industry, which played a huge role in propping up the economy during the recent downturn, has lost about 2,500 jobs since the start of the year and since the housing market switched from red-hot to one where sales and prices are both dropping."

"'We’re in for some more weakness,' said John Bitner, economist at Eastern Bank in Boston. The surplus of homes on the market will take months to sell, he noted. One of the concerns is that consumer spending, which recently has relied on homeowners taking out home equity loans to pay for items, could decline if the housing market dips farther into the negative."

The Boston Globe. "'Things are not over in terms of the price declines,' said David Iaia, a senior principal for a Lexington economics consulting firm. He said sellers will feel more pressure this fall to drop their prices. Iaia said the state's price declines would continue in 2007 and possibly into 2008. 'I don't think you'll get a good sense of the impact until next spring,' he said."

"'Now you're at the end of the major selling season, and people who've had their house on the market all summer and haven't sold it are getting concerned, so there are probably more price declines coming this fall,' he said."

"David Wluka, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, blamed soaring appreciation during the boom for making it difficult or impossible for many first-time buyers to afford a single-family house. Without them, homeowners are unable to sell when they want to trade up."

"High prices are 'creating a clog in the system,' he said. 'People trying to buy houses can't buy until they sell houses they own, and unless they price houses they own correctly they're not going to sell.'"

"'I also see buyers holding back and waiting for the bottom,' he said. Buyers 'need to bargain hard,' because 'they're in a very powerful position.' Wluka predicted prices could stabilize this fall, if homeowners who aren't serious enough about selling to reduce their prices take their houses off the market."

From New Jersey. "North Jersey real estate agents say that with more houses on the market, buyers are negotiating more aggressively, and many sellers have cut their asking prices."

"'There have been a lot of price adjustments,' said Robert Abbott in Ho-Ho-Kus. His office, in fact, is planning a 'sale' Oct. 15 and 16. Sellers will be asked to lower their prices by 3 percent to 8 percent for two days only, to create a sense of urgency among buyers. The last time the office ran such a promotion was in the mid-1990s, Abbott said."

"Rosemarie Knick said prices have leveled off over the past year, although homeowners who bought at least three years ago still have healthy gains in their home values. Knick said many sellers want to test the market by starting with a high asking price, just in case a buyer will pay it, but most sellers are willing to cut prices if they must."

"'Sellers are pretty realistic once they see the overall market,' she said."

The Hartford Courant from Connecticut. "Developers want to scrap their plan for a second condominium building in the shopping, entertainment and housing district because rising construction costs will push the prices of the second set of condos so high that they will take much longer to sell, if they sell at all, in a market that is starting to go soft."

"Condominium builders across the country are backing out of projects and returning deposits to buyers because of an inability to sell enough units, said Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In August, a developer canceled a plan to turn a 12-story building in Hartford owned by the city into a few dozen luxury condominiums."

"'It's the wrong time to be building luxury condos,' said Robert Wienner, a managing partner with BBS Development."