The Durango Herald reports from Colorado. "Durango home prices are up 11 percent compared with a year ago, but home sales have fallen 39 percent. The median price of a Durango home was $436,050 in the third quarter. Durango's newest median price is $12,000 lower than last quarter's record high of $448,000."

"The story is similar throughout La Plata County. The median price of a Bayfield home in the third quarter was $306,000, up 13 percent from a year ago. But home sales dropped 57 percent."

"It is too early to make concrete forecasts about the local housing market, said Dave MacLaird, president of the Realtors Association, but this could be the beginning of a buyer's market. 'They are definitely negotiating a lot harder than they were at the beginning of the year,' MacLaird said."

"Don Ricedorff, a broker associate in Durango, said that median prices are affected by the sale of expensive homes. As Durango settles into a more balanced market, median prices will come down. 'When we get into more of a balanced market where we have buyers throughout all price ranges, those median prices will actually come down some,' he said."

"Liza Tregillus and her husband, Peter, bought a home in 1989. 'If we moved here today, we couldn’t afford the house,' she wrote. 'Our son just paid more for a one-bedroom condo than we paid for our four-bedroom house. We had to loan him money for the down payment.'"

The Rocky Mountain News. "A Dallas company plans to auction about 75 foreclosed homes in Denver next month, a sign of the continuing high rate of foreclosures plaguing Colorado. Colorado foreclosure activity jumped 24 percent from the second to the third quarter, with 14,374 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, the eighth-highest foreclosure total in the nation."

"Some local experts, including Kathi Williams, executive director of the Colorado Division of Housing, and Chris Holbert, president of Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association, question whether RealtyTrac's numbers are accurate."

"'We are not trying to make the numbers worse than they are,' Rick Sharga, a VP at RealtyTrac said. 'But if I were representing a state-based mortgage lenders association or a state political entity of some sort, I would really want to downplay the numbers. But the numbers are what they are.'"

"Such auctions were common in the late 1980s, during the last foreclosure crisis. But in recent years, most of the auctions in the Denver area have been for expensive real estate rather than distressed properties."

"'Basically, they go to the highest bidder,' said Dave Webb, co-owner of Hudson & Marshall. 'They can be opportunities in a declining market,' he said. 'The lenders are motivated to sell.'"

"He said he expects to hold more large auctions in Denver as the market continues to worsen. He said that foreclosed homes aren't the bargains they were in the late 1980s, although he said there likely will be opportunities at the auction to buy homes below the asking price. 'Back in those days you could buy a HUD condo for $12,000,' he said."

The Denver Post. "Personal incomes rose faster than expected in September, boosting hopes that the U.S. economy can overcome the drag of a housing downturn."

"Economists are divided on whether weakness in housing will tip the economy into recession, but most lean toward a 'soft landing.' Consumers are leery and not spending as robustly as they have in the past, said Jeff Romine, an economist in Denver."

"Romine said a study he did a year ago found that 20 percent of retail spending was due to the 'wealth effect,' or consumers cashing in on higher home and stock values. 'We are moving into an economic slowdown and will probably have a soft landing,' he said. 'The big question is what will happen this Christmas.'"

"U.S. Bank regional economist Tucker Hart Adams, who has forecast a recession for the second half of next year, said wage gains won't overcome the hole of debt that consumers have dug for themselves. 'The problems are too large for a little jump in income one month to help out,' Adams said, noting that many homeowners face large increases in their adjustable-rate mortgage payments next year."