Dataquick has some more Bay Area numbers out. "Home sales in the Bay Area continued to slow as price increases dipped into the single digits for the first time in more than two years. A total of 9,745 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 13.8 percent from 11,310 for March last year, according to DataQuick. The year-over-year decline was the twelfth in a row."

"The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $622,000 last month. The median peaked at $625,000 last November."

"Livermore realtor Mike Perry brings a book to read at his open houses now that the traffic of potential buyers has slowed considerably from the red-hot days of the housing boom. Call it one of the hidden signs of the slowing real estate market, which last month saw the lowest level of Bay Area home sales in five years."

"'Open houses have been pretty quiet,' said Perry. Nowadays, from five to seven potential buyers will visit a typical open house, compared with 15 to 20 in early 2005, Perry said. 'I've seen them as low as one neighbor coming in,' Perry said."

"'What's really crippling us right now is inventory. Last year, we were in the 140 to 150 range in the Livermore area and now we are almost sitting on 400 (homes for sale). There is a lot more on the market. The ones that are selling are the ones in prime locations or have aggressive pricing.' he said."

"'Appreciation has been flat for six months,' said Chris Thornberg, senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast. Thornberg said the steep drop in year-over-year sales volume is not surprising. 'This is how a real estate bubble pops. It's not a price pop. It's a volume pop.'"

"Inventory is up in the San Leandro area, from about 40 homes on the market a year ago to about 150 now, (realtor) Kristle Rittenbach said. 'Homes are sitting a little bit longer. Buyers are just taking their time deciding. The buyers know they don't have to rush anymore,' she said."

"Mark Jackman of a company that funds real estate projects among other things, said the region is in a 'cooling-off stage.' 'Right now, we view the Bay Area as an area of concern,' said Jackman. He cited two factors that could drag values into negative territory: the area's substantial residential development and rising gas prices, which may make buyers less willing to move to outlying areas that entail long commutes."

"'It's not that the sky is falling,' LePage said, 'it's just that the sky looks a lot different than it did a year ago.'"

"It could be people don't want to believe the housing bonanza ending. Tom Davidoff, UC Berkeley: 'It takes a while for people to figure out interest rates are higher than they have been for the last few years and when interest rates go up, housing affordability goes down, and that means prices have to go down too.'"