The Journal News reports from New York. "The chill in the national housing market is sending a shiver through the Lower Hudson Valley. Inventories for housing of all types rose by double-digit percentages in both counties, while the number of sales fell sharply. Sales of houses in Westchester fell by 20.5 percent, the largest increase for the third quarter over the past 17 years for which records were kept. Putnam house sales fell 37 percent."

"Therese Fokine has been trying since January to sell an investment house she owns adjacent to her own in Mohegan Lake. Originally listed at $315,000, it now is being offered for $269,900. 'Interest rates went up, and that's a real killer,' Fokine said."

"Greg and Joan Patterson lowered the price on their house at Valeria in Cortlandt after they put it on the market in the spring for $610,000. 'People are waiting. There's a perception that there's going to be better deals,' Joan Patterson said."

"Some brokers said part of the problem is the reluctance of sellers to take less for their houses than they could have gotten in the recent past. 'That's hard,' said Carlton Gillman. 'They don't want to know theirs is worth less than it was six months ago.'"

"Greg Rand, managing partner of Prudential Rand Realty, agreed. 'The interest is there. What you've got is a standoff. I don't see the buyers buckling,' he said."

"Realtor Ilene Goodman in Croton-on-Hudson said 'quite a few' of her listings were marked down this year. 'One of the first things you have to tell people (who sell) is, you can't set the price and I can't set the price. It's the market that sets the price,' Goodman said."

"(Broker) Ross Keating in Putnam Valley sees a different dynamic. 'People hear things are slowing down, so they start waiting, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy,' he said."

"Inventories for housing of all types rosing by double-digit percentages in both counties, while the number of sales fell sharply. 'Considering that third quarter closings normally reflect peak market activity in the spring selling season and that this year's performance was lackluster, there is little reason to expect a turnaround with the fourth quarter results,' the MLS said in its report."

"The median price of a house, representing the midpoint of all prices, was $716,125 in Westchester, an increase of six-tenths of 1 percent over the third quarter of 2005. In Putnam, the median was $405,000, a drop of 4.7 percent."

The Times Union from New York. "Housing prices sagged in September around the Capital Region, the Greater Capital Association of Realtors said Monday. It was the first year-to-year decline since November 2000. The median price of houses sold during the month fell 4 percent to $187,000. The feverish bidding of just a year ago is just a memory, real estate agents say."

"Norma Jeanpierre of Colonie has cut the price by $10,000 to $249,900 in the two months the house has been on the market. 'We're still waiting on the offers,' she said."

"The total number of units sold in Albany, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties also continued to decline in September. There were 940 closed sales in September, compared to 1,027 in September 2005."

"'It appears that buyers have more negotiating leverage now than they have had for several years,' said GCAR President John McNamara. 'That change in dynamics has caused sellers to readjust their thinking about what their home might be worth on the market.'"

The Connecticut Business Journal. "A surge in the number of foreclosures on both the state and local level has real estate watchers worried that the trend may exert more downward pressure on housing prices."

"Connecticut's foreclosure rate jumped 20 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2005, according to RealtyTrac. With 372 homes in foreclosure in September, New Haven County ranked below only Fairfield in sheer numbers of foreclosures and hit a monthly high for the calendar year."

"Low introductory rates have begun to expire on many ARMs issued in 2004 and 2005, and some homeowners are seeing their payments nearly double. Hardest hit are those with sub-prime loans, marketed to those with low incomes or bad credit, which have rates that often start at seven percent."

"'A lot of them are bad loans they just can't afford,' says Doris Latorre, for a nonprofit agency. Latorre has seen a big jump in foreclosure calls from homeowners in all income brackets and from all over the region. After a period where most foreclosure calls were from Waterbury, she is now flooded with calls for help from Bridgeport, Fairfield, Stratford, Trumbull and New Haven."

The Asbury Park Press from New Jersey. "A bankruptcy court judge today gave permission to Kara Homes to move forward with the sale and closing of nine homes. Kara had hoped to get permission to restart construction of up to 300 homes, but a lawyer for the troubled home builder said the short-term financing to get the company started again had fallen through."

"East Brunswick-based Kara, one of the largest home builders in central New Jersey, owes creditors, including banks, suppliers and employees, hundreds of millions of dollars. Customers who have contracts for uncompleted homes are also listed as creditors."

"Kara said it also wanted to reimburse customers who had canceled their new home contracts before the builder filed for Chapter 11. A lawyer for the committee of unsecured creditors said he supported the sale of the homes. 'I hope this becomes the platform, reduce real estate and homes to cash, and we can debate who gets it later,' said lawyer Michael Sirota of Hackensack."