Chicago Business reports from Illinois. "Buyers signed contracts for 1,207 downtown condos and townhomes in the quarter, a 46% plunge from 2,243 in the year-earlier period, according to a report by a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm. It was the seventh straight quarter of declining sales and the biggest quarterly percentage drop so far."

"'Buyers have numerous options. They have little sense of urgency,' the report says. 'And these buyers are now fewer in number with the retreat of many investors and speculators who had been flooding the market a few years ago.'"

"Some developers have responded to the weaker market by scaling back their plans. Yet other developers are moving full speed ahead with new projects, indicating that the supply of unsold condos is more likely to rise than fall in the coming months."

"Downtown developers had 7,416 unsold condos at the end of the first quarter, up only slightly from 7,405 at the end of 2006. Sales fell 29% last year, to 5,783 units, and could drop to 3,500 to 4,000 units in 2007, Appraisal Research estimates."

The Chicago Tribune. "With first-quarter downtown condominium sales cut nearly in half from the year-ago period, auctions are a quick way to sell, eliminating months of carrying costs for owners willing to let go of property for well below asking prices."

"The number of properties sold on the block has doubled from last year for Inland Real Estate Auctions Inc. 'Now there's an oversupply of pretty much everything, including luxury housing,' said Frank Diliberto, Inland Real Estate Auctions president. 'For higher-priced housing, there may be less inventory, but there are fewer buyers.'"

"Until 18 months ago, most of the company's Midwest activity involved commercial property. Now, its auctions involve a substantial supply of housing. The last time the company had so much residential activity was in the real estate downturn of the early 1990s, he said."

"Last month Inland auctioned 17 newly renovated condos in the Rogers Park neighborhood. They sold for about 15 percent below asking price on average."

The Courier News. "Home prices in Illinois held steady in the first quarter of 2007, but sales plummeted more than 14 percent from the year-ago figures, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors."

"Association figures for Kane County show a slightly greater dip in single-family home sales: down 16.7 percent compared to first-quarter 2006 sales." "The median home sale price in Kane County was $243,000, down about 3 percent over the same period last year."

"Mary Roberts, broker in Elgin, conceded the market is slow and noted she and her associates now consider it 'normal' if sales take a bit longer to consummate. 'We know for several years' the delay in selling a home 'was out of sight, and now we're back to the normal six-month time to sell a home,' Roberts said."

"'There are still buyers out there, but your home has to be one of the best if not the best in order to get chosen from all those in the marketplace,' she said."

"Roberts said some buyers may seem a bit too cautious, but most simply want to see 'everything that's out there.' 'There's a lot more for buyers to look at, which makes it very confusing,' Roberts said."

The Post Cresent from Wisconsin. "Local real estate professional Dawn Christensen wasn't surprised to see that sales of existing homes in Wisconsin were down for the first quarter of 2007."

"'The early numbers never look good, but as we get into April and May, things do tend to pick up,' Christensen said."

"The Wisconsin Realtors Association, citing National Association of Realtors figures, Tuesday reported statewide home sales fell 6.5 percent for the first quarter of 2007."

"David Clark, an economist with C3 Statistical Solutions Inc. in Milwaukee, which compiles sales data for the state realtor's group, said the numbers do reflect a 'softening in the market.'"

"'Buyers are seeing homes on the market longer so they know they can bid down,' Clark said."

"Several counties in northeast Wisconsin experienced reductions in sales volume including Brown County down 2.4 percent; Outagamie County down 5.2 percent; Waupaca County dropped 9.4 percent, and Winnebago slid 13.6 percent when compared with last year."

"Sales drops were most noticeable in Kewaunee County, down 21.4 percent, and Door County, down 27.9 percent. Sales volume fell 5.9 percent in south central Wisconsin and dropped 7.8 percent in the southeastern part of the state. Sales in the northern Wisconsin were down 10.6 percent."

The Downtown Journal from Minnesota. "Home foreclosures are relatively infrequent Downtown, with the exception of a 90-year-old brick building that has tallied 15 foreclosures since August 2006."

"The cause of the foreclosure spike at 607 Washington is something of a mystery, but real estate documents indicate that three condo owners are behind nine of the foreclosures, with more than one foreclosure in some condos due to multiple creditors."

"Several units in the building remained on the market for two years and sold in the summer of 2005 at hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the original list price, a trend that seemed odd to some Downtown real estate agents."

"The building’s foreclosure plight is not representative of the rest of Downtown, although Downtown foreclosures doubled in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of last year."

"The city’s 7th Ward, which encompasses Downtown, saw 49 foreclosures in all of 2006 and 26 foreclosures in the first quarter of 2007."

"Unit 407, advertised to be a 1,560-square-foot space with hardwood floors and a Jacuzzi, was listed as a 1,610-square-foot unit in March 2003 for $399,900 with no takers. Then in July 2005, the unit was relisted for $559,900 for 37 days, and listed again at $600,000 for four days."

"The unit closed on Sept. 30, 2005 at a price of $600,000 with a seller’s contribution of $98,098. That unit was foreclosed on twice in 2006, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office."

"The story varies from unit to unit, but tax records indicate that all of the foreclosed units have sold for $140,100–$449,100 more than the 2003 list price, an average unit price increase of about 77 percent over three years."

"Resident Amit Vas said he moved into the building in December and said he doesn’t know much about what is happening there. 'There aren’t very many occupied [units],' he said. 'I hardly see anybody.'"

"'We have no idea what’s going on; we don’t care,' said one employee."

"There are five units in the building currently listed for sale by a variety of different agents, and three of those units were foreclosures. Angela Larson, (an) agent selling a unit at 607 Washington, said she is listing it at $200,000 less than it was sold for a year ago."

"'As soon as a couple of them start going down it makes it hard to get financing in the building, and it makes people not want to buy and it makes it worse for everybody,' Larson said."