The Daily Camera reports from Colorado. "More Boulder County residents defaulted on their home loans in October than they have during any month in the past decade. The 107 foreclosures reported by the Boulder County Public Trustee's Office even bested August's 103 filings, which previously held the dubious 10-year high honor. Only 10 months into the year, 2007 already is Boulder County's worst year in reported foreclosures since the late 1980s."

"The Boulder area, often countercyclical to national trends, started feeling the pinch before other regions out-of-state, said veteran mortgage lender Lou Barnes, adding he has noticed the supply of 'bad mortgage ideas' has been choked off and new construction came to a bit of a halt this year."

"'We were early to the party, and with any luck, we'll be early to leave it,' he said. 'But I'm afraid that the Front Range of Colorado is a good predictor for what's ahead' in places such as California, New York, Arizona and Washington, D.C."

"Excessive land subdivision has helped fuel the foreclosure glut in the Front Range, said Barnes, noting this has occurred particularly in the area he calls the 'foreclosure belt,' near the Interstate-25 North corridor that includes counties such as Weld, Adams and Arapahoe."

"The effects from the subdivisions are 'going to be with us for a long time, and will tend to inhibit future appreciation,' Barnes said."

The Tribune from Colorado. "Northern Colorado already is almost two years into a housing slump, and the list of casualties keeps growing. Home construction loans are down 48 percent at one local bank. Building permits for remodels and new construction in the region also are down about 50 percent. Sales taxes for Greeley building permits are down about half."

"'This downturn is by far the worst I've seen in ... 43 years,' said Jim Pask, northern Colorado Market Manager a lumberyard in Greeley."

"The feverish pace of home building since 2000 created an oversupply on the market in recent years. That market, however, couldn't sustain after three years of record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures and layoffs. The most recent crash of the sub-prime market put the brakes on a lot of home lending, making loans for first-time buyers hard to come by."

"Summer 2006 seemed to make the downturn more of a reality when Lennar, a national home builder, left the northern Colorado market. That's also when the city of Greeley started seeing the building permit numbers plummet. Numbers continue to slide."

"'Most everyone pulled their projects in and saw the writing on the wall,' said Tim Swanson, chief building official for Greeley. 'Most of the home builders have just not been throwing them in the ground the way they were. We issued 14 single-family dwelling permits in October. We projected that we'd do 175 for the year and we're still on track. But, in 2005, we did 750.'"

"'Up here, construction is a big deal,' said Larry Wood, president of Union Colony Bank in Greeley, where construction loans are down 48 percent."

"'Construction lending is something that rolls fairly rapidly,' Wood explained. 'Every six months a house is built and paid off. Then you do another one, and you collect loan fees. So that churn helps the income. And the churn isn't there anymore.'"

"The proverbial storm may be a long one. Industry officials initially looked toward 2008 to be the turn-around year, but now all thoughts are moving to 2009."

"'(Next year) is going to be a tougher year,' Wood added. 'But I do think it could be a good absorption year, not necessarily bring in a lot of profit, but with the opening of new business and hiring people that will absorb that excess inventory, by 2009, we'll start building houses again.'"

The Arizona Republic. "The once-sizzling market for high-rise downtown Phoenix condos has cooled. Phoenix leaders have touted condo dwellers as a crucial part of downtown's resurgence, saying residents would help sustain nearby shops and their foot traffic would inject the neighborhood with 24-7 vitality."

"Now, plans to attract those condo dwellers have questions marks. Developers say condo sales have slowed to a trickle. Countywide, condos sales are down 37 percent compared with the market peak in 2005, when more than 19,000 condos were sold."

"The condo market has supply-and-demand problems, experts say. On the supply side, there has been a tide of downtown Phoenix condo projects. Since 2005, city figures show, 383 condos and townhouses have been built in the downtown core. More than 2,000 more are under construction or are in the pipeline."

"Attorney Marshall Meyer is trying to sell his family's midtown luxury condo and is considering where to buy his next one. To Meyers, the downtown condos, which range from the high $300,000s to beyond $1 million, seem overpriced."

"He admitted he may not have to make that decision anytime soon. 'The market as, you know, is not great,' Meyers said. 'I am not expecting a fast sell.'"

"Doug Duncan, the Mortgage Bankers Association's economist, said he sees the condo market as a bellwether for the overall housing market. His mortgage-bankers group predicted the overall housing slump because of the price trend in condos. Now, the industry is keeping an eye on condos for signs of recovery."

"'I always watch condos as the leading edge of where the market is going to go,' Duncan said."

Independent Newspapers on Arizona. "Every news source across the nation says the housing market is in the toilet, but an Apache Junction Realtor is beginning to see positive changes in AJ. 'I think it is crazy to have all this doom and gloom in the media' concerning the real estate market,' Dale Gorny, owner of Arizona Prime Estates in Apache Junction, said."

"Ms. Gorny said she is seeing dismal numbers, but 'summer is always a slow (time of year) even in the hottest of markets.'"

"A Nov. 1 study conducted by Dr. Jay Q. Butler, at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus, concluded Pinal County’s resale housing market will continue to see a declining trend."

"According to Dr. Butler’s study, the new home has become a strong competitive and attractive alternative to the resale home in Pinal County due to its attractive long-term investment opportunity. Dr. Butler attributes the decline to 'higher gasoline prices, more congested highways and limited employment opportunities.'"

