We've been hearing from brokers, agents and various sellers that non-agricultural property remains a tough sell, minus oceanfront and forests and certain kinds of recreational real estate. Meanwhile, farmland of almost every kind remains strong - due to high commodity prices and bio-fuel production.

Single-family starts are down 63% from the January 2006 peak, Bloomberg News Service reports, besting smaller declines in 1973-1975 and 1984-1991, while comparable to the 65% plunge in 1977-1981. In Florida, sales are 20 to 30% below year-ago levels, said one expert, but prices have not responded with significant drops. At least not significant enough.  Meanwhile, builders are skittish about dropping home prices too much without angering those who bought in at higher prices, or encouraging more sales-contract cancellations. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index dropped 15.3 percent from a year earlier, less than forecast, after a 14.3 percent decline in March. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007. The group began keeping year-over-year records in 2001.

Experts calculate that 1.34 million single and multi-family first-lien mortgages are in the foreclosure process, which amounts to 27% of the inventory of existing unsold homes. A year ago, foreclosures represented about 18% of the unsold inventory. Now, here's the good news: the Federal Reserve appears reluctant to raise interest rates in a soft economy, and the dollar is unlikely to drop much further - or at least not much more steeply.