In Business Las Vegas reports from Nevada. "February's new-home closings fell to their lowest point this decade as prices tumbled 5 percent from January, but the Las Vegas housing industry had a bit of a silver lining as housing starts reached their highest level since August, according to SalesTraq."

"There were 1,441 new-home closings in February, a drop of nearly 50 percent from February 2006 and a decline of 30 percent from January's 2,052. That's the lowest monthly total this decade. In the resale market, the 2,594 homes sold in February was the lowest total since April 2001."

"'I think it's always disappointing to see dismal results, and let's face it, those sales figures are disappointing,' said Las Vegas housing analyst Steve Bottfeld."

"Bottfeld noted that home closing figures are a look at the past because it can take 60 to 180 days to close. None of the new numbers reflect the recent events in the subprime lending market in which it's tougher for people with lower credit scores to obtain mortgages."

"With the decline in home sales, prices came down in February with the median price at $321,555, a drop of 5 percent from January's price of $339,253. The new-home price is the lowest since March 2006 when it was nearly $320,000."

"The home prices don't include the incentives that some builders are offering and have yet to disappear. Meritage Homes recently had a 48-hour weekend sale in which it was offering $60,000 in incentives for homes in Mountain's Edge."

"'The next month or two will tell the tale of 2007, whether or not this is a real or false bottom,' Bottfeld said."

"The number of foreclosure filings jumped 24 percent between January and February, giving Nevada the nation's highest foreclosure rate for the second consecutive month, according to RealtyTrac."

"The 3,124 foreclosure filings in February were 77 percent higher than February 2006. Nevada has one foreclosure filing for every 278 households, which is three times the national average."

"(The) National Association Of Home Builders said it expects single-family housing starts in Nevada to drop 28.5 percent in 2007, from 28,500 to 20,400."

"'The Las Vegas metro area turned in a similar performance (to Phoenix),' the association said in its report. 'Prices rose rapidly, the investor share doubled and housing starts climbed well above pre-boom levels. In 2005, the investor share of mortgage originations was over 20 percent, up from 9 percent in 2000. In 2006, Las Vegas joined Phoenix among the 20 largest housing market declines.'"

"NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders attributed the boom to an excess demand driven by low interest rates coupled with aggressive mortgage lending practices, a combination that...attracted speculators and investors. That in return put pressure on sales, prices and production that has resulted in corrections in 2006 and 2007."

The Las Vegas Business Press. "All those 'For Sale' signs on houses across the valley are indicators of the glut of inventory facing both Clark County and the state. Until the residential market rebounds, local taxable sales could see more of what Applied Analysis Principal Brian Gordon termed 'a decline.'"

"'If we look at it on a per capita basis, it is a decline,' he said of the Clark County number."

"The state’s February employment numbers reflected an annual growth of about 32,500 jobs, which was around half of the number reported in each of the last three years, according to Gordon."

"Gordon attributes the annual decline to a lagging housing market and a gap in major resort construction on the Strip. Planned projects, such as MGM Mirage’s Project CityCenter, Echelon Place, Encore and the Trump Tower are still too far off to have a significant impact on employment, Gordon says."

"The decline in the residential sector has also impacted real estate brokers and agents, he continued. That job and income loss has been showing up in local spending figures. 'It is significant. We have seen the amount of spending on taxable sales items is down on a per capita basis in Clark County,' he explained. 'Now we see it being reflected in the latest employment figures.'"

The Nevada Appeal. "Sales tax collections continued to lag behind projections used to build the budget for January. The slump in the housing and construction industries accounted for much of the problem. Sales of building materials and supplies fell 22.4 percent to $212.8 million. Furniture sales were down 60 percent to $89.3 million and taxable sales from building construction down 38 percent to $11.9 million."

"Motor vehicle sales were off 10.8 percent to $434.7 million and food services and drinking establishments 16 percent to $592.6 million for the month."

"Lyon County suffered a major drop in building materials sales from $5.6 million to $2.8 million and furniture sales went down 40 percent to $849,793. But Lyon's amusement, gaming and recreation category also took a big hit in January as taxable sales fell from $1.3 million to $345,084. Overall the county was down more than 23 percent compared to the previous January."

From KUTV 2 in Utah. "According to one research group, the state of Utah is the worst in the country when it comes to home mortgage fraud. In Utah for some reason people have fallen hard for mortgage fraud and the con men and women have gotten away with it."

"Sean Anderson was sold on a deal to build a house and earn fast equity. 'It sounded like a great deal,' says Sean. 'They hooked us up with the mortgage company, hooked us up with the appraisal, which came in at $464,000. And I built the house for $425,000.'"

"Sean was told he could use the equity to make the payments. What he didn’t know was the agent and lender used an inflated appraisal. 'I can’t make the payments,' says Sean. 'There was no equity. Right now I’m into this over $100,000.'"