The St. Petersburg Times has this housing bubble report from Florida. "For the first time this year, a chill in May's housing market sent Pasco's year-to-date building permit growth into retreat, compared with that of the same period last year. As demand cools and speculative investors burn off, inventories are bulging, especially in west Pasco, increasing sixfold from this time last year."

"In east-central Pasco, inventories are doubling in some listings, by some real estate firm's rough estimates. In what may be the tail end of a stare-down between sellers and buyers, a buyers' market may just be coming into full bloom."

"In May, just 505 permits were issued. In the same month last year, 700 permits were issued. It's a small dip compared with deeper and longer troughs in the southern Tampa Bay area. But the chill confirms fears of a spillover from a national cool-down, and it shows signs of creeping north."

"The slowdown follows a trend of growing inventory that began last fall. In west Pasco, inventory ballooned from 800 resale homes and condominiums this time last year to 4,900 currently, said Jennifer France, a past president of the West Pasco Board of Realtors."

"She blamed insurance rates that have reached $2,300 on a $100,000 remodeled block home. Rates like these have knocked first-time buyers out from qualifying under mortgage debt ratios, France said."

"In east Pasco, a two-partner Dade City realty had maintained 30 to 40 listings for the past eight months. The inventory has roughly doubled there. There's just one or two buyers a month, and a six-month inventory. The trend may take its toll not just among investors, but also in one key Pasco industry."

"'All those who got into real estate because of the easy money, you're going to see a lot of Realtors leaving the market,' said Gregory DeLaRue, president-elect of the East Pasco Association of Realtors."

"The chill seeped in from South Florida and Orlando. 'It shows the changing marketplace,' said Jack McCabe of McCabe Research Co. 'Every market has seen a drop in sales and an increase in inventory. Pasco is one of those.'"

"In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area, the first quarter saw a 23 percent drop from 11,740 sales of single-family existing homes in the same period last year to 9,087, according to Florida Association of Realtors numbers quoted by McCabe."

"'Pasco is not as severe, although this may be just preliminary,' McCabe said. 'Their time is coming just a few months down the line.'"

"In Pasco, sellers are throwing out concessions to lure buyers that range from $2,500 to $10,000 in value, McCabe said. Agents are still advising sellers to pay buyers' closing costs rather than underprice their homes."

"The thing that's causing a slowdown is that housing prices have gone up so dramatically,' said Marvin Rose of Tarpon Springs' Rose Residential Reports. But prices may slip. 'It's always several months later that they go down,' McCabe said. 'The sellers and buyers are in a stare-down process.'"