A housing report from the Virginia Pilot. "Home building will be under continued pressure rhis year, speakers at Old Dominion University's annual real estate forecast predicted Wednesday. Hampton Roads builders have to contend with a large inventory of existing homes still on the market, J. Van Rose Jr., president of the realty firm Rose and Womble Enterprises, said."

"ODU's E.V. Williams Center for Real Estate and Economic Development conducted Wednesday's program. In its annual review-and-forecast publication, the center called attention to a sizable inventory of unsold homes in Hampton Roads. The number of active sales listings surged last year from 3,000 in January to more than 10,000 by November, said the real estate center."

"For the 12 months through November, the number of closings on single-family detached homes in Hampton Roads fell almost 10 percent, while closings on existing condominium units fell 7 percent, the report said."

"Home sellers will likely become more realistic about their asking prices, and builders, the research center said, 'will probably be quicker to offer incentives that translate into increased affordability.'"

"The most significant change to the housing market in coming years, Rose said, will be the abundance of homes in the mixed-use projects planned for Hampton Roads. More than two dozen projects, with 13,075 housing units, have been approved or will be approved shortly, he said, and another five projects are in the works. 'That's going to change the landscape' for housing, Rose said."

"Demand for apartments in Hampton Roads will remain strong in part because of a wide gap between the cost of renting and the cost of buying a home, said Aubrey Lane, president of Great Atlantic Management Co. Renters."

The Washington Times. "Last year was a gloomy one for real estate in the Washington area, and home builders didn't fare any better than the rest. New-home sales were down 20 percent last year. In fact, it was the slowest year for builders since at least the 1980s."

"'If we haven't hit bottom, we're pretty close,' says Victor Furnells, regional sales director for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. 'And I think we're going to stay at that level for a while.'"

"In the existing home market, which saw sales drop 23 percent last year, that change in market forces caused time-on-the-market figures to go up and prices to go down. As sellers understood what was happening, they began lowering their expectations, spiffing up their homes and offering buyer incentives. New-home builders used many of the same strategies."

"'This is a business for home builders, so they don't have the same emotional attachment that a homeowner has. The large, publicly traded builders have been hit. Many of them have taken huge write-downs in their land values. But after that, they are ready to move those properties at reduced prices. So they are more highly motivated than a homeowner to take that financial hit and get on with business,' according to Clark Massie, president of TETRA Corp."

"This connection between the sales climate and new home prices is most clearly visible in the condominium market. The region's condo market was flying high in 2005 and slowed dramatically in 2006. After appreciating faster than other housing types, condos were suddenly out of favor."

"Dozens of new condo projects were under way when the slowdown occurred, so builders had to act quickly. Some converted the buildings to apartments for rent. Others adjusted their pricing to suit the market forces."

"In Montgomery County, condo sales fell 16 percent last year, and the median price per square foot went from $465 to $432, a drop of 7 percent. In Fairfax County, sales dropped 55 percent, and prices went down 6 percent."

"Another difference between the resale market and the new-homes market is how the new sales climate affects large companies and the thousands of people who work for them." .

"'Many of them are training them to be more flexible with consumers, to listen more than they talk. You realize how important this is when you learn that 70 percent of the sales staff has been in this industry for less than 3 years,' Mr. Furnells says."

"Apparently, some home buyers are taking advantage of such inexperience. 'We've heard about consumers who actually sign a contract and pay a deposit of as much as $50,000, and then use that contract to haggle with other builders,' says Mr. Furnells. 'They tell a builder at another development: 'I'm willing to walk away from my deposit if you will give me a great deal.'"

"That is certainly a creative, but perhaps unethical, approach to home shopping when market dynamics are shifting around the way they are these days."

"The end of the condo craze is leaving real estate developers looking for other options. Developers in the Washington area are dumping their proposals to build condominiums and switching to apartments as a glut of new and old condos slows sales."

"In the latest move, a project in Takoma Park originally designed as condominiums, then canceled, is being reborn as an apartment complex."

"Last month, Centex Homes suddenly canceled the condo project, citing unfavorable market conditions. 'I guess the condo market got a little bit saturated,' said Ronny Salameh, Centex Homes' division manager for Maryland and the District. 'Until all that inventory goes away, it really slows down the condo market. It opens up for the rental market.'"

"Condominiums still are selling in the Washington area, but they are being bought by people who plan to use them as their primary residences instead of investment properties that offer a quick buck when they are re-sold a few years later."

"'People are buying them for the correct reason today,' said Grant Montgomery, VP of real estate research firm Delta Associates. 'They're a home first and an investment second. During the craze, I think that was inverted.'"

"In 2004, 13,557 apartments were converted to condos in the Washington area, Delta Associates reported. Last year, no apartments were switched to condos."

"In 2005, Monument Realty planned to convert the 574-unit Park Center apartments in Alexandria into condominiums but switched back to apartments in May. Developers of the View 14 housing project being built at 14th Street and Florida Avenue Northwest originally designed as condos until the condominium market slumped. In December, Level 2 Development said the 183-unit building would be used for apartments."

"Last year, condo resale prices fell 6.1 percent in the District, according to Delta Associates."