The Journal News reports from Ohio. "With home sales and new residential construction in a slump in Greater Cincinnati, Realtors and builders are teaming on a new marketing campaign to boost consumer confidence. The result is a six-week 'Buy Now' online, print, broadcast and billboard campaign featuring the slogan, 'Home, Home in your Range.'"

"'The builders came to us and said, 'The statistics show that we're really hurting and we think the statistics show that you guys aren't doing too well either,' Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors President Tom Steele said. 'We thought, 'Why don't we take the initiative to let people know the market isn't as bad as it sounds and all the national stuff, the negative stuff, doesn't apply to us.'"

"The gist of the campaign, Homebuilders Association of Greater Cincinnati President Dave Wittekind said, is that there is a wide selection of homes to choose from in the market at lower prices than what buyers found this time last year."

"Both Steele and Wittekind blamed the slowdown on an oversupply of homes. Steele said, there were times last year when there were 3,000 to 4,000 more homes on the market here than should have been if supply and demand would have been in balance."

"'There's a large volume of new homes and existing homes that they can take advantage of this buyer's market and move into the house that really meets their needs and have the best selection,' Wittekind said."

The Capital Times from Wisconsin. "Go back just eight years and there was almost no downtown condominium market. Now, a half dozen larger condominium projects punctuate the downtown landscape."

"You need a map to keep them all straight. Nearly 900 condominium units, conversions and new construction, have been built since 1998 in or near downtown Madison, and 1,600 more are planned or under construction. Beyond that, there are projects under discussion to add another 1,000 units."

"But how much is too much? Is there really a market for that many condominiums downtown? If you look just at numbers for 2006, the answer might be 'no.'"

"In the last quarter of last year, the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin reported that there were 2,422 condominium units for sale in Dane County, compared with 862 just two years earlier."

"Here in Madison, Professor Tim Riddiough said the downtown condo market has clearly softened. That is because housing has softened in general 'and condos always fall harder than houses.' Plus, more supply has come online."

"Riddiough, who is the academic director of the UW-Madison Center for Real Estate, said signs of a soft market are evident in the slowdown in proposals of new condo projects; cutbacks on projects currently under construction, like the Alexander Co.'s Capitol West project; and lights out in many condo spaces."

"Discussions he has had with real estate agents have also pointed to a soft market, he said, adding that the market is going to stay this way for a while. 'There is a lot of supply, and the speculative element of demand is gone for now. Prices may have to adjust a bit more to bring things back to equilibrium,' Riddiough said."

"Developer Todd McGrath, who has developed more than 200 units downtown in the last five years, said the market slowdown downtown in the last year has been driven by perceptions of uncertainty that were exaggerated by negative coverage in the national media."

"At his Nolen Shore project, McGrath still has half of its 64 units for sale."

"John Deininger, executive director of the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin, said an important fact to note is that condominiums and subdivisions differ markedly in their rollouts. 'Unfortunately, condos come in in one fell swoop, and then it takes a while for the market to absorb the balance of those,' Deininger said."