"Dr. Butler said the 'key issue facing Apache Junction is that investors were drawn to the inexpensive housing in Pinal County, (but) higher prices have limited their role in the local housing market.'"

"According to Ms. Gorny, the housing market’s 'actual dollar amount value has only gone down 8 percent.' Ms. Gorny said she has 'a gut feeling that by the end of next year things are going to start recovering.'"

"Ms. Gorny explains 'Arizona is still the destination (state)' and 'what I think is going to happen is sellers (are going to) need to be more flexible. It is definitely a buyers market.'"

The Daily Courier from Arizona. "Prescott Valley: A sharp drop in sales tax revenues has town officials looking into ways to cut expenses. William Kauppi, director of management services, said sales tax revenues are down approximately 16 percent in the first quarter of the 2007-08 fiscal year."

"The construction sector is down 40.7 percent and Kauppi said that slumping sector is responsible for the lion's share of the downturn."

"'We didn't anticipate this kind of decrease in construction,' he said. 'We're going to consider this is the fiscal trend for the year.' Unless the town's economy suddenly turns around, Kauppi said it means town coffers will accrue about $2 million less."

"'It is what it is,' said Councilwoman Lora Lee Nye. 'Every economy is adjusting and we're no different than anyone else.'"

From KVBC in Nevada. "It's the upside of the slump in housing prices. If you're ready to buy a new home, this is a really good time. More than 20 new subdivisions in southern Nevada are selling homes for under $200,000."

"Homes we visited near Nellis and Hacienda at Hacienda Park are going for $230,000, but the prices have been slashed to try to sell the remaining homes in the subdivision."

"At least 25 new subdivisions in southern Nevada are reportedly selling homes for under $200,000. That's more than $100,000 less than the median price for a Las Vegas home."

"'We have not seen that price point in some time,' Monica Caruso with Southern Nevada Home Builders Association told News 3. 'These are brand new homes with all of the other amenities and conveniences.'"

"But these prices may not be around too long. With the opening of major new Strip resorts like The Palazzo later this year, experts say our population and the number of jobs will continue to grow. And that is setting the scene for a housing shortage as early as 2009."

"And the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association says when you have a housing shortage the immediate impact is rising prices. Experts believe that prices have probably fallen to about as low as they're going to go."

The Deseret News from Utah. "Utah's homebuilders are entering uncertain times. 'The market is definitely going through some changes,' said Eric Allen, director Utah/Idaho region for market research firm MetroStudy. 'We're getting back into what we consider a more normal market.'"

"He added the area is coming off record years in the number of homes constructed and sold, but now the market has come to a point where those homes need to be absorbed. Along the Wasatch Front, the inventory of newly constructed finished vacant homes is around 32 percent. He said 20-25 percent is typically considered healthy."

"In response to the notion that many potential homebuyers are waiting to find out if housing prices will fall, homebuilder Paul Magleby said, 'That's human nature, they're going to pull back to see if they can get a better deal.'"

"'But the best deal might be right now,' he said because homebuilders can capitalize on lower lumber prices and better rates from their contractors needing work right now."

The Salt Lake Tribune from Utah. "For years, the positive news has flowed about the Salt Lake City area's booming residential real estate market. For months, Utah Realtors have been trying to get across the message that the Wasatch Front's home-sale market is relatively immune to the deep and troublesome downturn plaguing housing nationally."

"But in recent weeks, reports about the downside of the Wasatch Front market are starting to surface."

"Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody's Economy.com, conducted (an) analysis for Fortune and offers up this sobering forecast: A home in the Salt Lake area worth $464,000 in June 2007 could be worth only $360,000 in five years."

"'At the very least, the Salt Lake real estate market will go from boom to something uncomfortable over the next couple of years,' Zandi said."

"Zandi's analysis is based on the fact that home prices and rents historically track each other. But in recent years, home prices have risen much faster than rents in the Salt Lake area, putting that relationship out of whack. The only way to restore that relationship is for rents to rise and home prices to fall."

"Jim Bringhurst, president of the Utah Association of Realtors, doesn't buy the prediction of falling prices. Utah and Salt Lake City have strong economies, strong employment rates and a steady flow of people moving in from other states. All those factors, along with historically low mortgage rates, bode well for the area's residential real estate market, Bringhurst said."

"Zandi...cites the example of Las Vegas, which is suffering through huge inventories of homes for sale and declining prices. 'Just two years ago, Nevada had one of the top rates of job growth,' he said. Today, the Las Vegas market is hurting big-time, along with Phoenix, Los Angeles and other Western cities, because bloated inventories are contributing to selling-price declines."

"Zandi said in the Salt Lake area, higher-priced homes...may be the most vulnerable because 'it's part of the market that was most infected by investors and speculation.' But he believes the downturn probably will be felt in all price ranges."

"Economist Kelly Matthews of Wells Fargo Bank in Salt Lake City said he wouldn't be surprised to see selling-price declines. Earlier this year, he examined the disparity between income gains and housing price increases and has been delivering the unpopular message that the Salt Lake area has a real affordability problem, even with strong job growth and low interest rates."

"He worries that prices of some homes may have to drop by double-digit percentages before demand kicks up yet again. 'Nobody wants to lose money, but we're caught in a situation where we can't sell all these homes on the market without discounting their prices.'"

"'I don't think anyone knows how far or fast prices have to fall before we can move some of the homes that are sitting on the market and we can start building homes again. But clearly our market is out of whack,' Kelly said."