KTVZ reports from Oregon. "You have to go all the way back to 2000 for a May in which fewer Bend homes sold than last month, the surest sign yet that the High Desert is anything but immune from the nation's real-estate cooldown, and there are new signs prices finally are dropping, to reflect that chill." The numbers from the Central Oregon MLS are dramatically clear, showing the slowest month of the year, at a time of year when home sales normally start to pick up."

"There were 120 homes sold in Bend (without large acreage) last month, said Realtor Rob Eggers. That compares to 146 sales in April and 156 in March, and is even slower than the typically frigid winter months, 128 homes sold in Bend in February and 133 in January, he said."

"Bend's May home sales figure is the lowest since 2000, when 101 homes sold that month, fairly equally split between west and east. The 2007 number is comparable to the 125 homes sold in May of 2001, a figure that steadily climbed to the super-hot figures of 2005 (256 May home sales) and 2006 (down a bit, to 242)."

"'One of the most baffling stats from May is that the median sale price for the Westside actually went up roughly 15 percent' from a year ago, Eggers said."

"'There's definitely some conflicting data in the MLS right now concerning pricing,' Eggers said, but he agreed with observers who said 'May prices may have been skewed by 11 $1 million-plus homes closing where on average we have about one to three close per month.'"

"'Regardless of what the numbers say, prices are dropping,' the Realtor said. 'According to our 24-hour market watch on the MLS, yesterday (Tuesday) there were roughly 65 new listings, 25 sale pending, 30 closings and 127 price reductions. Those reductions will ultimately lead to lower prices throughout our market.'"

"'People are hesitant to buy right now because if they wait a month or two, prices may come down even further. Exactly the opposite of 2005 and 2006, (when) sellers were hesitant to put their home on the market because if they waited a month or so longer to list, they could earn more equity, he said."

The Bend Bulletin from Oregon. "Last year, the houses that Sun Creek Homes built in its little subdivision in east Bend flew off the market nearly as fast as they went up. Not this year, though."

"The 14th and last home, finished in the spring, still stands unsold, Meridian Realty owner Natalka Hamilton said Tuesday. Despite a 13.25 percent price reduction. And despite the builder's offer to pay thousands of dollars in closing costs."

"Why? Investors who could have easily afforded its $338,000 price tag have long since fled the market, leaving mostly first-time buyers to pick up homes in the region's lower-end $250,000 to $350,000 price range, Hamilton said."

"And, with the rug pulled out from under the market's once plentiful supply of no-money-down, no-documentation loans, fewer first-timers can afford to buy, even if they wanted to."

"'You actually have to have 5 percent (down) of your own money right now,' Hamilton said."

"In Redmond, the month's sales plunged to 38, according to the MLS, 61 percent off of the still hot-market sales of May 2006, and also the weakest May in the last five years."

"Compared with May sales of 2004 through 2006, May 2007 sales also were off in Crook and Jefferson counties."

"In Bend, sales of homes worth $400,000 or less last month were down 65 percent from May 2006, according to the MLS. Sales in the $400,000 to $750,000 range were down 39.7 percent, while sales in the $750,000 to $1 million range slid 22 percent."

"Redmond's generally lower-priced market showed even more weakness compared with May of last year, with sales in the $250,000 to $400,000 range off 71 percent and sales of $250,000 or less off 33.3 percent. Nothing sold for more than $522,000 in Redmond in May."

"Only 169 building permits were issued throughout the region in May, according to Cascade Central Business Consultants President Don Patton. That's about on a par with the first five months of this year but 52 percent less than the torrid pace of May 2006 when the market was still booming."

"Inside the industry, the strains are apparent. Subcontractors are easier to find in nearly all trades this spring than they were last, WoodHill Homes President George Hale said, and their prices are either down or have at least stopped rising."

"'It really hits everybody,' Hale said. 'Mortgage brokers, Realtors, title companies, anybody who has any kind of piece in the real estate industry is really feeling the slowdown.'"

"Mortgage brokers, in particular, have been whipsawed by fallout from the sudden decay of the subprime lending industry, said Rockland Dunn, last year's president of the Central Oregon chapter of the Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals."

"Several offices around town, including Dunn's own, have laid off brokers, Dunn said. The rest are waiting to see where things stabilize."

"'We rode the wave, and now it's going to get back to a normal buyers' market, rather than the artificial one we had created,' Dunn said."

"Sam Jauchius moved here a few weeks ago from Sacramento. He's living in his RV now while his wife tries to sell their old house, which could take awhile. But, even in Sacramento's slumping market, Jauchius figures he'll make enough to easily afford a Bend house and everything that goes with it."

"'It's beautiful. So I'm here for the duration,' Jauchius said."