The Asbury Park Press from New Jersey. "A boom in townhouse and condominium construction has been a vital part of oceanfront redevelopment in the city, but the market here is not immune from the slowdown affecting the rest of the real estate industry."

"'That construction (along the ocean) was in reaction to the renaissance of Long Branch, coupled with an overheated..residential real estate market and the beachfront locations,' said (appraiser) Jeffrey Otteau in East Brunswick. Those units helped to meet a demand for condos and townhouses in Long Branch, Otteau said."

"Now there are signs that the city's real estate market is slowing down. As of Oct. 1, there was a 12-month supply of condos and townhouses on the market, compared with a nine-month supply a year ago, Otteau said. 'Today, because of the large increase in home prices for many of those properties, coupled with the deterioration of the overall housing market, what we're finding is that demand there is less, and the vacation market has gone dormant for now,' Otteau said."

"More new projects, such as the second phase of Beachfront North, a 185-unit luxury condo-minium development, are on the drawing board. Diamond Beach, a condominium project across from Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park, which will have 96 units, also has city approval."

"West Long Branch real estate agent Dot Schulze said there are 18 condominiums for sale at the Grand Resorts. Priced at between $600,000 and $1 million, depending on the ocean view, the community consists mostly of people who have purchased second homes. 'Because of the whole market, we are slow no matter where we are,' Schulze said."

"She is optimistic. 'I feel very strongly that when you are along the ocean, there is always a need for condos,' Schulze said."

"'I think there is an awful lot out there available,' broker Liz Scott said. 'There is a lot more inventory than there are buyers.'"

The Boston Herald. "With Boston home foreclosures up 10-fold since 2004, Citizens, Eastern, Mount Washington and Sovereign banks are joining Bank of America and Boston Private Bank & Trust in setting aside $100 million to help people refinance out of bad loans."

"The banks also signed a code of conduct aimed at banning abuses, such as steering unsophisticated customers with good credit into costly subprime loans. City officials also plan to contact 6,000 residents with mortgages from questionable lenders, offering help to those in jams."

"Market watchers also see some weaknesses in the effort. For instance, some conduct rules only require banks’ 'best efforts' to halt bad practices."

The Pittsburg Tribune Review. "The Pittsburgh region finally is experiencing the effects of the national slump in home building, according to a report. Single-family home construction for the six-county area declined about 8.8 percent for the nine-month period that ended Sept. 30, according to a Ross-based market tracking and research firm."

"Tall Timber's report showed there were 1,991 single-family housing starts through the first nine months of 2006, down from 2,183 units for the comparable period in 2005. The company bases its figures on building permits issued in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties."

"The local market is better for buyers, with some price breaks possible, said John Auciello, of the Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh. 'Houses priced in the $450,000 to $650,000 range have been very slow,' he said."

The Souderton Independent from Pennsylvania. "Local housing proposals are filtering through the pipeline and new homes continue to be built, but sales are lower than they used to be."

"'From what we're hearing, this year it's starting to slow down,' said Brian O'Leary, of county planning for Montgomery County Planning Commission. 'But there's still a lot of activity going on. Unless the market were to really go south, it's not as if people aren't going to see a lot going on around them.'"

"Real estate broker Beth Hershey said that residential real estate sales were extremely slow over the summer. There are a lot of houses on the market right now, but for some reason, not a lot of buyers, she said. Compared to how the market was 18 months ago, the change might seem dramatic."

"'I think we're seeing a correction after the hot market that we've had for the past few years,' Hershey said. 'It's not that the current market is bad. It's just, given the past market, it seems that way.'"

"Broker Lisa Collins said that prices are not dropping, but rather flattening out. THP Properties's pricing has held firm, dropping only a couple percent in the last year, Todd Hendricks said."

"'People are afraid that if they buy now and sign a contract, prices will go down and they'll have to pay a higher price,' said Greg Lentine, director of sales for Heritage, which so far has sold 51 of 137 planned homes at Lederach Golf Club. 'If that happens, we'll give it to them at the lower price. That's how sure we are we're not lowering prices anymore.'"

"It seems that potential homebuyers need that kind of reassurance, because while the number of actual sales has decreased, Lentine said. 'What we're seeing is there are people that want to buy. But the media is putting out so much negative information, it's putting them off,' Lentine said."

"'The issue is more [about] the public psyche,' Hendricks said. 'With all the media frenzy over the housing 'bubble,' it scares people. That's the dynamic that we have to deal with.' But as prices come back down to 'normal,' the time to buy is now, Lentine said."

"'The building industry is prepared for a softening of the market,' Hendricks said. 'We all knew that conditions that existed a year-and-a-half ago were not sustainable.'"

"Hershey said she thinks the market is correcting itself following the surge of the past three years. She doesn't expect a crash. 'I think there's going to be a period of correction,' she said. 'You're seeing sellers maybe having to reduce their price before they get a buyer ... It's not the end of the world.'"