Every week I get an e-mail from a nameless sender, linking me to an article in one medium or another in which the writer of the article reports that the market is slowing and there doesn't appear to be a bubble.

I don't know why the sender insists on providing me with this information. I've never believed in housing bubbles, at least the ones of national proportions, since real estate remains basically local.

I also wrote my first column on the slowing market in August 2005, when I began noticing that, for the first time in at least three years, For Sale signs were lingering on the front lawns in my old neighborhood and "price reduced" signs also began appearing.

Seasonally adjusted sales of existing single-family homes declined 1.3 percent in June, while the median sales price increased a mere 0.87 percent to $231,000 from June 2005 prices, according to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.

Inventory of existing single-family homes has increased from a 4.4 month supply in June 2005 to a 6.8-month supply in May 2006. This represents the most months of supply for existing single family homes on the market since May 1993, according to Hanley Wood.

New home sales were down 5.9 percent in May from May 2005, and the median price decreased 4.3 percent to $235,300 in April from the previous month, although 3.1 percent higher than May 2005, Hanley-Wood said. New home inventory increased slightly in May while the months of supply decreased to 5.5 months due to an increased sales pace.

Real estate is cyclical, and, whether booming or slowing (the official housing industry word is "normalizing"), it, too, will pass.

It has had an effect on the economy in general. Joel Naroff, chief economist at Commerce Bank in Philadelphia, said that the "fall off in the residential sector took nearly 0.5 percent out of the growth rate in the second half of the year. It is one current trend of economic growth "that could be sustained," he said.

Or not.

At the end of 1993, 30-year fixed interest rates began their eventual climb from just below 7 percent to just above 9 percent in October 1994, ending the refinancing boom and slowing home sales.

One mortgage broker I interviewed said he expected that fixed rates would eventually drop to just about 5 percent. Everyone pooh-poohed him, and it did take a few years, but he was right.

Nothing lasts forever. If they did, there would be no reason to make anything new.

There also will be major differences in how each geographic area will be affected. For example, in areas that were long undervalued, increases in median sale prices will continue, more modestly, of course, even as supply outpaces demand and buyers take their time and shop for the best house instead of grabbing the first one they see.

In areas where prices have long exceeded affordability, prices might decline, or at least not increase on the level they've been doing so.

There are areas that haven't been part of the boom at all -- some parts of the Upper Midwest, for example. You need a job to afford a house, and job growth in these areas where plants have closed or moved has been virtually nonexistent.

There are markets that won't be affected at all -- beachfront property along the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara will always have takers, even though the median prices in those areas are between $830,000 and $972,000.

And for people looking for bargains in this area, Neil Cull, Re/Max Gold Coast Realtors, who specializes Ventura County, California, properties, is directing buyers to Port Hueneme, 30 miles south of Santa Barbara, where beachfront still can be found for under $400,000.

There are markets where houses under $500,000 will be scarfed up pretty quickly while the $2 million-plus condos languish for takers. Realtor Alex Shay in Miami says that homes and condominiums "that are priced below a million dollars are selling well, and that is a good sign, because it demonstrates the continued demand for property in Miami."

Shay goes on to say, however, that while Miami's high-end market has definitely slowed this year, he's not worried. The luxury buyers are simply waiting to see if prices will go down.

In the last four months at the end of my street, three houses went on the market. One was a luxury home with a swimming pool for a million-plus in a $450,000 neighborhood; another an eyesore for $499,000 that should be razed, and a well-kept house in need of renovation for $319,000.

The luxury-home owners are sticking to their price and getting no traffic. The eyesore has dropped to $399,000, and still no one comes.

The $319,000, which we all considered a bargain, went in less than a week, and is in the middle of renovation by the remodeling contractor who plans to live there.

It's a market in which buyers can be more selective. Now it's up to sellers to rise to the occasion.