Some housing bubble reports from the northeastern US. "Rising federal interest rates combined with growing concern among the nation's lenders over how much supply Jersey City's Downtown can handle has some experts and local officials predicting a significant slowdown in the city's bullish residential market."

"The apparent shift in momentum comes at a time when Jersey City planning officials are bracing for upwards of 20,000 new units in the Downtown region alone over the next decade, and it's now unclear whether the city will hit that target as the market emerges from its borrower-friendly epoch."

"The perception of a flooded market has already slowed down one major Downtown project, mega mogul Donald Trump recently told The Jersey Journal the second phase of his Trump Jersey City project 'may or may not get built, depending on market conditions.'"

"The attorney for Metro Homes, James McCann, defended a postponement of a payment to the city saying that the lenders for the project have become jittery about the prospects of selling out the second of two towers."

"'The banks are a little more skeptical of condo developments, because of the supply,' said Dave Barry, of Applied Development. 'Developers are now being asked to put more money up front because of the rate increase, and they are asking whether it's worth it,' Barry said."

"In the first solid sign the housing market has turned south, home sales in Philadelphia, South Jersey and Delaware fell in the first six months of 2006 compared to a year ago for the first time in about a decade."

"'The market feels very slow right now,' said Steve Storti, senior VP of marketing for Prudential. 'I have every expectation that this will continue at least until the end of this year.' He said the housing market started to falter last winter and the downturn accelerated beginning in April."

"'People will now sell their house before they buy another one,' he said. 'Previously, people were buying a house before selling their house because they thought it would sell right away.'"

"South Jersey took the hardest hit, down nearly 8 percent in sales. The number of days on market for Pennsylvania homes rose by 59 percent."

The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Seem like old times? It might if you remember the late 1980s, says regional economist Jim Diffley. According to Diffley, the real estate run-up since 2000 has been dramatically more pronounced in the Northeast, Florida and California than in the Midwest or southern American heartland."

"If that rings an ominous bell, it should. The boom of the mid- to late 1980s was followed by a bust that took its biggest toll on the same bicoastal set of states and metro regions, Diffley said."

"As a reminder, he dug out some regional house-price statistics from that era that most real estate salespeople would prefer to forget: In Boston, average home prices fell 11 percent between 1989 and 1991. Northern New Jersey fell even more, 14 percent, in the same period."

"The trend took a little longer to reach the West Coast, but it lasted longer when it did. San Francisco home prices dropped 11 percent between 1990 and 1994. Los Angeles' average house plummeted 21 percent from '91 to '95."

"Philadelphia's price drop back then wasn't as pronounced, mainly because our gains in the mid-1980s weren't as large either. Houses stayed roughly flat here through about 1996. But this time around, we're in the thick of it. Average home prices were less than $150,000 in 2000; today they're closer to $300,000."

"And like the bicoastal bubble two decades ago, this one is likely to end, fizzing if it doesn't bust. Already, the data indicate that both new construction and home sales are coming off their previous breakneck pace. It's not hard at all to imagine the squeeze on those who stretched to buy their dream homes using ultra-low teaser-rate mortgages, once rates adjust back to market levels."

"As we saw in 1989, moreover, borrowers' troubles eventually spread to the lenders. Hundreds of savings and loans failed back then, putting the entire economy at risk. But Diffley isn't saying it's 1989 all over again. 'It's not going to happen again,' he told me. 'What was happening in '89 and '90 was a lot different than what we see today.'"