The Hartford Courant provides a rare report on Connecticuts housing bubble. "The number of houses for sale in Greater Hartford rose in February for the sixth month in a row, further evidence that a slowdown in the area's housing market is taking root. The median sales price gained 4.1 percent, to $239,950, up from $230,500 for the same month a year earlier."

"That increase compares with 5.8 percent in January of this year and 14.2 percent in February 2005."

"Closed sales fell 20 percent, to 484, down from 605 a year earlier. Pending sales, an indicator for sales volume in the next two months, were also down by 6.32 percent, to 904, from 965 a year earlier. The inventory of homes for sale jumped 32.1 percent, to 4,228, up from 3,200 a year earlier. It represented the largest rise in the six-month run of increases."

"Real estate agents said that having more homes on the market will benefit buyers, giving them more choice and breathing room to make decisions. There will be less pressure to jump at the first house they see or bid up the price, worried that they won't be able to find another house. 'Now they can go home, sleep on it and go back the next day,' said John Zubretsky in Wethersfield."

"Sellers will have to adjust their expectations, price their properties reasonably and make improvements that show their homes favorably to prospective buyers."

"'The days of the `as is' sale are over,' said Adorna Carroll in Berlin. 'The seller may have lived with a deficiency. But a buyer won't look at it that way.'"