The Washington Post. "A housing developer who had offered to give a Virginia town an unprecedented amount of money to build a luxury subdivision has abandoned plans for the community, blaming a cooling housing market as a factor in the project's failure."

"'I am personally saddened by the prospect of not moving ahead with the . . . project,'" Centex Division President Robert Davis wrote. 'Unfortunately, in my world, as in yours, everything must be couched in terms of economic and political viability; it is a harsh reality for all of us indeed.'"

"Centex's announcement this month ended any hope for a new deal. 'All in all, it's a significant disappointment,' said Town Council member John V. Albertella. 'Then again, we understand the commercial reality of the present time.'"

"A recent report from the National Association of Realtors showed that there was a record number of unsold homes on the market during the summer, when home prices declined for the first time in five years."

The Delaware State News. "If you look in the real estate section these days, you'll probably notice two words rarely seen in the past few years - 'price reduced.' It's something homebuyers have been longing to see - a sign that the pendulum has swung in their direction."

"Experts knew it was only a matter of time before the real estate bubble would burst. 'It was an anomaly and it couldn't be sustained,' said Ruth Briggs-King, executive VP of the Sussex County Association of Realtors. 'It would've priced too many people out of the market.'"

"And with the housing market slumping in other areas, Mr. Martin said there aren't as many out-of-state buyers coming to Delaware, because they are having a hard time selling their homes. 'The New Jersey and Pennsylvania markets are not as healthy, and they do have an impact on our market,' he said."

"'Sellers are beginning to realize that they're not going to get premium price for their property, but more realistic values,' said Charles Martin, president of the Kent County Association of Realtors. In the $200,000-plus range there are so many options that it's driving prices down. 'The market is slower at the top, because there are lots of additional properties and not as many buyers,' Mr. Martin said."

The Times Online from Pennsylvania. "When Lisa Kusko put her house up for sale last year, she never dreamed she would still own it more than a year later. 'I had no idea at all it would take this long to sell. I knew it wouldn't be instant. ... I just didn't think I would own it at this time, this year,' Kusko said."

"Kusko said her initial asking price of $112,000 was competitive with other homes in the area. 'I thought I was starting low, and I guess with the market the way it is, that wasn't low enough,' she said. She dropped her asking price to $99,000 a few months ago, and Kusko said she considered a lower offer of $92,000 that fell through."

"Frustrated with the situation, Kusko, who now lives in Lake Geneva, Wis., decided to take her home off the market Friday and rent it out."

"Kusko said initially she thought the problem was with her house because it does need some work, but then she realized newly remodeled homes aren't selling, either. Statistics for home sales in Beaver County show that the drop in sales affected every municipality in the county."

"'We're pretty much seeing a pretty down market, and it's difficult to keep saying it because we don't want to discourage people," said Sally Heimbrook, a real estate agent in Beaver. 'But there are many, many, many more houses out there than there are buyers.'"

"While Heimbrook said she hasn't seen many sellers pull their homes off the market, people have reduced the prices of their homes. The decline in the housing market was predicted last year on a state and national level, Heimbrook said. 'Many people didn't believe it because we were still booming, and all of the sudden, it came. It's in Florida and California, too,' she said."

From Pittsburg Live. "Two homebuilding associations from Southeast Pennsylvania say they want to set the record straight about the housing market performance in the state -- specifically, about the so-called burst of the 'housing bubble.'"

"'The bottom clearly has not dropped out of the housing market in our state,' said Joe Gartner, president, Home Builders Association of Bucks and Montgomery counties, and Ted Moser, president, Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware counties."

"They said home builders in the state are 'troubled' by news stories that 'exaggerate the impact of this year's slow-down in the housing market.' According to Gartner and Moser, 'local and regional homebuilders in Pennsylvania are isolated from some of the market volatilities faced by national builders in their operations elsewhere in the country.'"

The Philly Burbs. "Real-estate industry insiders often disagree over what's going on in the housing market, but this week that disagreement got a little ridiculous. 'Alleged' housing bubble? 'Ostensibly little additional research?' Them's fightin' words."

"We'll overlook for a moment that fact that all possible measures of home-sales activity, from the number of sales to the amount of time it takes to sell a house to the median sales price to the inventory of unsold houses to the number of building permits issued, points to a slowing market. We'll note that most market procrastinators expect prices in this area to hold firm, even as they fall elsewhere."

"The final comparison numbers show that the number of permits issued in Bucks and Montgomery counties in the first half of this year is down from 2003, as it is from 2005."

"Spokesman Scott Elliott said the release's tone was due to frustration on the part of some of the associations' members. 'They were concerned that the public was getting the wrong message,' Elliott said."

"But what the right message is can be a little difficult to decipher. I heard presentations by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, and Bernard Markstein, director of forecasting for the NASB, that I can best described as a one-two punch that should TKO any expectation the housing market might be starting to recover right now."

"'You overdid it,' Zandi told builders. 'I do think there's too many homes out there, too many new homes.' Price declines next year, Zandi said, are, 'almost inevitable now.'"

"'Based on our forecasts, clearly we're not in a soft landing,' Markstein said. 'We're past that.' It will probably take another year to work out a 'huge overhang' in housing inventory and get the housing market back on track, he said."