NECN reports from Massachusetts. "The median home price in Massachusetts is now $372,000, a new record. With bidding wars and record prices, the headlines are strikingly similar to a decade ago, right before the housing market tanked. Is history repeating itself? Annie Blatz, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said, 'We have a very competitive market very high demand and low inventory. That is making our prices go up. This is different from years in the past when we had a different economic set of circumstances when we had high demand and high prices and also high inventory.'"

"Massachusetts' most competitive markets right now are Boston and the western suburbs, where it's not uncommon to wait in line to get into an open house. Buyers need to be ready to pounce when they find something they like. Jim Cotter of William Raveis Real Estate said, 'All your ducks in a row. Ready to make an intelligent offer on the spot is absolutely key. This market is so fast. It is not the type of situation where you can say 'we'll look at it tonight and think about it overnight.'"

"Blatz said, 'They have to get in to the competitive spirit of it. They have to be ready to buy and have their checkbook with them and be ready to make their highest and best offer and if they do that they'll eventually get a house.' She added, 'They also need to have some flexibility. Maybe they need to consider a home that might need some repairs or renovation.'"

The Press Democrat in California. "Sonoma County’s housing market slowed markedly in July, leading real estate brokers to wonder whether a sluggish pace of sales in the Bay Area is moving north. County home sales declined nearly 17 percent last month from a year earlier, according to The Press Democrat’s monthly housing report, compiled by Pacific Union International senior VP Rick Laws. Buyers in July purchased 450 single-family homes, the lowest number for the month in five years."

"New listings, meanwhile, declined 20 percent from a year earlier, falling to the lowest level for July in at least seven years. That second drop, which will mean fewer available properties in an already tight housing market, caught brokers by surprise. 'It’s only one month,' said Laws, 'but it was enough for me to go, 'Wow, what’s going on?'"

The Register Guard in Oregon. "After reaching historic highs in June, Lane County’s housing market came back to earth in July, with fewer closed sales and lower sale prices, according to the latest figures from the Regional Multiple Listing Service. The 418 closed sales in July was down from 524 in June. July’s average sale price of $261,400 was lower than June’s $279,800 average price — the highest ever in Lane County, according to RMLS."

The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. "The recovery in Pueblo home sales slowed for a second month in July. Sales last month were down 26 percent by unit volume (191 vs. 261) and down 19 percent by dollar volume ($32.5 million vs. $40.5 million) compared with July 2015, according to data from the Pueblo Association of Realtors."

"Real estate industry professionals are sensing a slowdown, said Dave Anderson of RE/MAX Pueblo West, a spokesman for the Colorado Association of Realtors. 'Last week, we noticed that the showings were down and even one of the mortgage companies said they noticed a few less people coming in and applying for loans,' Anderson said."

The Pioneer Press in Minnesota. "The median sales price for homes in the Twin Cities region in July retreated slightly from the record level it reached in June, but still rose on a year-on-year basis. The median in July was $239,900, a 6.6 percent rise from July of last year, but down from the $242,000 record high set in June 2016, St. Paul and Minneapolis Realtors associations reported. Homes prices above $1 million are taking an average 174 days to sell. 'Those selling properties above the $500,000 mark know that patience is a virtue even in our current environment,' said Cotty Lowry, president-elect of the Minneapolis association."

The Frontiersman in Alaska. "The man with the finger on the pulse of the largest economic center in the state told the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce that dire predictions about the decline of the regional and state economy have yet to be realized. Bill Popp, CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp., told the chamber that there will be some pain, he said of the state’s current economic straits, but the direction is vastly different from comparisons made to the state’s economic crash in the 1980s. That era was marked with an epic housing and banking collapse that shouldn’t happen in the current climate, he said."

"'In the month of June, we were down 1,000 jobs in construction, 1,000 jobs in professional and business services and 1,000 jobs in oil and gas in Anchorage — 2,500 on a statewide basis,' Popp said. 'That was from the (2015) peak. So, it’s down about 19 percent, and that’s where we are feeling the pain. And we are feeling it in these high-dollar jobs that we value very much.'"

"'Right now were are feeling a very sharp pinch,' Popp said. 'It’s going to hurt and it is going to leave a mark. But it’s not the head blow that some people try to portray it as, like it is 1986 all over again.'"

Crain's Chicago Business in Illinois. "A home in south suburban Riverdale sold in May for less than half what its seller paid 19 years ago, but his real estate agent said the owner 'was glad to get that monkey off his back.' Rodney Russell bought the house for $81,500 in 1997 and sold it for $37,000, according to the Cook County recorder of deeds. He wasn't in foreclosure, according to the recorder, but made a deal with his lender to short-sell the house because he'd been trying to sell it since 2009, said listing agent John Palomo of Coldwell Banker. 'He was happy to finally be walking away with no debt on it anymore,' Palomo said."

"Russell, who couldn't be reached for comment, was so far underwater on the house that the likelihood of getting back to a break-even point was minuscule. His predicament is common in Riverdale, where more than 76 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were 'seriously underwater' in the second quarter, according to a report from Attom Data Solutions. That means they owe at least 25 percent more on their mortgage than their home is worth."

"Riverdale has the nation's second-highest concentration of seriously underwater homeowners, according to Attom, formerly called RealtyTrac. Among all U.S. ZIP codes with at least 2,500 homes, only the St. Louis suburb of Bellefontaine Neighbors has a higher level of mortgage distress, 79.8 percent, according to Attom's data. In two dozen Chicago-area ZIP codes, more than 50 percent of homeowners were seriously underwater in the second quarter."

"'The entire south suburban part of Chicago isn't pulling up out of the problem that started in 2008' with the housing bust, said Mike Buder, a Re/Max 2000 agent and former homebuilder in Dolton. 'We're not seeing a recovery here.' The average sale price in Dolton was $25,500 last year, or less than 40 percent of the $110,600 average a decade earlier, he said."