The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "Last week, Denver-based MDC Holdings, builder of Richmond American Homes, reported a $94.4 million loss for the first quarter. Additionally, MDC said prospective homebuyers are having a more difficult time selling their homes so they can buy new homes. MDC is hardly alone. Other large, national developers that build homes in Colorado made similar reports."

"'They got ahead of themselves,' said Wells Fargo economist Michael Swanson. 'And when you get ahead of yourself, you have to sit back and wait.'"

"Jeff Willis, president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, said local homebuilders are doing a good job of clearing inventories, offering incentives, slowing work on projects, and walking away from land-purchase options. 'It's still going to take time to whittle down that inventory,' he said. 'There's still some pain to be had for builders.'"

"Jay Peterson of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence said this winter's snowstorms kept potential homebuyers off the lots of metro-area developers, compounding the problem of growing inventories."

"'There were incentives everywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 off,' Peterson said. 'I heard of some builders who were even selling their homes at a loss during that time.'"

"Swanson sees what's happening as a typical part of the business cycle. 'Once you have gone to the top of the mountain, you have to go to the valley,' he said. 'There will be another summit, but we're not going to get there soon.'"

The Idaho Statesman. "The number of Treasure Valley homes for sale is at a record high, and that is sure to keep driving down home prices, experts said Friday. The Intermountain MLS said 3,143 homes were put up for sale in Ada and Canyon counties between April 9 and May 9, raising the total available nearly 80 percent to 7,124 in just one month."

"When condos, townhomes and manufactured homes are added, the total jumps to 7,827, said Heinrich Wiebe, co-founder of Genius Realty. Don Hubble, owner of Meridian-based Hubble Homes, said that on Jan. 6, 2006, only 1,780 homes were listed, about one-fourth as many."

"'I don't see any recovery,' Wiebe said. 'All I see are a lot of homes that are not selling.' Wiebe said MLS data shows that 63 percent of homes for sale are owned by investors."

The Bend Bulletin from Oregon. "Eleven building projects, at a collective cost of more than $250 million, are either under way or expected to start construction this year or in early 2008. Some of the projects, like Bend developer Steven Trono's 200,000-square-foot Mercato, promise to transform their neighborhoods with innovative shops, high-end condos and expensive offices."

"Looking further out to next year and beyond, the 199-unit, five-building 500 Bond project will crown the hill above the Old Mill site with four- to five-star hotel-condo rooms. But, with 90,000 to 100,000 square feet of new retail space coming on line, along with 175 top-end condos and townhomes, at least 50,000 square feet of new leasable office space and 199 new hotel-condo rooms to sell and fill, is it all too much?"

"In a softening residential real estate market, the saleability of the district's condo and townhome projects remains to be seen. The buyers have split about half and half between local Bend buyers moving down from larger homes to out-of-town buyers."

"So far, 14 of The Plaza's 42 units are under contract. Prices average around $650,000 to $700,000 for units in the all-residential building."

"'They are that urban buyer who wants to bike or walk, who doesn't want to worry about exterior maintenance,'s said broker Debbie Tebbs. 'We've had interest from people from L.A., people from Chicago, from all over, for that type of housing. So it is a different buyer than I think we have seen in Bend.'"

"Bend developer Steven Trono is shooting even higher on the income scale, planning condos that will range to more than 3,000 square feet in size with price tags, in some cases, surpassing $3 million."

"'We're looking for maybe 26 buyers who already love Bend but don't have an urban product like this to buy into,' Trono said, 'and maybe 26 buyers who are maybe already in Bend, who want to come down from huge houses to something that's maybe still big enough they can visit with their grandkids in it. People who are living in 6,000- to 8,000-square-foot houses now.'"

"In other words, he's shooting for buyers in an income bracket that most local developments have never really tried to target."

"'Vail, Aspen, Jackson Hole. That's our competition. It's nobody in town,' said Trono, who says his experience consulting with a regionwide radio and TV network in the early 1990s convinced him that the right development in Bend could compete on that kind of dollar level."

"'I don't know if we are overbuilding,' Compass Commercial's Jeff Mollencop said. 'I think we are trying to keep up with the demand. It runs in cycles, of course. There is going to be a lot coming onto the market, and it may take some time to fill, but overall I think it's very strong and healthy.'"