The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "The explosion in home foreclosures and a tightening in mortgage lending dragged down real estate prices in Massachusetts in August, a real estate research and publishing firm reported. Warren Group in Boston said median single-family home prices last month fell 4.9 percent, to $314,000, from August 2006 - the 16th consecutive month in which prices have declined."

"'Everywhere the story's the same,' said Patrick Newport, US economist for Global Insight. 'You're having more foreclosures, and they're adding to inventory, and they're putting more pressure on prices to drop.'"

"One longtime home shopper, Louis Rivers, reports the market 'feels very weak' and is 'getting slower and slower.' At open houses, he said, 'very often I'm the only person there.'"

"Rivers expresses no rush to buy now. 'I don't feel the prices are going to go up,' Rivers said."

"Randy Wilburn, a real estate agent and homebuyer counselor in Boston and Milton, called the mortgage tightening the 'X-factor' in the market. Some buyers have pulled out of sales agreements in recent weeks, he said, 'because they didn't know what was happening.'"

The Boston Herald. "'The market is stuck in a rut - (and) I think we probably have more of the same to look forward to for a while,' Warren Group chief Tim Warren said."

"Economist John Bitner of Boston-based Eastern Bank blamed the continued weakness on too many unsold homes clogging the market. 'When you have a big supply of unsold inventory, the way you move it is to drop the price,' he said. 'So, what we’re seeing is a gradual erosion of price that I think will continue until the inventory clears.'"

"Boston developer Joseph Fallon will break ground today on Fan Pier - a $1 billion-plus bet on Boston’s waterfront that comes even as the local real estate and financial landscape is shifting."

"In Charlestown, a major Navy Yard condo project recently flopped. After efforts to sell units fizzled, the developers of the new Harborview II complex opted to put the entire building on the market as a rental project."

"Meanwhile, in East Boston, a long-anticipated remake of the neighborhood’s waterfront is still pending, despite years of planning and discussion. One big project, East Pier, will move into construction next month, but as apartments, not condos, a spokeswoman said."

The Daily Times from Massachusetts. "The popping of the real-estate bubble isn't going to have much effect on local property valuations or tax revenues this fiscal year, according to the town assessor. But fiscal 2009, which starts July 1, 2008, could be a whole different story."

"Assessor Cheryl Gillespie said that's because the valuations used to compute fiscal 2008's tax rates were based on real-estate sales for 2006, before the national slump in housing sales and decline in prices." "Condominiums were the one part of the real-estate market where things weren't quite as bright in 2006, however."

"'The condo market was stable at the beginning of 2006,' Gillespie said. 'My final evaluation may show some depreciation because we have such an abundant supply of condos.'"

"The poor condo market is to blame for the recent auction of the site of the first million-dollar-per-unit luxury condo project approved for Salisbury Beach Center, said 2 Broadway's former owner Peter Carbone."

"'Everything in this business is about timing,' Carbone said at last week's public auction held by Carbone's mortgage holder, Provident Bank."

"Carbone needed to pre-sell at least eight condos priced at from $500,000 to $1 million to get the financing package to build, he said. After spending a year beating the bushes, he only had pre-sell agreements on four. That wasn't enough to get the five-story, 24-unit, residential/commercial project built or maintain the $1.4 million mortgage on the Broadway lot he paid $1.5 million for in 2006."

The New York Post. "Manhattan alone appears to be weathering the latest housing storm that's driving prices to 16-year lows across the nation's suburbs and cities."

"But the Big Apple could get cooked. Foreclosures on homes in the five boroughs surged 97 percent in August from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac data."

"In the New York metropolitan area, homebuilders have slashed prices of some new homes in the suburbs by as much as 23 percent to prod sluggish sales. Condo asking prices in the outer boroughs have also declined as much as 5 percent in some areas."

"But in Manhattan, where a one-bedroom condo on the Upper West Side sells for up to $1.5 million, sellers apparently aren't budging on their asking prices."

