The Clarion Ledger reports from Mississippi. "The national housing market has been cooling for some time, but local firms say the metro market, while it may have some problems, is generally bucking the trend. Only sales of high-end homes priced at $500,000 and up are languishing."

"'The high-end homes just aren't selling as fast,' said David Smith, VP of the Home Builders Association of Jackson."

"'Below the $300,000 price point, where there is a high demand, we've got a lot of inventory, but it's consistent with the number of sales we have,' said Crye-Leike real estate agent Dan Grimmett. 'When you get up in the higher price points, the $500,000 and above, we do have an abundance of supply.'"

"That hasn't stopped builders from focusing on the high-end homes though. There are 29 homes for sale in Madison County with listing prices more than $1 million, according to the MLS. 'We don't have 29 buyers,' Grimmett said."

"Ten $1 million homes were sold in Madison County during the last year, he said. 'So we have about a three-year supply of $1 million homes,' Grimmett said."

"One of the houses Grimmett has been trying to sell on the lake in Ridgeland's Bridgewater subdivision, was appraised at more than $1 million but has a $995,000 listing price. 'We're keeping it out of that $1 million-plus market,' he said."

"Smith said, as a contractor, he doesn't understand why builders continue to focus on high-end homes. 'The bigger homes are more fun to build,' Smith said. 'But the business is being saturated."'

"Smith has seen some builders with 10 to 15 $500,000 homes in inventory, he said. 'That's a lot of money to have tied up,' he said. 'I'm not sure if maybe they just aren't business-smart or what. I just don't really understand it.'"

"Smith said some builders have experienced foreclosures as they wait for the houses to be sold, but he did not have specific details. 'We're definitely seeing some fallout here,' he said."

"Some builders are adjusting to the market's demands by switching to the $200,000 and below range, Smith said, while others have decided to construct fewer homes. 'I've intentionally slowed down this year,' Smith said. 'It would help the market if everyone did that.'"

The Shreveport Times from Louisiana. "When some lenders opened the door to everyone wanting to get a slice of the American dream, a home with a neatly manicured lawn of their own, people stepped through. Bad credit? No problem. Not enough money for a down payment? No problem."

"'There are a lot of people who closed on loans who shouldn't have been approved,' said Mike Anderson, president of the Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association."

"Though other areas in the nation are doing worse, the Shreveport-Bossier City area is no exception to the trend. In Caddo Parish, the number of foreclosures jumped from six in March 2006 to 46 a year later, according to RealtyTrac. That latest figure was only one more than the 45 reported for February."

"Foreclosures reported for Bossier Parish jumped from one in March 2006 to 17 for March 2007."

"The substantial jump could be partly attributed to a moratorium on foreclosures for hurricane-ravaged areas that expired in May 2006. However, Darin Domingue, deputy chief examiner for the state's Office of Financial Institutions couldn't say what accounted for the jump in foreclosures in the Shreveport-Bossier City area."

"'It's a little bit hard to see the impact Katrina would've had on these parishes,' said Daren Blomquist, for RealtyTrac."

"Donna Johnson, branch manager for Allied Home Mortgage in Shreveport, believes the same thing that is hitting struggling homeowners nationwide is impacting homeowners locally. The branch is getting calls from customers in need of refinancing because they have waited too long, she said."

"Higher home prices and rising property taxes also could be part of the problem. 'The thing about Louisiana is we have not incurred the incredible price increase in housing that other states have,' said Dave Brennan, president of Brennan Mortgage, adding $100,000 or $150,000 will get buyers a decent house in Louisiana. 'Then again, our income is not as high as other states.'"

"But, 'Louisiana just doesn't have that much of those type products,' Domingue said of subprime loans. 'Only 13.9 percent of the Louisiana market was subprime.'"

"However, the industry that experienced a boom is changing. Fears of feds stepping in already have put some lenders on edge. 'Washington is working on it,' Anderson said. 'Credit has already tightened. People who were getting approved for a mortgage three months ago, those same people are being rejected today.'"

The Associated Press reports on Texas. "On former grazing land more than 15 miles north of downtown (Fort Worth), workers on bulldozers are carving out pads for upscale apartment buildings that will soon sprout from the prairie."

"'Right now, rental housing is extremely cheap compared to for-sale housing,' said Steve Patterson, chief executive of Florida developer ZOM Holding Inc. 'The difference can be 40 percent or more,' even after the tax deduction for mortgage interest."

"Rentals are also getting a boost from tighter lending standards, which make it harder for people with marginal credit ratings to buy property."

"Some developers believe the biggest factor is the weak housing market itself. During hot housing markets, like the early 2000s, young people believed that if they didn't buy immediately, prices would rise so fast that they could never afford a house or condo. That urgency is gone."

"'A lot of them are going into rentals, and they will continue to do that until the for-sale market returns or the psychology of buying becomes positive again,' said Ron Terwilliger, CEO of Trammell Crow Residential, one of the nation's largest developers of condos and apartments."

"Apartment vacancy rates remain high in historical terms. According to the Census Bureau, rental housing vacancies were 10.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, down only three-tenths of a point from their high in 2004."

"Developers say much of that is the lingering effect of overbuilding in the 1990s. They say many of the vacancies are in older properties that aren't appealing to most renters. That's why they're building new ones, and often upscale."

"'This year, for the first time in many years, there will be a burst of new apartment construction,' said Alan Nevin, director of economic research at MarketPointe Realty Advisors."

"Some of that burst will come from projects that were originally planned as hotels or condominiums. In March, Trammell Crow bought an abandoned condo project in downtown Denver and plans to build about 450 luxury apartments on the land."

"In San Diego, builder D.R. Horton Inc. recently sold a lot it planned for condos to an apartment developer at a loss of $3 million plus costs."