The Monterey Herald reports from California. "Real estate in California moved in September like chilled molasses. For September, Monterey County reported 156 sales, less than 50 percent of the sales volume of September 2005. There were 2,437 homes on the market during September in Monterey County, up from 1,584 a year ago."

"'There's 1,000 extra homes out there,' said Monterey County Association of Realtors CEO Sandy Haney. 'There's too much competition. I think right now the market is at a stalemate. They're saying it may have hit bottom or it's close to it,' said Haney. 'Now, how long it stays there is the question.'"

Inside Bay Area. "The median value of new homes sold in the Bay Area dropped by 12.3 percent in September compared with a year ago in yet another sign of a housing market that is cooling rapidly both locally and nationally."

"Contra Costa County saw the biggest price decline for new homes in the Bay Area, a 20.8 percent drop to $551,000. 'There was a noticeable chunk of condo conversions. That could be part of it,' said DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage, adding that new-home builders lowering prices could also be a factor."

"Scott Kucirek, Northern California general sales manager for Prudential California Realty, thinks that too much new-home inventory is the driving factor behind the price drop. Builders are reducing prices and offering incentives such as upgraded kitchens to draw in buyers."

"'They are in a crisis,' Kucirek said. 'We are seeing significant price reductions. ... A lot of builders are publicly traded so they have to answer to Wall Street.'"

"In the Bay Area, new-home sales were off 22 percent in September compared with a year ago, according to DataQuick. 'New-home sales are definitely down,' said Cory Reid, president of Emeryville-based Fountainhead Mortgage. 'My sense is that there is a little bit of an overbuild.'"

"At the same time, some buyers are apparently sitting on the sidelines waiting for prices to drop, he said."

The San Francisco Chronicle. "Falling prices, sluggish sales and mortgages that let borrowers pile up debt faster than they can pay it off could put more Bay Area homeowners out of their houses this year than at any other time this decade."

"By the end of September, 865 homeowners in the nine Bay Area counties had lost their homes through foreclosure sales, easily surpassing the 529 borrowers whose homes were repossessed all last year, according to the DataQuick."

"About two-thirds of Bay Area homeowners have mortgages with payments that start at a low level and rise over time. 'There is no time in modern history when we've had such aggressive underwriting,' said Ken Rosen, at UC Berkeley. 'We have a potential this time to see a much more serious problem than any time we've seen in the past.'"

The LA Times. "Last in vogue during Southern California's previous real estate downturn in the early 1990s, auctions at new-home communities are gaining steam again as builders look for ways to move their merchandise quickly in a sluggish market."

"An Irvine-based developer whose Aliso Viejo condos were auctioned was able to unload 30 units in one afternoon and avoid piling up losses on its 344-unit development that was still half complete. The auction in mid-October was 'the first big event' at a new-home community in the current real estate cycle, said Rhett Winchell, head of residential auctions at Beverly Hills-based Kennedy Wilson, which has been arranging auctions for 20 years."

"But it won't be the last, he said. 'A lot of builders are considering it and a lot more are coming,' he said."

The Press Enterprise. "Clarence Noreikas, owner of Riverside Appliance, said most of the year business has been slow at Riverside Appliance compared to the previous few years. 'We're not getting the bodies through the door like we were before,' he said. 'There's still people with money, but when they see something going negative they get negative, and they don't want to buy.'"

"He attributed much of the decline to the cooling housing market."

The Appeal Democrat. "Sales of local existing homes declined last month, continuing a trend that began about a year ago and could extend into next year, Yuba-Sutter real estate experts said Thursday. Although the median price also declined, the drop was not considered significant, they said."

"'There's a lot more inventory to choose from. Consequently, they (buyers) are taking more time to (buy),' said Shirley Henrikson, past president of the Sutter-Yuba Association of Realtors."

"The number of homes sold in Yuba-Sutter dropped from 194 in September 2005 to 120 last month. The median dropped just slightly from $287,000 in 2005 to $282,304, according to numbers gathered by Henrikson."

"Last year, 189 home sales occurred in September, with a median of $289,000 and 111 last month for $276,000, Lloyd Leighton said. Drops in the market occur when people stop buying, homeowners lower their prices. That causes buyers to wait further for possible better prices, which causes prices to drop further, he said. It's a good time to buy a house, both Realtors said."