What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Failed developments? "The developer of a luxury housing complex in Asbury Park has bailed out of the project and sold the unfinished building and surrounding property to a new investment firm. The sale comes just three weeks after Hoboken-based Metro Homes LLC stopped work on another upscale oceanfront complex in the city"

"Councilman James Keady said Kushner most likely backed out of the deal because poor sales of the units are cutting into the company's profits."

"'I think what's happening now is that reality is catching up with the hype -- the hype being from the developers' side of things that you can get rich quick in Asbury Park, and from the real estate side that this bubble is going to last forever,' Keady said."

Lending trends? "When talking mortgages, 40 is the new 25. Less than two years ago, the longest amortization period for mortgages was 25 years. And that's what most first-time buyers in British Columbia were opting for, as skyrocketing real estate prices translated into hefty monthly payments, even when spread over 25 years."

"Feisal Panjwani, a senior mortgage consultant in Cloverdale, estimates that 95 per cent of his first-time clients are going long-term with 40. There are also zero-down mortgages and an interest-only mortgage that help them get into the market, he said."

"According to statistics released by the Bank of Canada, British Columbians carry 19 per cent of the country's mortgage debt, yet represent only 13 per cent of the population and 13 per cent of the country's disposable income, said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets."

"'When people talk about the potential risk of outsized household debt it's probably most acute in B.C.,' Porter said."

"And if problems arise in the housing market as they have in the United States, the large mortgages could be a problem, he said."

"Fears have been expressed over possible closures and job loses in sections of Northampton's estate agency industry. They come on the back of one of the country’s largest estate agents, Your Move, shutting offices and axing 315 full-time jobs nationally."

"The cuts are the first large-scale redundancies in the sector, which employs 50,000 people, since the property slowdown began late last year."

"But Simon Bond, joint managing director of O’Riordan Bond, said he was confident that current market conditions would see established estate agencies, such as his, standing out from the crowd and increasing market share."

"'It is now a genuine market. House prices will remain steady, but the number of transactions will fall slightly. This is because banks are less likely to lend money to people who cannot afford it, and because there are less people who are buying houses to make a quick profit, rather than buying them as a home,' he said."

Lower prices? "The owner of one of Williamsburg's biggest brokerage firms said that the Corcoran Group's 2007 market report was 'wrong' in estimating that the average price of a condo in the neighborhood had increased 8 percent since 2006."

"David Maundrell told The Observer that 'there was no way' that the average price of a condo in the Williamsburg market had risen from $817,000 in 2006 to $880,000 in 2007, as the Corcoran report concludes."

"'Their data is wrong. We've seen the market come down 10 to 12 percent across the board since it peaked in the beggining of 2006,' he said."

"'Prices were astronomically high, even inflated so they had to come down,' Mr. Maundrell explained of the causes for the slump. 'Plus there has been a lot more development and competition.'"

More foreclosures? "Westchester County closed 2007 with foreclosure activity up 40.1 percent over the previous year, the county clerk's office said yesterday. There were 2,166 new foreclosure actions started in the county, up from 1,546 in 2006. The 2006 level itself was up 42.8 percent over 2005."

"The number of foreclosure judgments by courts in 2007 also was up sharply. There were 707 judgments, up 60.7 percent from 2006. The figure was more than double the 300 foreclosure judgments in 2005."

"Industry observers said the increase in subprime mortgage problems has contributed to higher foreclosures in the Lower Hudson Valley."

Insider moves? "The worsening state of the housing sector hit home for one Lennar executive last week when he sold shares purchased in August at a $300,000 loss."

"Vice president and head of investor relations Marshall Ames sold 30,000 class A shares for $540,174. On Aug. 16, when stock of the Miami-based home builder hit a low of $27.76, Ames had purchased 30,000 shares for $845,100, or $28.17. The stock has continued to fall and when Ames sold the 30,000 shares they were worth $304,926 less than the purchase."