The Oregonian reports on the housing bubble in Portland. "The median home sale price in the Portland area was $242,000 in February, 17 percent higher than a year earlier, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Regional MLS. That year-over-year appreciation number was lower than in any of the previous six months. And the median price dipped by 1.5 percent from $245,800 in January, the second consecutive monthly decline."

"Market activity also dipped year over year, with the number of closed sales down 1.3 percent and pending sales dropping 8 percent."

"'I do think buyers took a break from the market,' said Kathy MacNaughton, a Northwest Portland broker. MacNaughton said some of her buyers were showing a level of ambivalence because they worry that the Portland market won't be able to sustain current levels of appreciation."

"The supply of new condominiums is gradually increasing. And the belief abounds that the market can't levitate forever higher."

"Central Oregonians have grown accustomed to making Top 10 or Top 20 lists of all sorts, but the latest could give all whose livelihood (or nest egg) depend on the local, long-lasting real estate boom pause: A just released report puts Bend at No. 11 on a list of overpriced real estate markets."

"According to a study by financial information provider Global Insight and National City Corp., Bend's fourth-quarter median home price of $256,200 is 68.4 percent overvalued."