The Newtown Bee reports from Connecticut. "2006 is shaping up to be the year the region turned into a buyer's market, with a housing slump hitting New England harder than most of the rest of the country, and predicted to stay that way through the decade's end."

"'Statistically, I just don't see prices coming down fast or far enough,' said independent Newtown broker Susan Washburn. 'When I attend open houses, frankly I'm shocked at some of the asking prices still out there.'"

"Ms Washburn is telling her clients that today, they cannot expect to get the same type of price as the highest selling similar home in their neighborhood, even if that sale was relatively recent. 'And I'm strongly advising clients not to go forward with new home purchases unless they have airtight contracts in place on their existing properties. Today, there aren't many people in a position to carry the burden of two homes,' she said."

"Every state in the region except New Hampshire ranked among the nation's bottom ten states in housing starts from 2000 through 2004, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston."

The Cape Cod Times from Massachusetts. "Record numbers of mortgage holders on Cape Cod and the rest of the state are in jeopardy of losing their homes. An analysis released yesterday reported 838 foreclosure filings in Barnstable County from Nov. 1, 2005, to Oct. 31, nearly double the previous 12 months."

"The spike in foreclosures on the Cape may be particularly high because of the region's disparity between home prices and incomes, said Nancy Davison, (who) counsels people facing foreclosure. The Hyannis nonprofit estimates the Cape's median home price at about $362,000 and the median income for a family of four at $65,800."

"Davison said the people who seek help do not always have exotic mortgages. Rather, they often simply cannot afford their payments after a sudden decrease in their family's income. 'I can't say the exotic is completely out of the picture, but it's not the driving force,' she said. 'There is just no wiggle room.'"

"Davison said that many of the borrowers facing foreclosure received mortgages from large, national mortgage companies, not local banks. That suggests the large mortgage companies may have been less careful about whom they chose to approve for a loan, and may have helped many people on the Cape get into houses they could not afford, she said."

"'It would make sense that the buyers would go to those lenders,' Davison said. 'They seem too good to be true. And they are.'"

"Charles Dowick, an East Falmouth real estate investor, said he receives about five calls a week from people facing foreclosure. 'It's just really expensive to get into a mortgage in the first place because the property values are so high on the Cape,' he said."

"Dowick said he anticipates temporary layoffs in the construction and other seasonal industries on the Cape may lead to even greater increases in foreclosures in January and February. Higher interest rates may also have an impact as loans with adjustable rates reset, he said."

The Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts. "Mortgage foreclosures are skyrocketing across the region, especially in such urban areas as Brockton and Taunton among immigrants and moderate-income people who used nontraditional financing to buy homes."

"Leo O’Neil, VP at Brockton-based HarborOne Credit Union, attributed the surge in foreclosures to 'exotic' or nontraditional mortgages that attracted marginal buyers during the past few years. 'The problem is escalating,' said O’Neil."

"Mortgage broker Don Lambert said the state has cracked down on mortgage brokers with questionable practices, shutting more than 30 in recent months. But, he said, much of the blame for the marginal mortgages rests with the 'stated-income products' that allow applicants to use income levels other than IRS W-2 forms, and to consumers themselves."

"Lambert said one consumer went to a nearby mortgage company and got a loan after he denied her. The nontraditional mortgages also allowed people to buy more home than they should, he said. 'Now, it’s all coming home to roost,' Lambert said. 'The payments increase and they can’t afford them.'"

The Boston Herald. "The real meltdown is happening at in neighborhoods like Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. A silent plague of foreclosures is doing its own devastating work."

"As banks lower the boom, more condos and homes pour onto a market already glutted with units for sale. So far, Dorchester has seen nearly as many foreclosure filings this year, 412, as Boston as a whole saw last year, said John Anderson, who runs a data collection business."

"Just ask Chris Phelan, with a two-bedroom condo he bought near Savin Hill in 2004 for $245,000. Phelan, who wants a home now, not a condo, says he’s ready to sell his unit for what he paid for it, or less, in order to move on. So far, he’s received only 'ridiculous' offers, including one for $200,000."

"'It’s tough,' Phelan said, adding 'there are 400 condos for sale in the Dorchester area alone.'"

"Condo prices in Dorchester peaked in April 2005 at $286,262 before sliding to $231,738 today, Anderson reports. Dorchester accounts for a large percentage of the 984 foreclosure filings in Boston so far this year, he adds."

"Another hard-hit area is Ward 18, which covers sections of Mattapan and Hyde Park and has seen 190 foreclosure notices to date, up from 78 last year. 'Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, they are feeling the hit. The sellers are feeling the pressure of foreclosures,' said John Ford, head of a top downtown brokerage."

"The foreclosures are a sign of the larger real estate crisis gripping the ZIP codes where most Bostonians live. Builders found condo gold in humble Dorchester triple-deckers, and a host of rapacious, subprime lenders were only too eager to help make the unaffordable seem suddenly attainable, experts say."