What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Vacancies? "While local housing vacancy rates remain relatively low, nearly every Lehigh Valley town has more vacant homes or apartments today than in 2000. Allentown and Easton, and small rural boroughs such as Bangor, Portland, Walnutport, Slatington and Bath have it hardest, with close to one out of 10 units vacant. Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, the region’s largest advocate for the homeless and low-income, said many New Jersey and New York investors hoping to take advantage of a hot rental market in the mid-2000s bought inexpensive properties in urban areas such as downtown Easton and Allentown. When the economy went south, their investments went with it, and many ended up in foreclosure."

Though foreclosure data is broken up by county and not city, there is little question that the number has spiked. In 2007, banks foreclosed on 500 residential properties in Lehigh and Northampton counties, but that number shot to 3,199 in 2010, according to RealtyTrac."

Sales statistics? "Sales of new condos in the Washington region plummeted to a new low during the past 12 months, according to the Delta Associates Mid-Year Washington/Baltimore Condominium Market Report. During the 12-month period ending in June, new-condo sales in the region fell by 43 percent to 1,487 total, according to the report. The pace was slower than any corresponding period during the recession."

"In some cases -- most notably Arlington -- new units were competing in price with 'certified pre-owned' condos developed during the boom years and selling at a discount."

Or foreclosure? "A planned Mount Holly subdivision went down before the project really got off the ground. And a nearby neighborhood saw three lots go into foreclosure at the same time. Some 44 acres on Old Hickory Grove Road was slated to become Meadow Brook Estates, the intended site of more than 70 homes."

"In mid-June, however, CommunityOne Bank apparently foreclosed on property, with a tax value of more than $1.2 million. Former owner Ron Dimmer says he could no longer stand the $20,000-a-month payments, and he was expecting a loan modification plan to keep foreclosure at bay."

"Dimmer & Sons Construction did manage to sell the subdivision’s model home in 2009. Valued at $327,000, it went for $266,000 in late 2009. Now, the once-graded land around it is overgrown and the cul-de-sac has become an illegal dumpsite, a tattered mattress in the road and a broken down cabinet in the weeds by the curb."

"Local and state government regulations, along with high tax values, spelled the end for that project, according to Dimmer. He said the same was true at three lots on Mount Holly’s Rhynes Estate, where the $60,000-plus tax value was more than double what parcels were selling for in the end."