The Christian Science Monitor reports on the midwest. "The housing market slowdown is nationwide, yet it has taken its earliest toll in Midwestern communities where the word 'boom' never applied to home prices. Here in the northern Indiana city of South Bend, where 'For Sale' signs sparkle in the autumn sun, the median price of a resold home is $101,000, less than half the national average."

"Some forecasters say that coastal communities, from California to the Eastern seaboard, may in the end see the sharpest downturn in prices. But it is this region, characterized by slow job growth and gathering problems in the automotive industry, that has stumbled first."

"In a business where outright price declines are rare, the Midwest was the first region in recent years to post a drop in prices, with median single-family homes down 2 percent in the second quarter from the same period in 2005. Is the Midwest leading a national downturn?"

"Here in South Bend, realtor Bruce Gordon says a weak economy with state property tax hikes have dampened housing. 'It's a way different market, towards the bad side,' from just a couple of years ago, he says. In many parts of town homes are listed at $50,000 or less, and aren't selling."

The Muskegon Chronicle from Michigan. "Patient sellers will have a lot less frustration and heartache in the currently 'soft' residential real estate market in Muskegon County."

"Jim and Maria Tate of Whitehall, have had their 3,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom home up for sale since late July through Dan Tardani of Five-Star Professionals in Muskegon. There have been no offers and just a handful of showings on the property listed at $399,900, (realtor) Dan Tardani said."

"There is a glut of homes in the $199,000-and-above market segment, agents say. At the $199,000 and above price level, there were 336 homes listed on the market. That calculates to about a 20-month supply for the upper end of the housing market, Tardani said."

"'The sellers are getting killed out in the market for those $200,000 and up,' said Tardani, who has been selling real estate in Muskegon since 1987. 'And if we look at the last quarter of 2005, it was the worst I have ever seen the market while I have been in this business.'"

"'We just have too much inventory and not enough buyers,' said (realtor) Bill Carlston."

"Many people are getting hurt by the trend of pulling equity out of their homes through various mortgage programs, agents say. That leaves real estate agents faced with some impossible tasks, according to Carlston."

"'The problem is that people owe more on their homes than we can get for them in a sale,' Carlston said. 'I see that every day ... several times a day.'"

The Chicago Tribune. "The proliferation of incentives is beginning to blur the true selling price of homes. Appraisers and other experts say..anyone who comes along later to the neighborhood and makes a bid on a comparable house based on the $500,000 figure, rather than the actual $485,000 value, may overpay."

"The issue is a small but significant byproduct of a real estate market that has turned downward and made many sellers feel anxious. 'It puts pressure on the appraiser,' agreed La Grange Park appraiser Robert Napoli. 'The next buyer comes along, and they get an inflated sale price that includes a non-real estate item,' such as a car or a trip."

KTHV from Arkansas. "Numbers are in for the September housing market and they're down. This, as experts say prices are bottoming out. Ethan Nobles with the Arkansas Realtors Association says, 'If you go up to Northwest Arkansas, things are down quite a bit. They’ve overbuilt and they're having some adjustments to make. This is a great time to buy up there.'"

"In response to the recent housing market trends prices are falling. That is bringing buyers back to the market. Experts say that's a good thing because we have one of the highest housing supplies we've had in years."

The Idaho Statesman. "Jim Donerkiel believes reports of a major slump in the Treasure Valley residential real estate market have been overblown. Donerkiel concedes that his business is off about 19 percent from 2005, when an overheated market set a one-year record in the Valley with sales of 18,486 homes."

"Newly released figures for the latest quarter show that 3,918 single-family home sales were recorded between July 1 and Sept. 30, a 29 percent drop from the 5,548 sales for the same period of 2005. But the numbers compare favorably with the same quarters in 2003 and 2004, when 3,281 and 3,878 were sold."

"Terry Sklar said area appraisers are weathering the downturn with work involving estates, residential refinancing, home-equity loans and foreclosures."

"A Boise State University economist said three consecutive months of declining sales should remove any doubt that the local housing sector is in a 'recession.' 'It's just a matter of how far it will go,' said Don Holley, BSU professor of economics. 'A 29 percent drop is huge.'"