A housing report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Call it a chill, call it a lull, but don't describe the Center City housing market as a 'bubble about to burst. At least not to Paul Levy, president of the Center City District. Center City has shown it has the ability to annually absorb 1,500 to 1,800 new units of owned and rental housing. 'The sky is not falling,' Levy said."

"Levy argued that recent announcements that several Center City condominium projects had been put on hold had been exaggerated in the media as evidence that Center City's hot residential real estate market was a bubble about to burst. Among major projects put on hold within the last two months are the 30-story Marina View Towers, a second luxury condo tower south of Penn's Landing, and Opus Group's proposed condominium tower."

"Levy, however, argued that these developers were only following the normal cycle of supply and demand. 'This doesn't mean they are abandoning these projects,' he said. 'It just means they're not going forward in this cycle.'"

"Even with a lull, the report notes, construction of new housing units in Center City increased 12 percent from 2004 to 2005. At 2006's current pace, 1,932 new units by Sept. 1 and an additional 1,189 completed by year end, Levy said Center City will see a 59 percent increase in completed units over last year."

"Levy said his optimism was also founded on results of a survey showing that Center City's new homeowners are different from the buyers in other major cities."

"As reports center on a housing bubble that is beginning to fizzle in red hot markets such as parts of Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas and Northern Virginia, Levy predicted Philadelphia will not dramatically suffer from the cooling market but ease into it. 'The demand for Center City housing is quite strong and quite sustainable,' Levy said. In fact, he blamed 'media hyperbole' for promoting the idea of a so-called 'bursting bubble.'"

"Though the city has managed to absorb the new construction at a rate of 1,500 to 1,800 housing units per year in recent years, it's projected there will 3,121 new units in 2006, 3,269 in 2007 and 3,211 in 2008. It noted real estate experts predict just 20 percent to 30 percent of announced projects that have not yet started construction will move forward in the near term."

"The 'equilibrium' experienced in the market, where supply meets demand, isn't expected to continue, he said. Philadelphia developers have already begun to react to those trends, Levy said. Levy also said that developers who initially intended to construct housing may react to the market cycle as well as demand and instead proceed with those projects in another form, such as a hotel or rental housing."