The Journal News reports from New York. "Fresh data from a statewide group of Realtors shows that prices for houses in Putnam County slid by double digits in August. The median price of a single-family home in Putnam fell 13.7 percent to $402,500 from $466,300 compared to August 2005, the data from the New York State Association of Realtors revealed yesterday."

"Prices in Rockland fell 8.4 percent in August to $490,000 from $535,000 a year ago. Putnam recording the largest percentage drop. In August, the county recorded 81 sales, down from 142 in August 2005, a 43 percent drop. In Westchester, 652 homes were sold, 22.6 percent fewer than the 842 that sold a year ago."

From Delaware Online. "The softening of the nation's housing market is unlike any downturn seen in the past 50 years, one of nation's top housing economists told a group of Delaware real estate agents and mortgage loan officers Wednesday. In previous falloffs, the weakening was caused by underlying economic fundamentals, said David A. Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors."

"The downturn is caused by falling confidence among buyers who are fearful of paying too much. 'Buyers are just not buying,' Lereah said. 'We need to have a correction. Prices need to come down,' Lereah said."

"While the nation's housing industry has not seen annual negative price appreciation since the Great Depression in the 1930s, some individual markets could see declines of 10 percent to 20 percent. Particularly vulnerable are resort markets on the nation's East and West coasts, he said. 'Prices are finally coming down and that's good news,' he said."

The Wall Street Journal. "The proliferation of headlines about a weakening housing market is encouraging some potential buyers to hold off until prices look like they're near a bottom."

"Nillani McClain has been looking at condominiums and townhouses in New Jersey with her husband. But given the recent slowdown news, the McClains are leaning toward waiting until next spring, and then looking in Manhattan, a market they had originally thought they couldn't afford."

"'We are taking into consideration the option of finding something in the city and not having to move out to Jersey if prices drop considerably,' Ms. McClain says."

"For sellers, the real-estate news adds to their headaches. Laurie Siegel, a retired nurse in West Orange, N.J., is trying to sell a three-bedroom house so that she can buy a condo. The house was listed six weeks ago at $449,900, and Ms. Siegel hasn't had any serious offers."

"'If I don't get enough for the house, how am I going to buy the condo?' Ms. Siegel asks. So far, she has refused to lower the price of the house. 'I think it's all a gamble,' she says."

The Asbury Park Press. "East Brunswick builder Kara Homes Inc., one of the biggest home builders in Monmouth and Ocean counties, anticipates filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a company official said in a letter given to laid-off employees earlier this week."

Home News Tribune. "Kara Homes (is) one of the state's largest private home builders of condominiums and active-adult communities. The company terminated some personnel on Tuesday because it is 'trying to restructure' the payroll, said Patrick W. Turner, the general counsel for Kara."