Hovnanian has some numbers out. "Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. on Wednesday said fiscal second-quarter profit fell versus a year ago as three months of slower sales, higher cancellation rates, and greater concessions took their toll on earnings."

"Second-quarter 2006 results included land-sale profit of 18 cents per share and write-offs of $5 million from land option deposits Hovnanian decided not to exercise."

"During the quarter, the number of net new contracts, after cancellations, including joint-ventures fell 18.5 percent to 4,342, with the Southeast and West seeing the greatest declines. The value of the contracts fell 18.2 percent from a year earlier."

"'As many of our housing markets have continued to cool off..we have renegotiated option contracts on numerous land parcels, primarily those negotiated within the last twelve months that no longer adequately reflect the pricing and returns available in the current sales environment,' CEO Ara Hovnanian said."

"'We also walked away from about $5.6 million of deposits on land parcels that we controlled through options when we were unable to successfully renegotiate the purchase terms,' he said."

Some housing bubble news from California. "Total building permits issued for single-family homes in California were down about 25 percent in April compared to April 2005, while total permits for the first four months of the year were down about 18 percent compared to the first four months of 2005, the California Building Industry Association announced today."

"The number of single-family building permits dropped the most in Napa (-71.4 percent), Yuba City-Marysville (-61.3 percent), and Salinas (-60.7 percent) metro areas in the first four months of 2006 compared to the first four months of 2005, the association reported."

"Residential building in April edged up a slight 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $688.7 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. With homes taking longer to sell, the inventory of new homes for sale has been rising, contributing to what has been so far a modest slowdown for construction."

"April included the start of 18 condominium/apartment projects valued at $50 million or greater, with 8 of these projects located in Florida. Robert Murray added, 'Although there's emerging concern that some markets are being overbuilt, especially in Florida, the volume of new multifamily construction to this point in 2006 remains very strong.'"

From Reuters. "America's booming housing market has clearly slowed, and that cool-down could last at least another year before homeowners see a pick-up in the pace of house price increases again, economists say."

"Economic data on mortgage applications, sales and construction all point to consistent and sustained easing in the market in 2006."

"Sales of newly built homes are down too versus a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That trade group's data also show fewer people are applying for mortgages. In fact, purchase applications year to date are down 10 percent from the comparable period in 2005."

"'We're running at about 2003 levels,' said Mike Fratantoni, senior economist at the MBA." "The number of houses up for sale offers a telling sign too, said economist Jeff Taylor. Indeed, inventories are soaring. The number of new homes and existing houses on the market both hit records in April, according to the National Association of Realtors."

"At the current sales pace, the number of homes up for resale amounted to a six-month supply, the largest in more than eight years."