The Reno Gazette Journal reports on the housing bubble in Nevada. "In Reno, the median price, where half the 132 homes sold went for more and half for less, for a single-family home was $384,500, down from $412,000 in January but a 6 percent rise since February 2005. In Sparks, the median price was $330,000, up from $325,000 in January and a 6 percent rise from February 2005. The North Valleys slipped to $270,000 in February from $289,000 in January."

"'That's back to a more normal rate of appreciation that we would expect to see, not the 20, 30, 40 percent that we have been seeing in some of these areas over the past couple of years,' said Brian Kaiser, analyst at UNR. 'This is what we've been expecting to see for quite some time. I'm shocked it took as long as it did to slow down.'"

"The median price of condominiums in Reno slid to $185,000 on 41 units sold in February, down from $242,500 in January but up 6 percent from February 2005. In Sparks, condo prices fell to $179,500 on 12 units sold from $193,950 in January but rose 3 percent, year over year. All this is evidence of a soft landing from the boom that engulfed Northern Nevada during the last couple of years, Kaiser said."

"'It absolutely could not maintain the pace that it was maintaining for any length of time without completely pricing everybody out of the market,' Kaiser said. 'It's just not one of those sustainable things that you can have houses going up 20 percent a quarter or year, across the board. This is not like a bubble bursting and suddenly those houses that were worth $400,000 are worth $300,000. That would be a serious situation for the area.'"

"Minden/Gardnerville fell to $402,500 in February from $408,103 in January. Dayton's median fell to $253,750 from $269,500 in January. Fernley's median fell to $247,00 from $257,294 in January. Fallon's median home price fell to $205,000 from $272,500 on just 17 homes sold. The February median still represents a 37 percent rise, year over year."