The Baltimore Sun reports on that housing bubble. "Home sales in the Baltimore region dipped in March, the sixth straight month of decline over the previous year, and the buildup of inventory escalated as the market headed into the crucial spring selling season. Sales dropped in every jurisdiction except Harford County."

"'There is no burst,' said Katie Grove, president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. 'Really everything is up, except the units sold. The higher-priced homes are not being sold in the numbers as before,' Grove said."

"Baltimore is not seeing the cooling in the housing market that the Washington region is experiencing, said John McClain at George Mason University. 'Where prices are affordable, we're still seeing double-digit price increases,' McClain said."

"'We seem to have entered a soft landing cycle," said Anirban Basu. 'Gone are the dramatic month-to-month increases in home prices, gone is the period of dwindling inventory of homes for sale. In its place is a sharp increase in inventory from month to month, which suggests that demand for housing continues to wane in the face of rising interest rates. If anything, further softening is likely,' Basu said."

"And from the Virginia Pilot. "The number of houses sold in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk declined last month compared with the same time in 2005, an 11 percent decrease in overall sales for the month."

"Realtors such as Steve Ballard have had to adjust their approach in dealing with buyers and sellers. 'Our buyers are not as disappointed as they have been in the last few years,' Ballard said. 'There is more inventory. It isn't becoming a bidding issue to buy the house of their choice.'"

"'When they ask for us to give them a price for their house, we give various numbers,' Ballard said. 'One is if they are not in a rush; that is the top end. If they are anxious to sell, we would put an attractive price on it to move it quickly.' The difference between those two prices is usually about 5 percent, Ballard said."

"'Only in a few cases have they been really disappointed,' he said of sellers."