The Democrat and Chronicle reports from New York. "In a year that has seen big swings in sales, the Rochester-area real estate market is settling into a slower mode, one in which buyers have more choices and sellers have to make more concessions. Houses are sitting on the market longer because of an increase in inventory. This is the year that the market started to cool after five years of a hot seller's market, real estate brokers say."

"'This year has been extremely challenging,' said Nunzio Salafia, broker associate in Greece and Brighton. 'The oil companies have taken so much out of people's paychecks.'"

"Sales in the region started to falter in late summer, according to statistics compiled by the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors. For the past four months, the number of closings has been down at least 6 percent compared with the same months of 2005. 'It felt like a stop in mid-October,' said Bob Miglioratti, chairman of the Realtors association. 'We're trending toward a buyer's market.'"

"Frank Berardi is all too familiar with the shift from a seller's to a buyer's market. He listed his Chili home for sale late last year but decided to pull it off the market until spring of this year, when real estate activity picks up. He thought he had it sold in April, until the prospective buyer failed to show up for the closing."

"Berardi, meanwhile, had already purchased a home in Conesus, Livingston County. Anxious to sell his 13-year-old, four-bedroom Chili house, he dropped the price to $225,000 from $234,900. It still hasn't sold, was taken off the market last week and will be relisted in mid-January."

"As Berardi discovered, the change in the market has changed the approach of some buyers. 'There is this cavalier attitude on the part of buyers that if I don't like this one, I'll go out and buy another,' said Realtor associate Mark Siwiec in Pittsford."

"Siwiec said three trends prevailed in 2006: the market slowdown; the need for sellers to get their properties in mint condition; and the tendency of more buyers to cancel contracts."

The Boston Herald in Massachusetts. "Bay State home sellers had little to give thanks for this Thanksgiving, new figures show. The Warren Group reported yesterday that just 4,130 Massachusetts houses changed hands last month, the market’s worst November in 14 years."

"Sales also fell 13.5 percent when compared with November 2005 levels. 'It’s clear that (Massachusetts) is still in a slump,' Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said."

"House values fell across all of Greater Boston except Middlesex County, where median prices remained at $400,000, unchanged from November 2005. Elsewhere, Suffolk County median prices dropped 13 percent to $330,000, while Norfolk County lost 7.9 percent to hit $375,000."

"Essex County median prices eased 6.2 percent to $350,000. Condo sales fell 10.1 percent statewide when compared with November 2005 levels."

The Telegram from Massachusetts. "The state’s housing market continued its double digit fall in the sales of single-family homes and condominiums last month, with Worcester County experiencing a drop in sales of more than 20 percent from November 2005, according to data released yesterday."

"In Worcester County, November sales of single-family homes were down from 656 in November 2005 to 524 last month, a drop of 20.12 percent. The median price of a single-family home dropped nearly 10.3 percent in Worcester County, from $267,500 in November 2005 to $240,000 last month."

"Condominium sales in Worcester County were down 26 percent from November 2005, 223 to 164 last month. The median sales price for a condominium in Worcester County dropped nearly 18 percent year over year, $237,000 to $195,060, according to the data. Through November this year, all of the state’s 14 counties have seen a decline in single-family home prices."

"Terence F. Egan, editor of Banker & Tradesman, said it is hard to tell if the housing market correction is starting to level off. 'It’s tough to tell. I’m wondering if we’re bumping along the bottom or if there is a kind of recovery on the horizon,' he said. 'Next month we may see the numbers slip and dip again. It’s too early to call it right now.'"

"Massachusetts experienced a decade of rapid housing price increases that ended in 2005, driving the median selling price of a home to among the highest in the nation. 'It hit home a little harder. The areas where there was a run-up in prices are hit hardest,' he said."

"'Nationally, we’re not looking at the kind of price correction we had in Eastern Massachusetts and some areas of California, places where prices skyrocketed. It was bound to happen. It can’t go up double digit year after year.'"

"With prices slowly coming down, buyers are waiting for the best deal, he said. 'What you have here is a little bit of a waiting game,' he said. 'We’ve got a lot of sellers competing to attract buyers. That will push down prices. Buyers are looking for signs that the market has hit bottom or stabilized, so that a year from now they won’t regret it.'"