A pair of reports on the California housing bubble. "It looks like that long-awaited cool-down in the median price of a San Fernando Valley house arrived in April with an annual increase of 8.2 percent, the first single-digit increase in many months. The final report will be released sometime this week and it will show the median price of a Valley house at about $598,500, down 2.7 percent from March's record $615,000."

"This is further proof that buyers are gaining more traction in a market that long favored sellers. But even with prices moderating, they still are not a bargain."

"The condo market behaved in like fashion. Sales will be under the year-ago level. The condo median price last month hit $385,000. That's an 11.6 percent annual increase, again likely the smallest in many months. And the condo price fell 3.5 percent from March."

"Fifty percent of home sales were at the list price while 54.7 percent of condos sold at list."

"One thing that market watchers have not seen yet this year is the housing affordability index from the California Association of Realtors. Here's why. CAR scrapped its monthly report in favor of a quarterly one."

"This is probably a good thing because the monthly index did not seem to track closely to reality. For example, it assumed purchases were made with a 20 percent down payment and 30-year fixed-rate loan. And no more than 30 percent of the household income servicing the mortgage debt. Now we've got a half-century mortgage, thanks to Statewide Bancorp in Rancho Cucamonga."

"Leslie Appleton-Young, the association's chief economist, said earlier that they were going to tweak the model to more reflect current market conditions."

From the Bakersfield Californian. "The number of local homebuyers canceling builder contracts has crept skyward in the past year, along with worries about rising interest rates and the real estate market's future. Kern County's cancellation rate was 8.1 percent for the first three months of 2006, up from 2.3 percent a year before."

"The cancellation rate for Centex Homes' Central Valley division has hovered around 25 percent so far this year; double what it was last year at this time. Roughly 70 percent of those buyers backed out for financial reasons, said Centex spokeswoman Lissa Walker. Many just couldn't afford the increasing interest rates and down payments, Walker said."

"With sales dwindling, builders are reaching out more to real estate agents, said (realtor) Jeanne Radsick. Radsick said her office receives three or four faxes a week with details from builders on houses that need selling. 'It isn't just one or two. It's a lot of builders,' she said. 'Builders are seeing the slowdown.'"

"Homebuyers will likely see more builders begin to offer incentives, especially the public companies that have sales quotas to meet, said (analyst) Patrick Duffy. Private builders don't have the same pressures, Duffy said. 'In general, builders don't really want to cut prices,' but they will, he said."