Some housing reports from the Boston Globe. "The housing downturn in Massachusetts will last longer, and prices will fall further than first projected, according to an economic forecast released yesterday. Housing prices will slide by as much as 10 percent from their 2005 peak before hitting bottom in early 2008, according to the forecast by the New England Economic Partnership."

"A year ago the nonprofit research group forecast prices would decline less than 3 percent, bottom at the end of 2006, and regain their peaks in early 2008."

"But Alan Clayton-Matthews, the University of Massachusetts at Boston professor who prepared the forecast, said job growth isn't strong enough, and mortgage rates aren't low enough to so quickly offset the main reason for the correction: Home prices outstripping incomes."

"'Once prices start declining there's a lot of force to keep going until they are more in line with income,' said Clayton-Matthews, adding that it's difficult to predict where housing prices will go. 'That's what we saw in the late '80s and early '90s.'"

"Foreclosure filings against Massachusetts homeowners surged to nearly 13,000 through September, already surpassing 2005's count. Filings increased 54 percent in the first nine months of 2006, compared to the same period last year, according to a monthly report.'"

"'I don't think we have hit the peak yet,' predicted Jeremy Shapiro, the president of ForeclosuresMass.com."

"More than a dozen communities, from Fitchburg and Athol not far from New Hampshire to Springfield near the Connecticut border, had at least 40 foreclosures per 10,000."

"During the accelerating housing market, many people were desperate to buy a house, and credit was easy, though many could not afford the mortgages, once the adjustable rates began to increase, housing specialists and counselors said. In central and western Massachusetts, where house prices historically were low but took off during the boom, property flipping and investment scams compounded problems."

The Telegram. "The Massachusetts economy is...still lagging behind the nation and will not likely recover all of the jobs it lost in the last recession until 2011, according to economists. The problem is a slumping housing market, which endangers an economy that is pumping out more exports, adding a small number of jobs, according to Alan Clayton-Matthews."

"'We expect these (housing) declines to be deeper and longer' than the nation, said Mr. Clayton-Matthews, who described the state’s housing correction as 'a very dark cloud.'"

"The difficulty with housing is that investors have been pulling out of the sector, home construction outpaced demand in recent years, homeowners extracted cash from their homes by refinancing and lenders delayed a collapse by offering mortgages with adjustable rates and interest options, economist Mark Zandi said."

"About 20 percent of all of the nation’s $2 trillion in mortgages is due to reset to new interest rates in the next two and a half years, Mr. Zandi said. Another concern is whether foreign investors, who have purchased large amounts of mortgages, will maintain their appetite for investing in debt, he said."

The Christian Science Monitor. "When she put up a new 'for sale' sign two weeks ago, real estate agent Mary Ellen Wasielewski had some unusual advice for the sellers: Give the buyer money to build a garage."

"The family lives in the Boston suburb of Medway, where homeowners enjoyed a seller's market not so long ago. But now the tables have turned. For a deal to happen, buyers must be pleased on every front. With the snow and slush of winter just around the corner, Ms. Wasielewski says no garage probably means no sale."

"'The buyers are out there. I see the same ones coming around,' she says. 'They're not willing to pull the trigger until [they find] the perfect equation of the condition and the price.'"

"'It's all pricing,' says Kenneth Hawkins, who has seen four real estate downturns in his four decades selling homes in Milford, Conn. 'The new ones on the market draw the most attention, and if they're priced competitively - maybe even a little bit below [the market] - that's the incentive for people to buy.'"

"Even after sellers have made the wrenching decision to lower the listing price and offer other incentives, buyers are likely to ask for even more concessions in negotiations. 'It's a very emotional process,' says Wasielewski. Many sellers 'believe when they get to the negotiating table that they have already lost' and don't want to give up more money."