The Mail Tribune reports from Oregon. "Even though sellers have been reluctant to lower prices, it appears that has been one way of attracting buyers during the calmer market. Jim Torrey, who bought a house in Medford last month, said he noticed a trend of price reductions when walking through the Roosevelt Elementary School neighborhood."

"'We looked about 45 days,' Torrey said. 'It seemed on a weekly basis in the east-side hills that we saw at least a couple of reduction signs.'"

"He discovered sellers were more willing to negotiate than in previous purchases and more willing to accommodate certain requests."

"Sorting through the sheer number of properties available was a task in itself, he said. 'It was almost overwhelming, every time we put our preferences in the computer it would come back with 35 or 40 properties.'"

"Some of the county's markets saw higher median prices, some lower. Eagle Point's median tumbled 14 percent to $239,000."

The Register Guard. "Building permits for home construction dropped sharply statewide, down 14 percent from August and down 30 percent compared with a year ago. 'Oregon continues to feel the impact of the national housing slowdown,' economist Tim Duy said. 'The depth and speed of the housing slowdown has prompted some commentators to issue recession warnings.'"

"There is a risk, he said, that consumer spending will slow sharply if falling home prices curb people's ability to tap into their home equity."

The Oregonian. "For a variety of reasons, much has changed in the past few months, both in the southwest suburbs and across the country. Compared with some cities where markets collapsed almost overnight, however, it's becoming clear that the slowdown creeping through the southwest suburbs portends, at worst, a return to more sane and sustainable market conditions."

"In recent weeks, the air has been hissing out of the balloon. Housing inventories grew to 4.5 percent in September, and signs of the slowing, or, as some agents prefer to call it, the 'adjustment' -- are showing up everywhere."

"Some large residential builders, for instance, are offering incentive programs to coax hesitant prospective buyers off the fence. In the existing-homes market, many buyers are reducing their asking prices, often dramatically."

"Larry Hilton, a broker and residential land specialist in Tigard, recently saw firsthand an example of the new sluggishness: While preparing a market analysis for a house in northern Marion County, he had trouble finding comparable examples needed to set a price."

"The reason? 'Because there are no recent sales in that area,' Hilton said. 'None. We're seeing more and more of these things across the board these days.'"

"The housing market in Clark County has slowed considerably in recent months, Sebastian said, as has Portland's east side, where a glut of houses remains."

"'Right now, it's all a matter of having quality product in the right spot and building the right thing,' said Drew Prell, who recently completed a retail and commercial project near downtown Lake Oswego. 'But if I'm glad I'm not out in Hillsboro trying to sell houses, I'm certainly glad I'm not in Las Vegas, New York and Southern California.'"

"Analysts widely agree that real estate 'bubbles' in all three of those locations, as well as once-incandescent pockets elsewhere, have burst in recent months. But those same analysts also agree that no such bubble formed in Portland, which should help soften the effect of slowing sales and increasing housing inventories."

"'Everyone in the residential food chain, from contractors to mortgage originators to materials suppliers, is going to feel the slowdown,' economist Bill Conerly said. 'And it may take two to three years to work off the excess of housing we now have in the works.'"

"People who bought their houses as prices peaked may sustain the most economic damage, particularly if they financed the purchase with adjustable-rate mortgages, said Sandra Carlton, owner of Arrowhead Mortgage in Lake Oswego."

"'What all of that means is that foreclosure rates are going to be high next year and for a few years into the future,' Carlton said. 'At the very least, 2007 will be an interesting year.'"

"She predicted that a cooling real estate market will result in a significant thinning of her colleagues, particularly newcomers. 'If you are chasing re-fis, your days are numbered,' she said."