The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "The median price for a single-family home has fallen 7.8 percent since hitting a peak of $370,000 in June. Sales of single-family homes fell 16.5 percent from the previous October to 3,239. In each of the past three months, single-family home sales fell by more than 20 percent."

"Some agents say the October numbers forecast a slow winter. 'The importance of October is that's the tail end of the selling season before you get into the holiday, and everybody was hoping it would've been a little better,' said Arthur Shannon, an agent in Danvers. October, he said, 'tells us how we're going to sit throughout the next few months.'"

"'Buyers have started to move forward,' David Wluka, president of the realtors' association, said yesterday. Still, at the end of October, there were 33 percent more homes and condos for sale statewide than a year earlier."

The Daily News. "Massachusetts home and condo sales fell by double-digit percentages in October and home prices continued to decline as part of a market correction that may still take several months to conclude."

"The October home price decrease is the sixth-straight monthly drop compared to the same months last year, and the drop in home sales marks the 20th of 21 months where the number of home sales have dropped in the state. The latest 11 months of decreases were marked by double-digit percentages, reflecting the sharpest and most sustained slowdown since the 1989 to 1991 period, according to the Warren Group."

"'This market is paying the price for overheated appreciation,' said Nicolas Retsinas, of Harvard University. 'It was clear for a long time that it couldn't be sustained, but it did last for a while.'"

"Retsinas said homebuyers should do their homework when shopping and look forward to at least five to seven years in the home they buy if they don't want to lose money. 'If you think you're going to buy a home to make money, you'll be disappointed,' he said. Retsinas also warned buyers to be wary of the condo market, which is investor dominated, and thus, more susceptible to a downturn, he said."

The Boston Herald. "Boston house prices plunged last month at their fastest pace in more than 13 years, erasing all gains recorded since early 2004, new figures show. The Warren Group reported yesterday that median house-sale prices in Suffolk County, which mostly consists of Boston, fell to $325,950, a stunning 13.31 percent decline from October 2005."

"That drops prices back to May 2004 levels. It’s also the sharpest 12-month pullback since 1993."

"David Wluka, president of the association said the smaller sales drop-offs show him that 'the market correction may be about over.' But Wellesley College housing economist Karl Case is less optimistic. 'All of the indicators, sales volume, prices, everything, are pointing downward,' he said."

The Sun Chronicle. "Condominiums, increasingly the single-family home alternative for buyers in Southeastern Massachusetts, may finally be losing momentum in a softening real estate market."

"Condo sales in the area declined 36 percent in the third quarter, compared with sales results for the same quarter in 2005. Statewide, the drop in the number of condominium sales exceeded that of single family homes for the second straight month according to The Warren Group, ending a decade-long trend in which condo sales outperformed single family home sales virtually every month."

"'For a long time, as real estate was appreciating, condos trailed somewhat behind single-family homes,' said Terry Egan, for the Warren Group. 'As sales began to decline, condos also seemed to trail somewhat timewise. Now they seem to have caught up.'"

"Market watchers said a large number of newly-completed condos arriving on the market at a time when sales are already depressed added to an already bulging inventory."

The Boston Channel. "Buyers and sellers are carefully crunching the latest housing numbers, and in Massachusetts...it reflects the most sustained slowdown since the bubble burst of 1989 to 1991. One Duxbury house has been on the market for about one year now. Two weeks ago, the sellers dropped the price yet again. It is now $60,000 less than where it started."

"Several miles away, homeowner Robert Burnham can relate. His experience is nearly identical. 'There is a house we would like in a retirement community, which we are not able to move. We are very much like many people my age that can't get out of their home to retire,' he said."

"'It means we're still in a real estate slump. We are still seeing a lot of houses on the market. Buyers and sellers can't quite come to an agreement,' said Tim Warren. Burnham has decided not to drop his price again. He's taking his house off the market for the winter, making a few changes and then will try again in February. Warren said that he thinks it's a good strategy."

From the Times in New Jersey. "Sales of newly built homes continued their slide last month, the government reported yesterday, renewing fears the housing slump would continue for the long haul. The Northeast region experienced the biggest decline in new- home sales, dropping 39 percent in October from September."

"Industry watchers say the housing slump is likely to continue. 'It may not be until 2008 until the market bottoms out,' predicted James Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University."

"The problem, Hughes said, is the 'extraordinary gains' in the market played out over seven years, from 1998 to 2005. When the highs last a long time, 'it takes time to adjust,' he said."

"The 39 percent drop for the Northeast came as no surprise to Patrick O'Keefe, chief executive of the New Jersey Builders Association. 'The evidence is overwhelming that the state's housing markets are weak and will continue to weaken,' O'Keefe said. 'This market in New Jersey particularly, given the economic concerns outside the housing sector, cannot see its bottom.'"