The Capital Times reports from Wisconsin. "Developers of the upscale Bergamont golf and housing project in Oregon are turning their attention downtown. Fleming Development is seeking city approval for a 12-story condominium tower at the corner of West Johnson and Bassett streets that would include 197 housing units."

"Developer Dan Fleming said he was not concerned about the current glut of new condominiums on the local housing market. There are more than 2,400 unsold condos in Dane County, up from 867 just two years ago."

"'That's mostly in the upper prices ranges,' he said. 'We've got a different target market.' That market includes students or parents who might want to buy a condo for their children rather than paying rent, Fleming said."

The Detroit News from Michigan. "For the second year in a row, most Metro Detroit homeowners are facing higher tax assessments despite a continuing drop in the market value of their homes."

"Charles Weir of Bloomfield Hills said he isn't pleased about the possibility of his current $15,000 tax bill going up when the average assessed value in his area has dropped 3.62 percent, according to preliminary figures released by Oakland County."

"'I don't feel good about that,' he said. 'I think it's wrong. I think the taxing authorities are not being realistic or fair. The real estate taxes are not reflecting the state of the market.'"

"The math of real estate assessments is heavily tied to the quirks of Proposal A, the state tax law that took effect in 1994. That law kept homeowners' tax bills from following the then-soaring housing market."

"'We're already hearing people asking, 'How can my taxes go up when my market value is going down?' said Steve Mellen, director of Macomb County's Equalization Department. He estimates that the gap between taxable value and assessed value averages about 20 percent."

"Dawn Bettcher said she believed homes in her town were being overvalued given the moribund housing market. She cringed over her taxes jumping up again this year. 'If our house was worth that, I wouldn't mind, but I don't think we could get that if we wanted to sell,' she said."

"Bettcher added that several homes in her neighborhood have been for sale for over a year, even after dramatic price cuts. 'They keep dropping the price, and they're still not getting anyone.'"

The Kansas City Star from Missouri. "Single-family housing construction slowed 21 percent last year in the Kansas City area in response to a glut of unsold new homes. There were 9,359 single-family units built last year, a decline from several consecutive years in which housing starts topped 10,000."

"Builders put on the brakes partly because of the number of unsold new homes already on the market, 5,575 as of December, according to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. Coupled with a slowdown in sales last month, the Realtors group estimated the area had a 10.9-month supply of new homes."

"'The past year has been a year of transition for the local housing market, with the primary focus of local home builders to reduce speculative new-home starts,' said Tim Underwood, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association."

"Underwood used the year-end report to warn that Kansas City builders and governments had to do more to ensure that housing remained affordable."

"'There is little doubt that Johnson County and other areas of the metro have lost market share due to a lack of housing choices for families and households headed by teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, retail sales workers and many other professionals,' Underwood said."

"In August, the Kansas City area hit a cyclical peak in unsold inventory tracked by the Realtors, with 20,409 new and existing homes for sale. In December that number had been whittled to 18,030 unsold homes."

"The inventory number isn’t shrinking because of a surge in sales. In December, 2,336 new and existing homes were sold in the area, down 14 percent from the same month a year earlier."

"Builders are delivering fewer new single-family homes and shifting more attention to apartments. Some would-be sellers, meanwhile, appear to be holding their homes off the market for the time being while supply and demand rebalances."

"The 2007 housing outlook in these parts depends on continued restraint by builders and potential sellers. But we haven’t nailed that soft landing just yet. Much depends on how many existing homes go on the market during the spring selling season. At this point, there’s still a buyer’s edge."