The Reno Gazette Journal reports from Nevada. "The housing market in the Reno metropolitan area continued to soften through the third quarter. During the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the median price of an existing single-family home in greater Reno-Sparks dropped 9 percent, to $324,500, compared with the third quarter of 2005, according to the University of Nevada."

"According to the report, the median price has fallen every month since May when the price sat at $340,000. 'During the first half of the year, the declining sales prices were noticeable but pretty moderate overall,' said Brian Kaiser, analyst for UNR. 'The third quarter's 9 percent drop makes it clear that this market correction means business.'"

"The number of sales also dropped 38 percent, to 1,063, during the three-month period compared with the third quarter of 2005."

"Agent Pat Martinez said newer areas with more competition from newly built homes present more challenges for sellers. That could reflect the steep discounts and incentives new-home developers are offering, making it more difficult for sellers of existing homes to compete, he said."

"'As long as there are those move-in homes that are brand new that prices keep going down on, they will affect the resale market much like the (high) amount of investors on the market,' Martinez said."

"The city of Reno fell the furthest during the quarter, dropping 10 percent from the third quarter of 2005. Sparks dropped 9 percent and the North Valleys fell 6 percent. The number of condo resales in the Reno area fell 39 percent to 184 during the third quarter while the median price dropped 9 percent to $178,000. In Carson City, the median price fell 5 percent.'

From Las Vegas Now. "Experts say there's been a 21.5-percent decline in new home building permits in the past year. The housing market slow down is bringing back a wild, Wild West staple, the ghost town. There are valley neighborhoods where vacant homes seem to outnumber the homes where people are living."

"Eyewitness News visited one of these ghost town neighborhoods near Cheyenne and Torrey Pines where there were ten vacant homes on one block alone. A nearby sign shows that the homebuilder is anxious to get those houses sold. The problem is buyers aren't buying."

"In the middle of Las Vegas lies a neighborhood where all you'll hear is silence because most of these homes are vacant. 'This property is about 2,600-square feet and we're on large lots,' Real estate broker Thomas Love says. It sports four bedrooms sitting on about 7,000-square feet of land nestled in a very quiet neighborhood. 'All of them come standard with granite,' Love points out."

"'The trend is there's a supply that exceeds the demand and it's Economics 101. When the supply exceeds the demand, a couple of things happen. Prices are starting to come down and we just have more inventory than we have buyers right now,' Love explains."

"Right now there are about 22,000 existing homes on the market across the valley and 9,800 of them are vacant."

"Love has sold houses in Las Vegas market for 20 years and says one thing that's added to this trend is the buyer's mentality. 'They're not buying. These investors that own all these vacant properties they can't sell are turning to rental markets. So they're renting them out at actual rents that are much less than what these people would pay if they were owning them,' he said."

The Las Vegas Review Journal. "Dennis Smith of Home Builders Research has suggested for several months that prices would be flat at best and possibly turn negative toward the end of the year. 'We've reached the flat part, and now we've got three months to see if it's going to stay that way or get worse,' he said. 'Get ready for some negatives, but probably not more than a negative 4 (percent) to 5 percent.'"

"Home Builders Research reported 2,847 new home closings in September, a 22.3 percent slide from 3,665 in September 2005. Existing home sales fell to 3,069, down 40.7 percent from 5,179. The median price of a new home was $321,160, a 7.7 percent increase from a year ago."

"Smith said there was a big change in consumer demand between the first and second quarters. Net sales in new subdivisions, or new contracts for homes, were down in every area of the valley, from 26 percent in the east submarket to 38 percent in North Las Vegas."

"'We expect the fourth quarter will be a continuation of the bad numbers before some improvement appears during the first quarter of 2007,' Smith said."

"Barbara Lee said her home in the Seven Hills community has been sitting on the market for 2 1/2 years, first listed at $625,000 when the market was bubbling. The problem, she said, is other people in the neighborhood who had to sell undermined her by listing at $600,000 to $610,000."

"'Now the market's bad and I'm just disgusted with the Realtors in this town. My agent told me, 'Give me six months, and I can sell your house.' That was four months ago and he hasn't brought one single person. I've taken the sign down. I just give up,' Lee said. 'I'm going to try to sell it myself after my contract ends. My whole point is Realtors just put their signs up all over town and hope somebody'll pick it up in the MLS or drive by and see the sign, and they make a nice crisp commission without lifting a little finger.'"