The Las Vegas Business Press. "The Las Vegas Valley's housing market continued its yearlong decline with 1,739 sales in September, or 41.7 percent fewer than in 2005, reports the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. Home listings climbed to a record 20,815 units in September, which is 57.4 percent higher than a year ago, while condo/townhome listings skyrocketed to 5,135 units last month, 117 percent more than in 2005."

"There were but a scant 438 condo/townhome sales in September, for a 34.5 percent drop over last year."

The Review Journal. "Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors president Linda Rheinberger said the statistics show continued stability in the local housing market and people should be careful not to jump to any hasty conclusions. 'They look at sales down 17.1 percent from August and down 41.7 percent from September '05 and they want to jump off the bridge,' she said."

"Chris Biaggi, president of All Western Mortgage in Las Vegas, said he's seeing a stabilization in appraisals as home prices have reached their true value. 'That's what people have waited for,' he said. 'It's really become a buyer's market. You've got sellers participating in closing costs and you've got interest rates as low as they've been in the last few years. We've had our correction.'"

The Las Vegas Sun. "The housing market slowdown has prompted builders to seek price cuts from contractors in a bid to make new homes more affordable. Contractors are playing ball because the alternative for them may mean no work."

"With new-home closings falling four of the last five months in the valley, builders have cut back dramatically on home construction. During the last four months, new-home permits have fallen between 30 percent and 48 percent per month from 2005."

"Mandi Lindsey, executive director of the Framing Contractors Association, said her members have gotten the message."

"'Some of the builders have asked and others said there is not a choice if you want to keep working on the project,' Lindsey said. 'They realize that the market is slowing and it is going to get worse before it gets better, and they have to adjust. I am sure they are not happy about it but they don't think it is unreasonable given the fact what is going on, and they want to continue to work.'"

"KB Home has solicited price breaks of between 4 percent and 15 percent, said Don DelGiorno, president of KB's Las Vegas division. 'I think it will start bringing down some of the cost of houses as we get acclimated,' DelGiorno said."

The Reno Gazette Journal. "Even Lake Tahoe appears susceptible to the overall real estate market slowdown. Through the first three quarters, the number of sales of existing single-family homes around Lake Tahoe fell 41 percent, to 676 homes, compared with the first nine months in 2005."

"'This is second homes. This is disposable income and vacation homes,' (realtor) Mike Young said. 'Nobody is going to have to (be in a situation where) they paid too much and now they can't sell it for what they paid for it. It's just not an emotional market up here.'"

"Signs of weakening prices in the report can only be seen in the more affordable areas, such as South Shore and Truckee. Truckee, which is not included in Lake Tahoe's overall numbers in the report, dropped 13 percent to $689,000. Incline Village's median priced jumped 10 percent, to $1.045 million, while sales dropped 42 percent, to 125."

The Arizona Daily Star. "Plans to build luxury homes on the 1,658 acres surrounding the Biosphere 2 property north of Tucson have been called off. Fairfield Homes, a local developer, had signed a contract to buy the tract 16 miles north in Pinal County and planned to close the deal sometime this fall."

"But about two weeks ago, the deal was called off by 'mutual agreement,' said spokeswoman Terrell Lamb."

The Mail Tribune. "After a decade of sustained price increases, lumber has tumbled dramatically in recent months. 'Basically, the numbers are as bad as they were in the early '80s,' said Rob Brown, a broker in Medford."

"He's seen the price of Douglas Fir 2-by-4s fall to $175 per thousand board feet, down from $400 not too many months ago. At the same time, mills are paying $500 to $600 per thousand board feet for logs. 'You do the math and it's not real pretty,' said Brown."

"One of Brown's major customers in Arizona told him that speculators who have ordered three or four homes are backing out when it comes time for the final inspection. 'They're losing their down payment, which is maybe $5,000,' Brown said. 'But they'd rather do that than get stuck with the house.'"