The Florida Press reacts to the new housing numbers. "The cooling real estate market offers a bit of good news for cash-strapped home buyers: The affordability squeeze has eased slightly. But the income needed to buy a typical home is still twice what it was four years ago. The typical Palm Beach County home cost $392,900 in the first three months of the year, down from $415,800 in last year's fourth quarter and $399,900 in the third quarter."

"Indeed, the lull in the region's five-year run-up in home prices may have fewer potential buyers contemplating a move out of the area, but many more still are sitting on the sideline waiting for prices to fall further. That means that, for the near future, home sellers will have to contend with a glut of properties for sale and less interest from buyers, a reality reflected in Monday's first-quarter report, which said the number of home sales in Palm Beach County fell 32 percent from a year ago."

"Agents say they expect sales to increase this summer compared with the past few months. 'A resurgent market? I think that will be out much farther than the immediate future,' said Beverly Rothstein, an agent in Coral Springs."

"Inez Fleming, an agent in Delray Beach, said she hasn't worked with many buyers in 2006 and said people might be waiting to see whether the region gets hit with a hurricane for the third year in a row. Fleming has three storm-weary clients selling and moving back north. 'They just don't want to deal with it,' she said."

"The median home price in South Florida, $377,000, increased 11.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago. However, the median price in the tricounty area was down from $391,200 in the fourth quarter. 'Pressure is coming off of home prices,' David Lereah, the NAR's chief economist, said."

"Sales of existing homes and condominiums on the Treasure Coast remain higher than they were a year ago, but the median price fell for the second consecutive quarter. In the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie area, which includes Stuart, the median sales price (of) $260,200 is down from a high of $267,500 in the third quarter of 2005."

"Pamela Peterson-Drake, a professor in Port St. Lucie, said the market could not sustain the same levels of sales and price appreciation it had in 2004 and 2005. 'A lot of this was speculation and there was a reliance on the greater fool theory,' Peterson-Drake said. 'The prices were simply too high and not a true economic value of the prices they were selling for, so people had to find a greater fool to buy a home.'"

"'We're seeing a flattening of sales,' said (economist) Merle Dimbath, president of Dimbath Economics in Stuart. People that bought in the last year who are trying to load these properties might sell them for less than they paid for.'"

"The number of condominiums sold in Lee and Collier counties plunged in the first quarter of 2006. Statistics released Monday showed that 698 condos were sold with the help of a Realtor in Lee County, down 47 percent, and 784 in Naples, down 48 percent. Charlotte County's condo market collapsed in the first quarter, with a 91 percent slide to just 17 sales."

"Local median housing prices fell slightly from the fourth quarter of 2005 to this year's first quarter. The median-price figures for Brevard County tend to mirror the overall national picture, where there was slippage from last year's fourth quarter and this year's first quarter."

"Watching the real estate market lately has provided some anxious moments for homeowners and homebuyers. The Florida Association of Realtors reported a 5.1 percent drop in median home prices, to $222,400 in the first quarter of 2006, from $234,400 in the fourth quarter of 2005."

"Misty Morrison, who is helping sell a home in Viera, recently reduced the asking price by $25,000 to $254,900. 'Obviously, you have to be competitive to be able to sell it,' Morrison said."

"Others agree. 'We are finally coming out of denial, and beginning to acknowledge that tough times are ahead,' said Manuel Iraola, CEO of a real estate consultant group. 'No one wants the bubble to burst, but the market is showing signs of fatigue, and the balance of power is shifting to the buyers.'"