O.K. That's interesting. I've been waiting for that.

Brooks Resources backs out of a project to build million dollar townhouses on riverfront project. This is the first really clear sign I've seen that some developers are having second thoughts. That it is Brooks Resources, a local group with long ties to the community and presumably closer in touch with Bend's economic realities, makes it even more significant. (As is pawning it off on a Portland developer....)

There have been some delayed projects downtown, but there was always a question to me as to whether they were delayed because they were so busy with other projects, or just pure incompetence and lack of financial planning.

But Brooks Resources has always shown themselves to be a smart company, ahead of the game, all the way back to divesting themselves of the sawmills and keeping the property.

I expect we'll see more of this; and I believe anything being built right now is already too late to cash in easily, and anything started from now on is froth that is just simple minded lemming behavior on the part of the developers.

I'm still not getting any sign from my customers of a slowdown; they seem either unaware or unworried. Good. Let them keep their equanimity a bit longer, at least through Christmas. But an objective look at the statistics of housing sales and prices are absolutely dismal.

Brooks Resources appear to be the first one's to not only notice, but actually do something about it. The rest of the developers appear to have put on blinders and are going to build, build, build.