For all those who lost out in bidding wars and failed to get into that trendy new condo last year, 2006 has brought about a kinder, less-feverish spring season.

Gone are the multiple bids with escalation clauses and the projects that sold out while they were still gigantic holes in the ground.

In 2006, more condo developers will likely be wooing buyers with a nice fat check at settlement, an offer to waive condo fees for a few months — or a free flat-screen TV set, laptop computer, even a Vespa scooter.

Such incentives started popping up in the latter part of 2005 and will likely continue as an ever-increasing supply of units become available.

Nearly 25,900 condo units are under construction or being marketed now, up from about 14,500 a year ago, according to a survey by Delta Associates, a real estate information firm in Alexandria. Another 27,600 units are planned over the next three years, although they have not yet been advertised and developers may change plans.

At the same time, sales volume has dropped as investors have exited the market. After selling more than 3,000 new condos for every quarter of 2005, developers moved fewer than 2,000 units so far during the first quarter of this year, Delta said.

In Northern Virginia alone, sales slowed to 920 so far this quarter from 2,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005, Delta said.

And what about prices?

They’re flat, Delta said, and they will stay flat for a while.

Condo prices increased by 24 percent over the first six months of last year, but increases ground to a halt in the second half of 2005, Delta said. They stayed that way during the first quarter of 2006.

Greg Leisch, chief executive of Delta, predicts prices will remain stable for the next 18 months or so as inventory burns off.

Big price reductions, however, are unlikely, Leisch and others said, because the region is adding jobs and the economy remains strong.

And while the 1,984 new units sold in the first quarter of this year represented the lowest level of activity in two years, sales have picked up in recent weeks, Delta said. The firm predicts a sales pace of 2,500 condos per quarter for the rest of the year.