"'I've discussed it with some sellers about adjusting their prices, but there's a standoff - they think the [Federal Reserve's] rate cut was their reprieve,' said broker Rick Kelly."

"Kelly believes the widening housing stagnation will '"take a while - months - to soak in' with Manhattan sellers. He predicted Manhattan's first price drops will hit in the $800,000-$1.5 million co-ops and condos on the East Side and Upper West Side."

"Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of prices of existing homes in the 10 largest metropolitan areas yesterday posted a 4.5 percent drop in July from a year earlier. That's the index's largest drop since the recession of 1991." "In the New York City area index, prices slid 3.8 percent."

The Financial News. "Credit Suisse is cutting approximately 150 jobs in its mortgage-backed securities business in New York and London in the wake of redundancies by rivals in similar businesses that have been hit by the fallout from the sub-prime crisis in the US."

"A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed close to 150 jobs are to be cut, but that the redundancies would predominantly come in the New York office with only a very small proportion in London."

"A structured credit banker at a European bank in London said: 'There is inevitably going to be a degree of retrenchment within investment banks as some scale back operations this year because of losses or a fall in demand for structured products.'"

"He added: 'Bonuses will also almost certainly be down this year, provoking a lot of movement between the major participants.'"

From Newsday in New York. "Come next November, Kathryn Clejan's adjustable rate mortgage will get a whole lot more expensive. In fact, she estimates, it could rise by $1,986 a month, which the single mother of two boys can't afford."

"Clejan is carrying a $496,000 interest-only mortgage on her Manhasset home with monthly payments of $1,760. Though she says she knew when she took out the loan in 2003 that the payments would balloon at the end of five years, she had no choice. She needed the lowest possible rate or faced losing her home."

"'Having an interest-only loan kept me in my house during the divorce,' said Clejan, a loan officer at Americana Mortgage Group."

"Like many people with ARMs, Clejan is facing a difficult decision. She has to figure out how long to keep her current mortgage, which carries a 4.25 percent interest rate, before refinancing to a rate that would likely be in the 6-percent range. If she refinanced now to another interest-only mortgage, Clejan estimates her monthly tab would go up to $2,746."

"That would put a greater strain on her monthly budget at a time when her income is suffering from the turmoil in the mortgage market."

"Many homeowners with checkered financial backgrounds who obtained subprime mortgages are really stuck, real estate experts said. 'If your credit is pathetic, so are your chances of getting a loan,' said Keith Gumbinger, VP at HSH Associates."

"Some 35 percent of the loans made in 2004 carried adjustable rates, according to the Federal Housing Finance Board. Tens of thousands of Long Islanders have such loans."

"Among first-time homebuyers the estimates are as high as 50 percent, real estate experts said."

"Many of these homeowners thought -- or were told -- they could simply refinance to more favorable terms once the teaser rates were up. But they are now finding this isn't the case."

"'They played the market and they played it wrong,' said Don Romano, president of a Lake Success-based mortgage broker."

"The stagnation -- and even decline -- of housing prices has hurt some homeowners' chances of refinancing. Some are carrying mortgages worth more than their homes. 'A lot of people don't have a way out,' said Mike McHugh, mortgage banker in Melville."

"Richard of Hewlett, who asked that his last name not be used, is struggling to find a new mortgage before the monthly payments on his ARM become unaffordable. The rate, pegged at 8.25 percent for the first two years, will soar to 11.6 percent come Jan. 1."

"Richard and his wife decided to buy a home in 2005 after their landlady sold the house they were renting. They knew the $2,830 monthly payments would be a stretch, but figured they could make it work for two years while they improved their credit profiles. That would allow them to qualify for a better rate once the reset came."

"To their dismay, they have not been able to raise their scores enough...At the same time, they are seeing the value of their home decline as the market slips -- despite thousands of dollars of repairs they are doing.'"

"At this point, they are just hoping rates drop a little more so they can find a mortgage they can better afford, at least temporarily. Otherwise, Richard said he is hoping he can work more overtime."

"'It's nerve-wracking,' said Richard. 'The last thing anyone wants to do is lose their house.'"