Some housing bubble updates on Florida. "It may be hard to imagine with all the construction around Brevard County that the local housing market is slowing down. But that's what the latest figures show. There were 577 housing permits issued throughout Brevard in April, up from 433 permits in March, but down from 735 permits in April 2005."

"'I think you're going to see a continued slowing of permit activity,' said Franck Kaiser, CEO of the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard. 'What we're seeing is a market adjustment. The spiraling increases in prices had to stop.'"

"The median sales price for a single-family home in Brevard rose 1 percent from March to April to $224,800, down from the peak of $248,700 in August 2005, according to new figures from Florida Association of Realtors."

"Prices at Heritage Isle range from about $230,000 to more than $400,000. The project includes more than 200 condos, which originally were going to be priced above $300,000, but are now priced between $230,000 and $276,000, Lennar representatives said."

"'There's such a glut of condos on the market' countywide, Kaiser said."

"In an effort to stimulate sales of the last remaining units at Trump Tower Fort Lauderdale, Donald Trump and his partners are offering the agent who makes the first three sales a little added reward: either a pair of handmade platinum cufflinks, or a signature platinum and diamond necklace worth $10,000. Trump is also boosting commissions."

From Fort Meyers. "A new car, vacations, money, sounds like a lottery dream but it's actually the latest marketing ploy to get you to buy a home. The cooling real estate market is giving rise to some hot ticket perks for home buyers."

"Ashley Dostal got a whole year's mortgage free, plus closing costs and other giveaways. It convinced her to buy now. 'The first year, I expect to save about $15,000,' Dostal said."

"Sellers of existing homes have started offering free landscaping and lawn care for a year, but that's nothing compared to what realtors and homebuilders are offering, you think of it, they're serving it up."

"The source of this buyers' grab bag is a dip in home applications, which are down 20-percent from last year. That means too much supply and not enough demand. 'In a market that has a lot more inventory, many brokers and many sellers have looked to incentives to draw attention to their property,' Ron Phipps of the National Board of Realtors said."

"While almost all of the local home builders say they're not ready to jump on the incentives bandwagon yet, a few of the bigger companies are offering deals that affect the bottom line. Many local companies think the incentives trend may be short-lived, depending on what the market does. But industry insiders say if home sales flounder, buyers will be able to get very creative about the perks they want."