It looks like newspapers are beginning to discover that it’s true what they say about property being a good long-term investment. Now that U.S. dailies are feeling the melancholy of their autumn years, they’re discovering that selling the house makes them feel young again.

From The Wall Street Journal:

With profits and revenue falling, newspaper companies are increasingly looking to real estate to shore up their finances. Though newspapers are still largely profitable, they are seen by many on Wall Street as a dying medium. In some cases, the Inquirer and the Boston Herald among them, financial pressures are forcing newspapers to sell their property as a quick way to come up with cash. In others, especially papers acquired by private-equity firms, the new owners are simply trying to squeeze as much money out of the operation as possible, says newspaper analyst John Morton, president of Morton Research Inc.

The Journal story in Wednesday’s paper says that the Philadelphia Inquirer building is up for sale, and that the Boston Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune and The New York Times all are trying to throw some real estate overboard. The big undecided party now is Tribune Co., with the Journal reporting on speculation that Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell could get rid of Tribune Tower and the Los Angeles Times’s headquarters.

What other papers are sitting on properties that could earn them a few shekels in an auction? Let us know.

PS - Hours after the Journal story ran, Jim Romenesko’s journalism blog posted a memo from Star Tribune Publisher Par Ridder saying that the Minnesota Vikings football team won’t buy four blocks of property that they had intended to from the paper.

Ridder: While we had reached agreement on a deal in principle, the collapse of the I-35W Bridge and the turbulent credit markets have caused the Vikings to reevaluate their plans. … We will be working with Avista [which bought the Star Tribune from McClatchy Co.] and our real estate advisors over the next few weeks to determine our next steps.