A look at California housing bubble. "The median price of a San Bernardino County home increased 27.7 percent to $355,000 in January, up from $278,000 in January 2005, DataQuick reported Wednesday. The median price last month was down from a record $361,000 set in December."

"'The buying group for each housing category has dropped in a year," said Bill Velto, broker in Upland. 'Buyers have a lot more choices. The standing inventory is close to 60 to 70 days,' Velto said."

"Gary Teeters, broker in Yucaipa, said his office is seeing fewer multiple offers on properties and more price reductions. Mike Duncan, brokerin Twentynine Palms, said 'investors are not up here as much.' Jason Bennecke, in Highland, said that 'for every month that goes by, it's less of a sellers' market.'"

"Sticker shock. That's what Mentone resident Melinda Wallace felt after visiting several open houses over the weekend. 'A few years ago, these same houses were selling for a lot less,' said Wallace. 'To be honest, I just don't think they are worth it.'"

"Experts say condo sales, especially ones converted from former rental units, were a major factor in pulling Orange County's median home price down $39,000 last month. The number of homes sold also fell to the lowest level in nine years, the real estate research firm said. Experts say buyers finally balked at sky-high prices demanded by single-family house sellers."

"The past three months were the slowest in nearly five years, with 9,923 homes sold. And January's 2,594 sales figure was the smallest since February 1997 Michael and Holly Hall felt that slowdown after they put their three-bedroom Mission Viejo home on the market in the fall. After nearly three months, they've only gotten one offer, from a bargain hunter. On Wednesday, they cut their price by $10,000. 'This is driving us crazy,' Holly Hall said."

"Santa Monica chiropracter Ralph Alvy says the market is definitely slower than two years ago. When Alvy decided to put his home up for sale in January, he was still expecting to get numerous bids. But this time around, it took two weeks before getting even one offer, and that was after reducing his asking price $20,000. 'I was surprised when we didn't get multiple offers,' Alvy said. "

"Sales of Bay Area homes dropped last month to the lowest level in five years as price increases continued to ease back. (Sales were) down 35.8 percent from 9,347 for December, and down 20.0 percent from 7,509 for January last year, according to DataQuick."

"A decline from December to January is normal for the season. Last month was the tenth in a row to see a year-over-year sales decline. The January sales count was the lowest for any month since January 2001. The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $607,000 last month. That was down 0.3 percent from December's $609,000."

"'We won't know for another couple of months if this is a lull in the market or part of a longer-term downturn. The March numbers will tell us much more about what's going on,' said Marshall Prentice."