A record number of people showed up -- 360, almost twice as many as last year, which gives you an idea of the level of anxiety about the market. (The conference was first held in 1996.)

National and local economists, offering their predictions about when the housing market will stop getting worse from a sellers' perspective, didn't agree on when but all said that it won't be soon.

The National Association of Home Builders' director of forecasting said the bottom would come in the middle of next year. Freddie Mac's chief economist expects it around the end of next year. Baltimore economist Anirban Basu said not until 2009, possibly the middle of that year.

You all know the reasons: lending problems, rising foreclosures, unaffordably high prices, high levels of unsold homes -- and don't forget nervous buyers. (Also, bad press, some of the builders argued.)

More about the conference once I'm done writing the story about it for tomorrow's paper.

EDIT: I was given incorrect information -- this was the 10th annual conference, not the 12th.