The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "The top economist for the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday offered a positive prognosis for the Denver-area housing market. While the housing market is in the dumps nationally, it's important to remember that all real estate is local, Lawrence Yun told...the Jefferson County Association of Realtors. 'It's nonsensical to concentrate on the national figure,' Yun said. 'Local information is far more relevant.'"

"'There's too much focus on the national figures,' Yun said. 'National figures can dampen consumer confidence.'"

"The subprime-mortgage crisis already is a thing of the past and should not affect the housing market going forward, Yun said. 'The subprime mess is a Wall Street mess,' Yun said. 'They made a huge gamble, and they lost. Subprime is a past event that's unrelated to homebuying.'"

"Bob Golden, CEO of the Colorado Association of Realtors, said most of what Yun said doesn't surprise him. 'We've had a dip, and it's likely we'll pull out of it,' Golden said. 'As long as you're staying in a home for the long haul, appreciation up and down doesn't have a dramatic effect if you're not using it as a cash vehicle.'"

The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. "'The one thing that may be holding back your market is buyer pessimism,' Yun said. 'I think for your housing market it is irrational pessimism. You have very strong affordability.'"

"He did say, however, that the number of foreclosures, which set a record in the metro area in 2007, will continue to rise this year. But he still expects overall housing appreciation in the Denver area this year to be 4 percent to 5 percent. Also, a recession would mean further cuts in mortgage rates, which would make Denver housing even more attractive, he said."

"Jim Smith, owner of Golden Real Estate, called Yun's talk 'fascinating.' 'The facts speak for themselves,' he said."

"One in every 19 homes in Adams County entered foreclosure in 2007, by far the highest rate in the metro area. The Adams County foreclosure rate hit a record 5.2 percent in 2007, according to an analysis by the Colorado Association of Realtors."

"'While foreclosure properties are of serious concern, the sky is not falling,' Greg Zadel, president of the state's Association of Realtors, said in a memo."

"Although a record 26,386 foreclosures were filed in the metro area area last year, he noted that there are far more homes in the metro area than 20 years ago."

"The city and county of Denver had a 3.4 percent foreclosure rate. It showed a 62 percent increase from the 2.1 percent foreclosure rate, by far the largest percentage increase in the metro area."

"Carol Snyder, Adams County public trustee, said that the foreclosure problems may continue into early 2010. Many adjustable rate mortgages are still going to reset to higher rates, she said."

"'I think, unfortunately, this is something that is going to get worse before it gets better,' she said."

The Arizona Daily Star. "Spending on new homes in the Tucson area dropped by more than $567 million in 2007, according local consultant John Strobeck. The total amount spent on new homes last year was about $1.67 billion, down about 25 percent from the previous year, likely the steepest drop in more than a decade, Strobeck said."

"'It virtually has not decreased any year until now,' said Strobeck, owner of Bright Future Business Consultants."

"Permit activity for new homes also hit a low in 2007, falling to 5,098 — slightly below the number in 1996, the report said. The number of new homes sold in December fell to 496, down by 40 percent from the same month a year before, the report said. Median and average prices for new homes also dropped in December to $220,000 and $275,000, respectively."

"Resale closings also showed a steep drop of about 35 percent from the same month a year ago, the report said. Resale median and average prices also fell compared with December 2006."

The Arizona Republic. "'The bottom of the housing market may occur in 2008 or 2009, but a full recovery will probably take three to five years,' said Elliott Pollack, an Arizona economist and real-estate investor. 'This slowdown ends when housing prices stabilize, and they will. Unfortunately, the worst is still ahead of us.'"

"'Many of us thought last year would be the worst for the housing market, but 2007 was just the beginning, due largely to the credit crunch,' said John Chadwick, president of builder Pulte's Southwest operations."

"Foreclosures are the big wild card for the housing market. A record 10,000 metro Phoenix houses were foreclosed on in 2007."

"'It's going to be ugly, ugly, ugly this year,' Pollack said. 'But in five years, this will all be a bad memory.'"

The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. "Home prices could bottom out at the end of this year or early 2009, though a full recovery could take three to five years, Pollack said."

"Some 57,000 homes — roughly 24,000 of them vacant — are for sale in the metro Phoenix market, he said. And the credit crunch has shrunk the buyer pool by 20 percent, and slower population growth could reduce it by another 20 percent, he said."

"'Things are getting tougher, not easier,' when it comes to mortgage loans, he said."

"The number of Arizonans filing for bankruptcy protection last year was up more than 60 percent over 2006, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Arizona."

"However with a dramatic increase in foreclosures, an increasing number of homeowners found themselves too deeply in debt for bankruptcy to be an option, said Terrence Miller, clerk of the court."

