The Dallas News reports on the housing market. "North Texas homebuyers took a vacation in July. Sales of preowned homes were down 10 percent during the month, the largest decline in more than two years. 'Buyer traffic is good, and we are doing better in the city than out in the suburbs,' said (realtor) Darren Dattalo. 'Outside the LBJ Freeway loop, houses are sitting there for a while. There are houses still on the market in Plano that I was showing in January.'"

"At the end of July there were 47,391 preowned single-family homes on the market in North Texas. That's about 8 percent more than a year earlier. July's fall-off in home sales in North Texas was the biggest decline since November 2003, when sales were down 14 percent."

"When Fox & Jacobs recently decided it was time to move some houses, the Dallas-based homebuilder knew just how to catch women's attention. It offered a year's free maid service with the purchase of one of its North Texas houses. Builders are using enticements including free swimming pools, appliance upgrades and cut-rate financing to keep buyers interested."

"With interest rates rising, the prospect of getting freebies with a new house has helped keep sales strong. And it's lured some buyers away from the pre-owned home market."

"'These incentives are almost required at this point because there is so much unsold, finished inventory on the ground,' said housing analyst Ted Wilson. 'They are trying to move units, and they have been on a marketing blitz.'"

"And with good reason. While new-home sales in North Texas are still at record levels, the number of unsold houses is also soaring. Almost 10,000 unsold new homes were on the market at the end of June."

"Along with freebies to buyers, builders are also offering bonuses and gifts to real estate agents who bring them a sale, he said. 'There is a sea of houses for sale out there, and you do everything you can to stand out.'"

"That's what Fox & Jacobs hoped to do with its recent limited-time giveaway of maid service. 'We are trying to offer some things that appeal primarily to female buyers,' said Lee Darnold, vice president of marketing in Centex Homes' DFW Division. 'Women have the biggest impact on the purchase decision.'"

"Nancy Grant, who bought one of the company's homes in Wylie, said the service 'will definitely come in handy. I can also use it to clean up the house I'm selling,' she said."

"North Texas' two biggest public homebuilding companies, Centex and D.R. Horton, cited high incentives among the reasons for their recent declines in financial performance. 'Discounts kind of go hand in hand with [purchase] cancellations,' Centex chief executive Tim Eller said. 'So if cancellation rates are fairly high, you can anticipate that discounts, in one form or another, will also be commensurately high,' he said."

"Almost a third of Centex's nationwide home sales fell through during the most recent quarter, usually because buyers couldn't sell their current home."