A housing bubble report on New Jersey. "Last spring, Michael Segal put his Teaneck home on the market for $600,000, an asking price selected with the help of his Realtor. Buyers showed interest, but Segal said he decided it wasn't time to sell. This spring, the four-bedroom colonial is up for sale again. The asking price: $529,000; $19,000 above his current's agent's recommendation."

"What changed? North Jersey's real estate boom, it appears, has gone flat. 'They come. They see. They love. They like,' said Segal, who put his house back on the market about two months ago. 'But they don't buy.'"

"Springtime is here, and 'open house' and 'for sale' signs are everywhere. 'Sellers and the buyers are at a standoff,' said James Collins, an agent in Alpine/Closter. 'The sellers think their home is worth more than what fair market value is. The purchasers are thinking there's a big real estate bubble that's going to burst. So they're ... wanting to wait and see.'"

"The standoff means the supply of homes on the market is building. In Bergen County, there was a five-month inventory of homes as of March 31. By comparison, there was a three-month inventory at the same time last year. Inventory is also building up in Morris, Passaic, and Hudson counties."

"More recent data from the New Jersey MLS show the trend is accelerating. On April 30, there were 6,268 home listings for Bergen County homes, 52 percent more than on April 30 of last year. But 26 percent fewer Bergen County homes sold last month than in April of 2005."

"The increased supply is helping to prevent the sort of price appreciation that was common from the late 1990s through last year. The average Bergen County sales price was $539,245 last month, about 1 percent below the average price in April 2005."

"The boom is 'over, and we're into a cycle that's going to last three years with high levels of inventory and a slow pace of sales,' said (appraiser) Jeffrey Otteau."

"'Buyers just don't seem to be making moves,' (realtor) Art Tassaro said. 'Where it used to take a month to sell a house, the same house is taking several months and several price changes.' He noted that last Wednesday 49 single-family homes sold in Bergen County, but 233 single-family homes were added to the MLS."

"Barbara Weismann, also a realtor in Cresskill, said many properties languish on the market because they're overpriced. 'Price controls everything. If a property is not the best, price is the only cure,' she said."

"Meanwhile, Segal said that if he doesn't find a buyer soon, he will take his house off the market. But he will do whatever it takes to sell it next spring because that's when his wife plans to retire. Segal and his wife want to downsize and retire in a condo, probably in Hudson County."

"'I hope that next year maybe things will go better,' Segal said. 'I still believe that the market will come back.'"