Today’s front page of the Mercury News highlights the challenges of the local housing market with a surprising twist: Homes not far from WG — originally intended for first-time, low-income buyers — sit vacant, waiting for those buyers to materialize:

The 17 brand new cottage-style condos near downtown San Jose were supposed to sell swiftly, especially since they were priced to be affordable to low- and moderate-income people, and the developer offers generous loan programs for first-time buyers.

But in the eight months since the for-sale signs went up on West Alma Avenue at Almaden Avenue, only one condominium has sold, even though the developer, non-profit Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley, has cut prices twice.

With home buyers reluctant to buy in a declining market, even non-profit developers who aim to provide affordable housing to the valley’s lower-income residents are getting hammered by conditions in the real estate market.

If you take Almaden Expressway to Downtown SJ, you drive past these shiny new condos every time. Snuggled into the corner of Alma Street and Almaden Expressway, Villa Almendra is waiting for buyers who can afford it. For half-a-million? Seriously?

It may be in the shadow of the fancy Skyline at Tamien building — four blocks east and nine stories down — but that doesn’t seem like an affordable price for the neighborhood … especially not with Burbed reporting on a $600,000 house on the southern edge of WG. What’s $150,000 these days?

WGx enjoys poking fun at silly Real Estate names that don’t make any sense — the Glens are almost sold out — but Villa Almendra seems really out there. Almendra means Almond …. Villa …. hey, it’s practically called a “Nut House” …