The Columbian reports from Washington. "A shake-up in the nation's subprime mortgage lending industry is beginning to have an impact in Clark County. Some offices have closed, others have cut staffing to deal with a slowdown in the housing market and tighter regulations related to higher interest rate loans sold to people with weak (subprime) credit."

"The Vancouver office of Home 123 Mortgage, which stopped issuing loan applications last week amid rumors of the impending bankruptcy of its parent company, New Century Financial Corp. Vancouver-based lender Millennium Funding Group, which cut 76 employees from its Vancouver work force earlier this month."

"'Declining home sales and a subsequent rise in loan defaults have forced 'investors away from purchasing these loans,' said Dave Botieff, manager of four Vancouver branches of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage."

"Some investors have tightened their lending criteria. Many have stopped funding the loans altogether, thereby affecting the companies that sell them. That could leave local mortgage lenders stuck in the middle, said Jerre Broselle, president and owner of Cascade Mortgage & Financial in Vancouver. He predicted the 'middle-man' companies would be the first to cut back or close in Clark County."

"'If they're expecting (investors) to fund those loans and there's no one to cover it, the lender will close its doors,' Broselle said. That happened to the parent company of local lenders Vancouver Mortgage and Homeloan Source, former affiliates of Central Pacific Mortgage, which abruptly closed its Folsom, Calif., headquarters in late February."

"'No one knows how it's all going to pan out,' said Kirk Faulkner, district manager of First Horizon Home Loans in Vancouver. 'But there are some major corrections taking place.'"

The Olympian from Washington. "It seems like there is an explosion of new houses being built all around us in Tum water. Four hundred new homes will be built between Barnes, Eighth and Linwood Avenue; many more between Barnes, Sapp and Crosby; as well as new homes and apartments on Rural Road and Trosper."

"I'm sure all of these developers know more about the future of Tumwater than I do. I cannot imagine that these new homes being built in our area are for our present population."

"Some studies show that it will be four years before all of the present inventory of new homes will be sold, and yet the developers continue to develop."

"In talking with a Realtor, I discovered that many of these new homes are being sold to California people moving up to the Northwest and Seattle people moving down to Thurston County because the housing is cheaper."

"As the homes go up, have you noticed that the lots are a lot smaller and almost all of the houses are two story? Again, the developers have done their research and discovered that the younger, working families just don't have the time to spend on their property."

"In fact, some of the homes have asphalt or concrete yards with a postage stamp bit of grass. This allows the developers to put up more homes with the smaller lots."

The Register Guard from Oregon. "Building permits for single-family homes dipped 15 percent in Lane County last year compared with 2005, U.S. Census figures show. In spite of that, most local builders still had a good year, according to Ed McMahon, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lane County."

"But he worries that the future may not look as promising. 'We're seeing more and more of a trend where land that opens up is being built on by developers,' he said. 'Instead of developing the lots and selling them off to other builders, they're keeping it for themselves.'"

"Recent escalation of land costs has led to more development being done by big, out-of-town builders with deeper pockets than most local builders, McMahon said. In fact, almost 25 percent of the single-family permits issued last year went to non-Lane County builders."

"Housing giant D.R. Horton Inc led the pack with 97 building permits, mostly in Eugene's far-west Bethel area."

"Nearly all of the houses constructed by nonlocal builders are built on speculation, as opposed to custom homes built for specific buyers. Of the 206 permits issued to out-of-area builders, only 21 are custom, and 17 of those belong to Adair Homes."

"McMahon says the trend in the local building industry away from 'spec' development began when the superheated housing boom years of 2004 and 2005 began to cool, and probably will continue."

"A couple of years ago, builders could sell virtually everything they built, so looking for custom clients wasn't as critical. 'But now that things have cooled off, there's a lot more inventory on the market, and builders are much more nervous about selling on spec,' McMahon said."

"Even with a drop in the number of building permits issued last year, local builders don't seem to be overly concerned, said Katrina Wester, president of the local homebuilders group. 'Things have definitely slowed down, but it was so good for a while that a change was inevitable, and people realize that,' Wester said."

The East County News from Oregon. "A year ago, real estate broker Cheri Axt had very few listings for previously owned homes. 'There’d be three, four and five offers on one piece of property,' she recalled. 'One even had 11 offers.'"

"Now, the big change in sales of homes in outer East Portland is its boost in inventory. 'I have twice the amount of listings this year as last,' Axt said."

"'We’re a little bit less,' she said of outer East’s prices compared to the rest of Portland. For that reason, the area attracts a lot of young, first-time homebuyers. 'Many of them are from out of state, especially from Southern California,' Axt said."

"Another type of buyer driving outer East’s housing market is out-of-state investors, Axt said. They tend to purchase (often sight unseen) outer East’s newly constructed, skinny houses on narrow lots, and then use them for rental income."

"Outer East Portland’s housing market has adjusted from a period of double-digit appreciation, but that doesn’t mean prices of houses won’t go up again. 'We’re self-correcting,' Axt said."

The Democrat Herald from Oregon. "Building is going on throughout both the Lebanon and Sweet Home school district, but so far, it’s not bringing in more students. Enrollment has remained flat for at least the past four years."

"Building permits in Lebanon jumped from 92 in 2002 to 211 in 2005 and 179 last year. Lebanon’s total enrollment, however, is still hovering around 4,000, the way it’s been since 2002."

"Real estate agent Don Robertson, a member of the Lebanon Planning Commission, said...the overall downturn in the housing market scared some buyers away. A good many of the ones who have been coming appear to be out-of-state retirees whose children are grown."

"In Sweet Home, Superintendent Larry Horton said the district had budgeted for 90 additional students this year, Horton said, and he’s mystified as to what’s keeping them. 'It’s really caught me off guard. I don’t have an explanation for it,' he said. 'If people are looking for nice new homes, Sweet Home’s the place to come.'"

"New lots approved by the Sweet Home Planning Commission went from 124 in 2004 to 564 in 2005, and to 611 in 2006."

"Carol Lewis, community development director, noted not all the new housing is geared toward families. Lots in a development known as the Santiam River Club, which includes some 57 lots approved a little more than a year ago, are priced between $150,000 and $300,000."

"'It’s probably not a young working couple that’s going to be buying these lots, that don’t even have a house on them yet,' Lewis said."

"The state allows school districts to use either last year’s enrollment or the current year’s, whichever is higher, when figuring its budget. Sweet Home, therefore, hasn’t felt the financial impact yet, but probably will this year if growth doesn’t materialize, Horton said. 'We’re waiting,' he said. 'We’re ready. We have space for them.'"