The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "The median price statewide for single-family homes last month tumbled 9 percent to $323,000 from $355,000 a year ago - the lowest level in August in seven years, real estate data provider Warren Group said yesterday. The biggest drops were on Cape Cod and the Islands and in Central Massachusetts. In Barnstable County, prices fell 18.8 percent, to a median $325,000 in August, from $400,000 in 2007."

"And now the real estate market has Wall Street's crisis hanging over it. While various measures are intended to ease pressure on struggling homeowners and lenders alike, some specialists question whether they will make any meaningful difference given the current market conditions and fears about the economy sinking into a recession."

"Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, said if the crisis causes large-scale job losses, the housing market would be further damaged. 'At this point, the housing market is in such bad shape I don't think even Congress or the administration can pull a rabbit out of a hat and change the momentum,' Retsinas said. 'I don't think any act of government is going to dramatically reverse the market.'"

The Daily News Tribune from Massachusetts. "In July, the number of sales was down 6.3 percent from the same time last year. By August, the decline had spiked to nearly 15 percent."

"'I think there are some communities that are doing fairly well, but on a whole for Massachusetts, I don't see the median prices leveling off for another six months,' said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group. 'On the downside, the thing that worries me most is just jobs. If we have a lot of layoffs or cuts in employment levels, that's got to be bad for the real estate market.'"

The Seacoast Online. "George Reagan of New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, said only 11 percent of all mortgages in New Hampshire are subprime, although they account for one-half to two-thirds of all foreclosures."

"But economist Chuck Lawton said that doesn't mean the Seacoast is immune to a fall from the precipice at which the United States stands. For instance, in the York area between 2000 and 2007, the median income increased from $50,000 to $61,000, or 19.7 percent. In that same period, housing rose from $244,000 to $330,000, a 78.4 percent increase."

"'How can that happen? How can there be such a disparity? That's what everyone's asking in Washington today: How did that happen?' he said. 'My hypothesis is that higher income people are losing their jobs and more expensive homes are being sold. It's part of the same trend of unsupportable housing prices.'"

The Providence Journal from Rhode Island. "Ron Phipps, a former president of the Realtors' association, said the challenges at this point are all the foreclosed properties that have flooded the market and the credit crunch. 'When one in every four or five transactions is REO [real-estate owned, or foreclosed properties], that makes it particularly difficult,' Phipps said."

"Bargain-savvy buyers can't help comparing prices of market properties with the distressed ones. And the sale of distressed properties - including foreclosures and short sales - 'take forever to resolve,' Phipps said."

"Phipps said he strives to be honest when buyers ask him to 'guarantee that the price won't drop' by admitting that it is a possibility. He said he tells buyers that although property may lose some value in the short term, 'in the interim you're going to be in the house you want.'"

"But for people who plan to stay in a house only for a year? 'Maybe you ought to rent,' Phipps said."

WTNH from Connecticut. "Economic troubles are hitting closer to home as 15 houses go up for auction in New Haven today. They are just some of 200 properties that were up on the auction block today. A house on Orchard Street was sold at an auction Thursday for $45,000."

"In 2006, the city recorded 65 foreclosures. And, by 2007, that stat had jumped to 183. Already this year, the number is at 172 foreclosures."

"Most to the properties up for auction today were bank owned. The company running auction done in Connecticut...move to do the same thing in New Jersey."

The Journal News from New York. "The economic meltdown seeping into the Lower Hudson Valley is draining the profit from the sale of Brendan Meyer's home."

"In 2006, the 25-year-old bought an apartment in Tarrytown for $155,000 and, after $20,000 in renovations, he planned to sell it for $240,000. But as panic-stricken banks tighten lending standards and buyers find it harder to get mortgages, Meyer said he's had to drop the asking price considerably."

"'It looks like this is going to be about a $25,000 to $30,000 decrease in what I anticipated getting for it,' said Meyer. 'I'm a little frustrated.'"

