The Missoulian reports from Montana. "Some of my Missoula neighbors and I have been spending time out in the street lately, gathering to marvel, pontificate and puzzle over the small, vacant house on our block up for sale for the second time in less than six months."

"The asking price for this circa-1940 house with about 950 square feet above ground is well over $400,000. It's astounding to those of us living in similar and possibly better houses nearby. It's all the more stunning because this same house sold in early winter for $100,000 less."

"We all know western Montana housing prices are trending skyward, but this is crazy. Flipping crazy, more like it."

"Of greater concern locally is the reality that people seeking quick profits help bid up the price of housing. When people seeking to maximize their investment gains shop for second or third houses, families seeking the American Dream of owning a home wind up in a bidding war. It's a war the average Missoulian is losing."

The Idaho Statesman. "The median price of an Ada County home has fallen for the first time since the slump in Treasure Valley residential home sales began nine months ago. The year-over-year drop was the latest sign that nine consecutive months of lagging home sales have forced some homeowners to slash their asking prices to attract buyers."

"Hanging over the industry are 4,292 homes that were for sale in the Ada County last month, plus 2,322 listings in Canyon County. The total of 6,614 is 55 percent higher than the supply in March 2004, before the local housing bubble of 2005 and early 2006."

"Housing sales remained sluggish last month, with 1,050 transactions in the two counties, 30 percent below the same month a year ago."

'"I've got some clients who should cut their price, but don't want to,' said Bob Hurtt, an agent in Boise."

"Rod Blackstead, owner of Blackstead Building Co., said he managed 10 sales last month because his homes are priced below $300,000. 'Our market never did get saturated like the market for these high-priced homes,' Blackstead said."

The Columbian from Washington. "Clark County home sales in March remained substantially lower than levels of a year ago. Sales of new and pre-owned homes totaled 771 last month, the lowest for March since 2003, according to a report."

"A local real estate boom that began in 2004 and continued into early 2006 could not have continued, said Sandy Hendrick, executive director of the Clark County Association of Realtors."

"Excess inventories of new homes could affect the local housing market's recovery, said Kathy Rylander, an associate broker in Vancouver."

"'There's also a thought process with some buyers who are worried they might be paying too much,' Rylander said. 'I think those worries are unfounded. Now is actually a good time to buy because there's more selection and buyers might be more willing to negotiate.'"

"Some buyers are also concerned about recent problems in the subprime lending industry, Hendrick said. 'Those loans were being made to people who were having trouble,' he said. 'I think it's a good thing for the housing industry that we're not going to have those types of abuses occurring.'"

The Bend Bulletin from Oregon. "Central Oregon's housing market is reflecting a jumbled picture so far this year. On one hand, its general image is recognizable, there's a buyers' market everywhere, with plenty of houses on the market and plenty of sellers willing to slash prices or cut a deal."

"In Bend, inventory levels have remained stable through the first quarter of the year, helped along by lower prices on new homes and strengthening sales in most areas, broker Bill Berger said."

"Except, perhaps, in west Bend, where 412 unsold homes sat on the market Monday, according to the Central Oregon MLS, about a third of the entire city's inventory. Among the reasons: 95 percent of the houses for sale in west Bend's High Lakes Elementary School attendance area are priced above the city's first-quarter median price of $347,750."

"In Redmond, the median price has slumped to $255,950, according to first-quarter numbers released by the MLS on Tuesday. That's 2.6 percent lower than the median price for all of 2006. Sales are off 48.6 percent from the first quarter of 2006, and the inventory of unsold homes has swollen to 619 homes, Berger said, about 13.5 months' worth of inventory at March's sales level."

"In relatively high-priced Sisters, the median price dipped 1.54 percent below the first quarter price of 2006 to $415,000, on sales that were off 46.43 percent."

"Inventory levels remained stable in Bend at around 1,250, according to appraiser Mike Caba. That's about 20 percent more houses for sale than sat on the market in March 2006, but it's 15 percent below the inventory peak the city hit in August last year, when still-rampant new home construction and steeply sliding sales combined to pile 1,454 unsold homes on the Bend landscape."

"Some of the remaining inventory is probably owned by sellers who don't necessarily have to sell, but are fishing the market with asking prices that are set too high, based on prices their neighbors got during the boom, Berger said."

"Builders, on the other hand, have to move homes to keep their businesses viable, so most, including Pahlisch Homes, the largest home builder in the region, slashed prices and added incentives to carve its inventories down over the winter, Berger said."

"In April 2006, when 89 Redmond homes sold, the city held about 2.8 months worth of unsold inventory, Berger said. In March this year, with only 46 homes sold, the inventory stood at more than 13 months."

"Like the region, Redmond's home market is suffering the afteraffects of 'rolling too fast, too hard, for too long,' said broker Fred Baldwin, who has been selling in Redmond for 30 years."

"Still, he expects the city to grow by another third or so over the next five years. 'We'll be back in the thick of things,' Baldwin predicted. 'It'll just be at a lower price.'"