As the housing boom slows and home prices remain flat across the nation and Florida, the Tampa Bay area is bucking the trend by posting double-digit hikes in median home prices.

But based on a slowdown that local Realtors are seeing, don't expect the rosy picture to last much longer, if it hasn't already started to reverse.

Across Florida, median existing single-family home prices rose just 3 percent in June 2006 compared to the same month a year ago, to $257,800. But in the Tampa Bay area, the increase was 15 percent year to year, up to $239,600, according to figures released Tuesday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

Just five years ago, the median price of Florida homes was $132,500, a price that has since climbed 94.5 percent.

Many local Realtors are at a loss to explain the local spike and say that, if anything, it appears buyers are reluctant to pay full price for any property in the current market.

"Sellers are dropping their prices right and left to get their properties sold," said Phyllis Lee, a Lutz Realtor. "We're all hollering and looking for buyers. They're holding back or they're in hiding somewhere. They figure they're going to get a better deal if they wait longer."

National home prices mirrored the Florida trend and rose just 0.9 percent from June 2005 to June 2006 to an average median price of $231,000, the slowest pace in more than a decade, says the National Association of Realtors.

That's far below the 16.8 percent jump in prices nationally recorded for the 12 months ending last October, marking a 26-year high in year-to-year price gains.

Nationally, the sale of existing homes fell for the eighth time in the past 10 months, another sign that the housing market is wilting. The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes and condominiums dropped 1.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.62-million units.

That trend is repeated in Florida and the Tampa Bay area. In Florida, 18,089 existing single-family homes sold last month, a decrease of 29 percent over the previous June. In Tampa Bay, sales of existing homes were down to 3,442 in June, a 34 percent drop.

And the national inventory of unsold homes rose to a new record of 3.725-million units.

Analysts say consumers can expect that unsold homes will further depress prices and help slow sales.

"With interest rates still rising and job growth slowing, the slowdown in sales will continue," said Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight, an economic consulting firm. He forecast that existing home sales would decline by 8 percent this year and 9 percent in 2007.

Local Realtors say a drop in sales is not unexpected, especially after booming times during the past several years. What surprises them is robust home prices locally.

"I'm seeing stable prices and there's a buying opportunity," said Paul Gibson of Clearwater Beach, who sells mostly beach property. "It's not an extraordinary buyer's market, but it is a buyer's market."

Craig Chaykin, a Hillsborough Realtor, said few sellers are getting full price for anything. "Everything's slowed down," he said. "You can't make offers. Everybody's waiting until the last minute to list their home. They're waiting for the market to cap out to get every dollar they can."

The Florida Association of Realtors says everything from higher interest rates to high gas and insurance costs are adversely affecting real estate sales. "What we're seeing now is what housing analysts have been saying the past three years: It couldn't continue," said Marla Martin, a spokesman for the Florida Association of Realtors. "At some point the market had to adjust and bring more balance between buyers and sellers."

Sales of both new and existing homes set records for five consecutive years. But mortgage rates that have risen to the highest levels in four years have dampened the sales boom this year.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or 813 226-3436.