Some housing bubble reports from Florida. "The housing standoff between buyers and sellers in South Florida will continue for another six months, and then prices in some areas will fall, a well-respected economist predicted Tuesday. In some cases prices may fall by 10 percent to 15 percent, said David Lereah, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist."

"'We are not in a crisis but a transition,' said Lereah. 'I am very bullish in the long term for real estate in Florida.'"

"Lereah pegged the end of the housing boom to August 2005. That's when mortgage rates crept up and speculators fled. Now, he said, home sales are declining. And the inventory of homes for sale has ballooned because stubborn sellers refuse to lower prices and buyers are ever willing to wait it out. Ultimately, he said, sellers will relent."

"'When a transitioning market cools, it's the sales that drop first, and then prices,' Lereah said. Lereah said speculators are fleeing the market. He contends that speculators are most to blame for huge price hikes. 'Florida will be better for it with them gone,' he said."

"Higher interest rates could pinch. Lereah calls raising rates 'a mistake right now.' Many recent buyers, especially in extra-pricey California, financed properties with interest-only loans at adjustable rates. Some buyers could lose their homes, if rates go up even half a percentage point over the next year, he warned."

From Florida Today. "Single-family homes in Brevard County were over-valued by 54 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to a new study. An economist involved in the study said that could mean a sizable adjustment in the housing market is on its way."

"Broker Betty McCluskey said she might quibble with Brevard being 54 percent overvalued as the study claims, but there's no question area prices escalated too quickly recently. 'Our market got out of control,' McCluskey said, adding that sellers are cutting prices because of growing inventories."

"'On a daily basis, we have properties' selling price reduced, reduced, reduced,' she said."