The Times News reports from Idaho. "There is such a glut of high-priced homes for sale in southeast Idaho that it could be years before they all attract buyers, experts predict. Jefferson County has a 20-year inventory of homes priced at $500,000 or higher, the Snake River Regional MLS reported. Bingham County has a nine-year inventory and Bonneville County a three-year inventory."

"'What happened was the builders mismatched the market,' realtor Steve Taggart told the Post Register. 'Two years ago, we had all these people coming up from California, so they went and built all these high-end spec homes.'"

"'You have investors who are just waiting,' said Ryan Nickel, owner of Cherry Creek Mortgage in Rexburg."

The Mail Tribune from Oregon. "The return of sanity to the local real estate market has come at a price. Locally, the fallout has contributed to a growing inventory of homes for sale that is nearing the 2,400 mark."

"'I think people are sort of getting the idea that there are changes in the mortgage market and finding they have to put more of their own money in when they buy a house,' said Rick Harris of Coldwell Banker Pro West Real Estate in Ashland. 'They're finding they actually have to have a job and some decent credit.'"

"According to the latest figures compiled by the Southern Oregon MLS, the median price of $243,000 for existing Jackson County homes, sold between Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, declined 9.3 percent compared to a similar period in 2006. The inventory of homes, meanwhile, grew unabated."

"Many of the buyers who fueled the upswing have contributed to the decline by selling. Add to that the dearth of California buyers with cash in hand, because the Golden State's real estate market is far worse, and it's easy to see why 'For Sale' signs spring up faster than weeds."

"'Inside the inventory there are distress sales,' said Mike Malepsy, owner of Windermere Trails End Real Estate. 'You'll see 10 listings for three-bed, two-bath homes in an area for $200,000 to $250,000. There will be two or three in the remarks that say 'Must sell' or 'Make an offer.' If you really have to sell, you have to compete with the desperate home sellers, and that drives the prices down.'"

The News Tribune from Washington. "Year-over-year median home prices in Pierce County declined for the third consecutive month in November as sales remained slow. Sales of homes, including houses and condominiums, decreased by 31 percent for the same month in 2006."

"There were 7,981 homes for sale in the county in November, 32.8 percent more than the same month last year, according to the listing service."

"Ana Sierra-Jonsson moved to Tacoma in September and looked in Puyallup, North Tacoma and Lakewood for a two- to-three bedroom home. After she and her husband viewed about 100 properties, they decided instead to rent for one to two years."

"'There are such wild price adjustments going on; we thought time was on our side,' Sierra-Jonsson said. 'We want to see where things end up, because we certainly don’t want to end up paying too much for a house.'"

"Michael and Janelle Hanks listed a Thea’s Landing penthouse condominium at $379,000, just under the price of two recently sold units, in May, just before buying a house in Gig Harbor. 'We get lots of showings but no offers,' said Michael Hanks."

"So, they are carrying two mortgage payments while they debate listing strategy on the one-bedroom condo. The couple has offered to pay homeowner’s dues for a year as a buyer’s incentive and lowered the price over the summer to $365,000."

"'If we got offers that were really low, it would give us a clue that it was overpriced. I think we’re priced OK. I think it’s just a bad time in the market to put something on the market,' he said."

"Local real estate agents, brokers, mortgage lenders and business people hashed out big questions and answers regarding the changing real estate market at a forum Thursday morning at The News Tribune."

"The paper has written stories with context that compares this market to more 'normal' real estate markets, said David Zeeck, The News Tribune’s executive editor. 'I’m not saying it’s a happy time, and I’m not saying we are 100 percent right,' he said. 'But I think we have done the stories you are asking us to do.'"

"Lynn Michaelis, chief economist for Weyerhaeuser Co, noted that Bob Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers, often blames the press for what’s happening to housing. 'Yes, a lot of the markets they report on are negative, and it is affecting some buyers,' Michaelis said. 'But the reality is the sea change is changing. It’s not the press causing a slow down in housing. There are some real fundamental issues.'"

The Seattle PI from Washington. "The typical house that sold in King County last month fetched nearly 10 percent less than the typical sale in July, according to statistics released Thursday."

"Geoff Pfander put his Wedgwood house on the market in September for $535,000 and sold it last month for $505,000."

"'We never reset our price, but the offer was lowball and we accepted it,' he said. 'We were so glad to be done, because the market was getting scary.'"

"Rob Cockerill and Michele Meyers bought a Broadview house at list price last month and weren't worried about prices dropping. 'We're thinking it's not going to get any better than this,' Cockerill said. 'We're San Francisco II up here.'"

The Seattle Times. "The Seattle-area housing market is in a pronounced slump, with fewer houses selling, inventories climbing and prices returning to year-ago levels. King County's median price has fallen four months in a row."

"What's more, last month's median price for detached houses, $435,000, is back where it was the previous November, according to numbers released Thursday by the Northwest MLS."

"The number of King County houses sold has declined every month since March, when compared with the same month a year earlier. Since August those dips have consistently surpassed 25 percent. Meanwhile, the number of houses for sale in King County last month was about 40 percent higher year-over-year, a percentage realized almost every month since May."

"'You see more buyers asking for price concessions, and they're getting them,' added Rich Lucas, an agent in the Auburn office of Keller Williams Realty."

The Anchorage Daily News from Alaska. "Two failed real estate developments in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough go on the auction block this month, both of them unusually large victims of foreclosure."

"First National Bank Alaska holds a foreclosure sale Tuesday for 62 empty half-acre lots at Gemstone Estates subdivision. The next week, 18 units at Willow Heights ranch condominiums hit the public auction block."

"The other project, Willow Heights, looks like a ghost town: five largely empty, gray ranch-style condo buildings aligned on a pretty bluff off a rural stretch of Fairview Loop Road. Willow Heights was built by Hummel Homes LLC."

"According to First National, Hummel owes more than $1,152,000 plus interest. Hummel owners are Janice Hummel and Blaine and Myrna Brown, according to a state database."

"Blaine Brown said he and his wife, a real estate agent in Anchorage, 'started out with the best of intentions' to build partially assisted-living housing with no steps and floors for easy wheelchair movement."

"Then came hurdle after hurdle: the Valley real estate market went flat, fuel and plywood costs skyrocketed and the state required water filtration for arsenic. The couple, sole investors, lost a rental property to the bank, Brown said."

"They covered payroll out of pocket, used credit cards to cover costs, and refinanced their Anchorage home to pay bills. Brown said he’s had to delay his retirement another four years. 'It was not a pleasant experience,' he said. 'And my wife and I were the biggest losers.'"

"The Mat-Su real estate market is no stranger to foreclosure. Starting late last year, real estate agents reported a spike in the number of single-family foreclosures, due in part to the same subprime mortgage crunch hitting the Lower 48, and to cooling markets here."

"But Gemstone and Willow Heights represent investments rather than a place to put the family. Industry observers say problems with these two developments stem as much from bad business decisions as from difficult markets."

"'Clearly the market is soft; there’s a lot of inventory,' said Jerry Moses, associate broker in Wasilla. 'That just means as a business person you have a sharper pencil; you don’t do stupid things.'"

"The average sales price for vacant land in Palmer dropped 42 percent this year compared to last, from about $103,000 to $60,000, according to Alaska MLS statistics. In Wasilla, the average price for vacant land dropped 26 percent, from about $75,000 to $55,000."