The News Times Live reports from Connecticut. "In the United States, the housing market is still locked in a slump that began a year ago. In Connecticut, it's been more of a slowdown than a crash. Area Realtors said they think the market will straighten out this summer, after being overheated for several years, then hitting the wall in 2006."

"'There was a hiss in the balloon, not a bursting,' said (realtor) Betty Hensel in Brookfield. 'There's still a good market for sellers who are realistic about it.'"

"Others don't share Kidder's optimism, or her good numbers. In Danbury, Sean Hearty, director of the city's Permit Center, said housing starts are down 'substantially.' 'Overall, it's going down,' he said of new home construction in the city."

"Linda Hannah, president of the Ridgefield Board of Realtors, said Realtors are still dealing with a big inventory of homes on the market. 'We have 317 homes on the market, 24 of those have a bid accepted on them,' she said. 'Normally, that number is 200 to 225.'"

"'There's an oversupply,'said Realtor Matt Rose Lombardi in Danbury."

"Hannah said in 2006 an average price for a single-family home in Ridgefield was about $934,000. In 2007, that price has dropped to about $855,000. Hensel also said sellers, who a few years ago could market their homes without worrying about dust or crabgrass, have learned they have to prettify the place."

"'You have to put on your best face,' she said. 'The house has to look perfect...A couple of years ago, that didn't matter.'"

The Providence Journal from Rhode Island. "The weekly staff meeting ran long in Coleman Realtors office this recent spring morning. The chief topic was something real-estate agents across the country are grappling with. What to do with sellers who bought at the top of the market but now can’t even get the same price they paid?"

"'What can we do for them?' Sue Erkkinen, Coleman’s top seller statewide, says with a sigh after the meeting. 'It reminds me of the 1980s.'"

"'A few years ago 'you’d have an open house and collect five or six offers,' she recalls. 'Now we show [homes] over and over and over. Buyers are finding fault with the smallest things.'"

"'Pricing the listing has become critical,' Michael Young, a former president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, says. 'With such a large inventory of homes, there is a great deal of competition among sellers. The correct price is the key marketing issue.'"

"In early May, there were 6,085 single-family houses listed for sale on the statewide MLS. For the same period last year and in 2005 the numbers were 5,711 and 3,472 respectively."

The Telegram from Massachusetts. "Worcester had the third-highest foreclosure numbers in the state, trailing only Boston and Springfield."

"Worcester had 237 filings for foreclosure in 2003, followed by 308 the following year and 445 in 2005, according to data provided by ForeclosuresMass.com. Last year there were 850 foreclosure proceedings initiated in the city, and the city is on track to pass 1,100 this year."

"Jeremy B. Shapiro, president of ForeclosureMass.com, said the problem will not get better in the short term, even with government relief efforts. 'When you look at the increase from last year, it’s astronomically high, and even if it remains flat, it’s still double what we’ve seen in the past year,' he said."

"'I have seen cases where people bought over their heads,' said Scott M. Hayman, director of housing for the city. mentioning a borrower who should not have been a candidate for a loan, but received one, then took out another to make repairs on the second floor, which was uninhabitable when he bought the property."

"When higher rates kicked in when the loan reset, the owner didn’t obtain help or work with the lender and was foreclosed upon, he said."

"Francis D. Paquette, director of the NeighborWorks Home Ownership Center, which provides foreclosure prevention counseling, said he is getting an increasing number of calls. 'It’s getting to be a rather large problem,' he said."

"Mr. Paquette said some lenders were careless in reviewing loan applications, awarding mortgages to clients who would run into trouble when their interest rates adjusted upward. 'In some cases there were bad lending practices by some lending companies. They probably knew they (borrowers) wouldn’t have been able to make payments down the road, but they got their payment and commissions, and the mortgage has probably been sold a couple of times.'"

"Homeowners trying to dodge foreclosure by selling their property have another problem: A slumping real estate market marked by falling prices and a glut of homes."

The Record from New Jersey. "The public auction ended as abruptly as the final episode of 'The Sopranos.' The developer's principal admitted the auction was a marketing gimmick, created to kick off a sales campaign for the luxury condo complex on Hoboken's quickly changing west side."

"As of a week ago, Remi Cos. planned to put 40 of the 128 units on the auction block Sunday to see what the market would bear. However, by the time proceedings began in a Jersey City hotel ballroom, the list had been cut to 16, and without notice, it was cut to nine after about a half-hour of spirited bidding."

"The apartments that were sold brought in $3.6 million, about two-thirds of what developers said was their last asking price, but a third higher than minimum prices they had set."

"About 200 people showed up, and some viewed the sudden end to proceedings as a sign that the condo market is hurting. 'It's bad P.R.,' said Sean Munroe of Ridgewood, who predicted that Sunday's results would push prices down. 'There's a glut of condos here.'"

"Even before the auction was halted, Deedre Miranda, who rents an apartment in Hoboken, had left. Like many of the attendees, she was looking for a bargain, but the bidding was 'a little past' her price range."