The Dallas Morning News reports from Texas. "Almost 43,000 Dallas-Fort Worth area home foreclosure postings were recorded for 2007 – up 10 percent from last year and near a record. Home foreclosures in the D-FW area have grown by about 50 percent in the last five years, due in large part to lax lending standards, analysts say. The number of homes facing foreclosure for December's sale is up 14 percent from the same month of last year, Foreclosure Listing Service reported Thursday."

"This biggest jump is in Collin County, where the number of houses threatened with foreclosure next month is up by almost a third. Foreclosures are also up 23 percent in Denton County."

"'I think it is safe to say that the postings for the Dallas-Fort Worth area are at all-time highs,' said George Roddy, president of Foreclosure Listing Service."

"'The problem loans that were made between 2003 and 2006 are coming back to bite us,' Mr. Roddy said. 'Bad, or better said, ill-conceived loans are going to be a thorn in the side of the D-FW economy for years to come.'"

"Much of Middle America – including most Texas cities – will dodge the worst of the housing downturn, the top Realtor economist predicts. Many areas of the country, including North Texas, are holding up well, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, said."

"Sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are running about 7 percent below the year-ago pace."

"'The first thing you have to look at in your marketplace is what is the change in new listings,' said housing analyst John Tuccillo. 'The market will not recover until the new listings in your market begin to fall.'"

"Through the first 10 months of the year, new listings are down 1 percent from the same period of 2006, according to the North Texas Real Estate Information System. However, the time it takes to sell a house in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has crept higher."

"'The days on market must begin to fall' before the market can recover, Mr. Tuccillo said."

"Realtor executives (meeting this week in Las Vegas) did their best to blame media reports for much of the market's woes. But the real estate agents themselves aren't blameless for the excesses that now plague the home market."

"'Realtors and mortgage brokers make the deal, get their check and walk away,' Mr. Tuccillo said. 'The system is set up so that in times of excess, the front end automatically makes bad decisions.'"

"Mr. Yun said many housing markets stretching 'from the Rocky Mountain states to Appalachia' have undervalued home prices and won't be clobbered by dramatic price declines. 'In Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, for instance, we are seeing double-digit price appreciation.'"

The American Statesman. "The Monarch won't emerge as condos after all. First planned as apartments and then changed to condominiums, the 305-unit residential tower that is under construction in downtown Austin has been switched back to apartments."

"ZOM Texas Inc. said the decision was based on timing rather than demand, with uncertainty in the mortgage markets a factor in slowing buyers' decisions. 'The buyers are there, just not at the pace we needed by early 2008,' when the project opens, said Steve Buck, chief operating officer of ZOM Cos."

"Prospective buyers had put 20 percent of the units under contract in the past two months, said Kevin Burns, a broker (who) had been marketing the units. But John Faulk, development manager for ZOM Texas, said the volume of sales had slowed to such a point that ZOM didn't think it could meet its internal goal of selling 70 percent of the units by April, when the 29-story building on West Fifth Street is scheduled to open."

"'The demand was clearly there,' Faulk said. 'We just got caught in this time crunch.'"

"The sales goal was roughly the amount needed to pay off the project's construction loan, Faulk said."

"ZOM will refund earnest-money down payments of 10 percent on the units, which were priced from $229,000 to $1.75 million. ZOM will start leasing the units as apartments in February; monthly rents will start at $1,650."

"'We have had a little pessimism in the marketplace,' Burns said. 'People are dotting their i's and crossing their t's before making a decision to purchase. This is a psychological issue right now. This is not a bellwether of our market.'"

From KXAN. "Attorney General Greg Abbott said the rate of foreclosures in Texas is a crisis. He also warned that some lenders are contributing to the problem."

"'In part, because a lot of these homeowners were misled into entering into these loans to begin with, that we've been involved in bringing legal actions against some of these sub prime mortgage lenders, such as Ameriquest,' Abbott said."

"KXAN Austin News spoke with two realtors Monday, who said that the foreclosure rate in Travis County is actually down 15 percent, compared to this time last year. Carl Shurr, a real-estate professional, said that foreclosure rates could be about to increase."

"The fallout from the sub prime debacle, which had new homeowners with lower credit scores buying, has yet to make its impact. The problem with the market is that many new homebuyers are purchasing adjustable-rate mortgages."

"'If inflation continues and rates keep increasing, adjustable rate mortgages are going to go right with that. Even though foreclosures are down 7 percent since last year, they're up 112 percent since 2001,' said Shurr."

The Herald Tribune. "Waco Town Square has been tweaked to include 164 loft-style residences called the Austin Avenue Flats, spread over 150,000 square feet — more than twice the housing space developers first considered. They say they’re only responding to demand."

"'Our studies show people want to live downtown,' said Michael Wray, of Waco, who will oversee development of the lofts."

"The group now says it will build nearly 150,000 square feet of lofts, compared with the 60,000 square feet it once considered."

"Meanwhile, proposed office space has dropped from 68,680 square feet to about 10,000, while restaurant/retail space has fallen from 61,880 square feet to about 34,000."

"'From my standpoint, the more people downtown, the better,' said City Manager Larry Groth. 'If we can create developments that put bodies here 24/7, that goes a long way toward overcoming the perception of a crime problem downtown, and it really is only perception. People also drive demand for other services, and they use public spaces.'"

From KFOX News. "El Pasoans have begun to see the national foreclosure problems hit along the Borderland. Because of all the recent foreclosures, mortgage companies have decided to tighten up, giving fewer people loans, and as a result, fewer people are buying homes."

"KFOX met up with one Far East El Paso family that has decided to move out of their own home, but not by choice. They've been forced out by foreclosure."

"'Time went by and all of a sudden, just I don't know, $8,000 into the hole, and the next thing I hear is foreclosure, so now I got to take care of the whole situation,' said Jorge Pina who owns the home."

"Pina rented out his home to a family that got behind on payments on a high interest loan they received from a mortgage company."

"'It was pretty much a 10 percent loan, pretty much this whole deal was rushed in there. It could have been done at a lower percentage, but since the tenant was kind of urging to get it fast, get it quick, then that's what caused the original problem,' said Pina."

"'Mortgage companies are having hard times qualifying people, they are asking for more prerequisites to qualify buyers,' said Rosalinda Medina with Success Realty."

"What may only compound the problem is homes are selling for significantly less than what they're worth, and what the homeowners originally paid for."

"'Houses used to sell like this one, used to sell for like 195, now it's only like, 175, 180. It's like $10,000 or $15,000 less than last year,' said Medina."