"As home values decline, incomes fall and monthly housing costs increase, Farokh Hormozi, professor of economics at Pace University, expects more residents to depend on credit. But the current liquidity crisis on Wall Street could make loans and credit cards more expensive, he said."

"'No matter how wealthy you are, occasionally you get short of cash and you rely on credit cards and loans,' Hormozi said."

From Bloomberg. "The New York metropolitan area is forecast to lose 64,000 positions, or 13.5 percent, by the second quarter of 2010, according to Moody's Economy.com. While financial services firms account for about 12 percent of New York City employment, they represent almost 30 percent of total wages and salaries, said Marisa Di Natale, the regional labor market specialist for Economy.com."

"Bill Kokkosis, owner of the Majestic Delicatessen Cafe across the street from the New York headquarters of Lehman Brothers, said he was missing about half of his usual lunch customers Sept. 15, the day the firm announced its bankruptcy."

"'This definitely affects the whole area,' Kokkosis said. 'It looks like 9/11.'"

"Residential real estate in Manhattan, the U.S.'s most expensive urban market, may be among the hardest hit parts of New York's economy, Di Natale said. The median apartment price in the area has risen an average of $54,375 a year since 1995, reaching a record $1.03 million in the second quarter."

"Second-quarter Manhattan apartment sales dropped 22 percent, the most for any second quarter since 1998, and unsold inventory approached an eight-year high, two signs prices may be poised to fall, said New York-based real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc."

"'I think it's already happening,' Miller said. 'You're removing high-income-producing individuals, at least temporarily, from the economy or from purchasing new homes.'"

From CNN Money. "'Nobody wants to catch a falling knife,' said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Home buyers are also facing a slowing overall economy that's shedding 100,000 jobs a month. Layoffs are of course especially high in the financial sector."

"'I wouldn't be buying a condo in Manhattan if I were an investment banker,' said Baker. 'And if I owned one, I might be thinking about selling it.'"

"Glenn Kelman, founder of the online brokerage house Redfin, says his buyers are seeing an average discount of 10.7% from a home's listing price. 'That's enormous,' he said."

"Kelman says that some people are pulling out of deals. 'Clients have expressed their reservations about continuing the process,' in the wake of recent events, according to Redfin broker Febe Cude."

"The nearly half-point interest rate jump turned off buyers like a switch, according to Steve Habetz, a mortgage broker in Connecticut. 'Things quieted down almost immediately,' he said."

"Nicole Harkin, who is a financial analyst with the General Accounting Office, and her husband, Brent Lattin, who works for the Federal Reserve, were particularly concerned about interest rates as they house-hunted in the District of Columbia."

"Last week's turmoil convinced them to postpone their purchase indefinitely. 'We didn't want to waste a half million dollars,' said Nicole. 'I think home prices have to correct some more.' Their plan now is to wait out that correction and buy later at what they hope will be a lower price."

The Wall Street Journal. "Many investors have been tempted by the idea of buying foreclosed homes in bulk from banks, at a steep discount. But the experiences of a Washington, D.C.-based property investment firm, Redbrick Partners LLC, show it can be difficult to manage a large number of single-family rental homes scattered across a metropolitan area."

"The firm in recent years bought hundreds of properties in working-class areas of East Coast cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia and Trenton, N.J. It hired local managers to handle rentals and maintenance."

"Now Redbrick, formed in 2003, has concluded that it is too costly to manage those homes and is trying to sell most of them."

"In Baltimore and Trenton, Redbrick said in a recent letter to investors in one of its funds, 'we have not been able to generate positive cash flow from these assets through our internal property management organization and have also been unable to identify satisfactory third-party property managers.'"

"As of June 30, the value of a $100,000 limited-partnership investment in the second fund, including past distributions of cash to investors, had fallen to an estimated $56,099. For the third fund, the value fell to $45,633 as of June 30 from the original $100,000 of investment."

"'We've learned a lot of what works and what doesn't work,' says Tom Skinner, one of Redbrick's managing partners. 'In the future, we'll do more of what works.