"'What attorneys are saying anecdotally is … it just doesn’t make financial sense for them to file because they’re too far gone, that bankruptcy can’t help them,' he said."

"Statewide, bankruptcy filings totaled 10,570 in 2007, up from 6,479 in the previous year. In the Valley, filings totaled 7,204, up from 4,419 in the previous year."

"Anthony Clark, a bankruptcy attorney with offices in Mesa and Phoenix, said he’s fielded a number of calls from homeowners asking how they can complete a foreclosure on their home rather than try to save it through bankruptcy proceedings."

"'It’s a sign of the times where so many Valley homeowners are under water in their homes,' he said. 'We’re seeing a lot of people walk away from their homes, especially in Queen Creek and the west Valley. I would attribute it to overbuilding and overgrowth.'"

The Associated Press on Nevada. "Nevada's foreclosure crisis claimed a high-profile victim Wednesday, as investment bank Deutsche Bank took the first step toward foreclosing on the $3 billion Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino project on the Las Vegas Strip."

"Developer and owner Ian Bruce Eichner said his company was working with Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch to find new investors. The construction loan of $760 million went into default Wednesday, the company said."

"'This action by our lender comes as no surprise,' Eichner said in a statement to The Associated Press. 'With the current challenges within the real estate and debt capital markets, which are out of our control ... we both anticipated and planned for this.'"

"The 2,998-room high-rise casino and hotel is under construction and due to open in late 2009 between the Bellagio casino resort and the CityCenter casino complex. Most of the units were condo-hotel rooms, which allow buyers to rent out the residences to hotel guests and split a fee with the resort management."

"That led some observers to speculate that the project may have suffered from the weakening condominium market. But the company said demand for the units was strong, with 84 percent of the 2,184 units sold, and added that it was not the cause of the financing problem."

"Sales of condo units and town houses plummeted in December, down 55 percent from a year earlier to 167 units, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors."

"'The state of the luxury-condominium market is somewhat challenging,' said Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon. 'The question remains: Is this a project-specific issue or is it a market issue?'"

The Las Vegas Business Press from Nevada. "The Las Vegas Valley's industrial market softened in the fourth quarter as vacancies rose and rents dropped. The trickle-down impact from a hemorrhaging housing market and accompanying credit crunch are taking their toll."

"There was 831,000 square feet of net absorption in the fourth quarter. There was 2.2 million square feet of new completions in the fourth quarter, with another 3.1 million square feet under construction."

"'We started to see a slowdown at the end of the second quarter 2007, which we expect to see continue through mid-2008,' said Daniel Doherty, senior VP of Colliers International's Industrial Division. 'There is a big spin-off due to the dramatic drop in the residential market. But everyone is feeling that the construction on the Strip will pull us out of it once some of the hotel rooms come online.'"

The Salt Lake Tribune from Utah. "It started out on a good note, but 2007 ended up as one of the worst years ever for home building along the Wasatch Front."

"Builders took out permits for the construction of 9,877 single-family homes along the Wasatch Front last year, the lowest level since 1993, according to Construction Monitor."

"And the nearly 36 percent drop in permitting activity from 2006-2007 is one of the Wasatch Front's worst yearly drops ever - it tops any percentage loss since 1990, when the service began tracking permitting activity in the state."

"Unlike Utah, where the slowdown began in earnest just eight months ago, many other housing markets already have been in a downturn for a year or more."

"One major culprit for the bad home-building year are the tighter lending standards. Another culprit is the cumulative effect of years of house-price increases that have put homeownership out of reach of more families, including those in Utah."

"'It's really affected the [demand for the] $350,000 to $800,000 price range,' said Jordan Bangerter, president of the Salt Lake Home Builders Association. 'There just aren't that many people that can afford that type of house payment now.'"

"Bangerter said he doesn't believe that the Wasatch Front is as overbuilt as the Phoenix or Las Vegas metro areas, which have been hit hard by the downturn and have seen their economies suffer as a result. Still, he said, challenges for his industry in Utah loom."

"'Our industry is trying to adjust to meet demand for less expensive housing,' he said. That's a difficult challenge, he said, given that the public - and cities - prefer bigger and bigger homes."

"Mark Knold, chief economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, said about 2,200 people in construction industry in the state filed for unemployment benefits in December 2007 up from only 1,300 in December 2006. 'That's a pretty big jump in unemployment claims related to the construction industry,' he said."

"Knold said there has been some spillover into other industries. A number of mortgage companies, for example, have shed some workers in recent months. 'You have to think if we're not selling as many houses, we're not going to need as many mortgage people, title or real estate people,' Knold said."