Hometown Annapolis reports from Maryland. "The number of homes sold in Anne Arundel County fell about 21 percent for the second straight month, while prices were down in the midst of the national credit crisis and a slowing economy. The median sale price for a home in the county in August was $335,000, a 2.8 percent decrease from August 2006. It also was $27,403 less than prices in July."

"Joseph Cater, president of Market-Economics in Annapolis, said he expects foreclosures to increase the amount of available inventory, giving buyers plenty more to choose from. 'It's the old situation of demand and supply,' he said. 'You've got excess amount of supply and lower demand. Sellers are going to have readjust their housing prices to reflect demand.'"

"Pat Ogle, an associate broker in Annapolis, said some buyers are concerned they won't be able to get a loan because some mortgage companies have shut down, while stricter guidelines will lower the number of people who qualify for a mortgage."

"'People with marginal credit are not going to be able to get houses,' Mr. Ogle said."

"Bill Hyland, an associate broker in Annapolis, said national headlines from the subprime market fallout has caused some buyers to hesitate, thinking the worst has already arrived. 'They're cautious at the moment,' he said. 'They thought the market bottomed out.'"

"Mr. Hyland is hopeful that 'there's not much left that can happen' and said homes that are priced right will sell. 'I think most people are eager to get back in the market, but want some assurances about what they are going to pay.'"

The Baltimore Sun from Maryland. "The number of homes sold in the Baltimore area last month plummeted 17 percent from August 2006 - the largest drop in volume this year, statistics released yesterday showed."

"With the slowdown in the housing market stretching well into its second year, the inventory of unsold homes swelled to a record 20,265 listings in metropolitan Baltimore."

"'Buyers are moving much slower,' said Leslie Thomas- Vitek, an agent in Marriottsville. 'We have to try to talk to the sellers a lot and keep an eye on the competition and encourage them to reduce the price and not wait too long to do that.'"

"The slowdown has followed a four-year period in which buyers, nationally and in the Baltimore region, took advantage of low mortgage rates and easy credit to snap up properties in bidding wars that drove up values at double-digit rates. But when the home prices stopped rising, investors raced to unload properties, and inventory began to climb."

"Slower sales in the Baltimore area have come partly as a result of the credit crisis, said John McClain, a senior fellow at the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University."

"'Companies are getting stricter for qualifications on mortgages because of what's happening in the subprime mortgages,' McClain said. 'Some people might have been able to afford a house and get a mortgage three months ago, but the mortgage companies are getting more particular, and pending sales have been canceled because of this.'"

"The number of homes sold fell in all jurisdictions, as much as 23 percent in Baltimore City and Howard County."

"'The values are holding up, but the units [sold] seem to be dropping from prior months,' said William L. Yerman, president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. 'Sellers are not adjusting their prices quickly enough or aggressively enough, and that's what's causing buyers to wait it out.'"

"Many sellers, especially those who bought during the boom years when home values soared, are still counting on pre-slowdown prices, real estate agents said. The properties that settled in August sold for just under 95 percent of their asking price on average."

"Cindy Ariosa, a regional VP for Long & Foster in Baltimore, said agents have begun re-evaluating the pricing of their listings much more often than in the past, checking the prices of comparable homes on the market every couple of weeks, instead of every month or so."

"'Sellers are starting to hear the message that prices are shifting,' Ariosa said. 'The buyers are coming in low [on offers] and asking for closing costs help.'"

"Sharon Welsh and her husband have been trying since the end of June to sell their eight-year-old, four-bedroom Colonial home in Ellicott City, so they can relocate to Florida. The sellers have reduced their asking price from $749,000 to $739,900, made some minor upgrades and held open houses. Yet no offers have come in."

"'We thought with the amount of folks coming through, we'd have at least one or two offers, but there are a lot of homes in our area for sale right now,' Welsh said. 'We'll continue to advertise and have open houses and wait for the market to take a turn. I'm sure it will eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.'"

The Daily Press from Virginia. "New and existing home sales declined by double digits in July compared to the previous year, according to industry figures. Nearly all 24 regions of the state reported declines, the Virginia Association of Realtors reported."

"'Certainly, there is evidence that sales are decreasing from last year, but not enough to warrant hysteria,' said Martha Durnett, president of the Richmond Association of Realtors. 'People are still buying and people are still selling, although our inventory is increasing.'"

"In Prince William County, sales were down nearly 35 percent, among the steepest declines in the state. Thirteen regions reported double-digit percentage decreases, including the Charlottesville area with a 13.6 percent decline in sales in July from the same month a year ago."

"'It's not all bad for the buyer,' Durnett said. 'They have a lot to choose from.'"

The Daily Times from Delaware. "Feeling the pinch of a sluggish real estate market, Bayside in Fenwick Island has cut nearly 30 percent of its home building staff. The layoffs won't curtail the project's final buildout of 1,640 homes, said Patti Grimes, VP of the community division for Carl M. Freeman Associates."

"'We've had slower sales because of the market,' Grimes said. 'We're not building as many homes today as we had planned, but we're still going to build it. It just may take a year or two longer.'"

"Delaware's declining home sales mirror the problems of the national market, said Walter Molony, National Association of Realtors spokesman. 'There's just too much supply,' he said."