Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street. "Investment-grade homebuilders are well positioned to face the current slowdown in the U.S. housing cycle thanks to more conservative business practices, according to Standard & Poor's. But the outlook is less rosy for speculative-rated homebuilders."

"'Several non-investment-grade homebuilders will find the going difficult because of aggressive inventory investment and share repurchases that will limit future flexibility and leave them vulnerable to credit pressures,' S&P said."

"A drop in orders for new homes, especially in markets known for speculative buying, and an increase in cancellations of existing orders have hammered homebuilders in recent months as rising interest rates curb demand for homes."

"St. Joe Co., one of Florida's largest real estate companies, said Tuesday its second-quarter profit fell, weighed by lower sales in the weakening Florida property market. The company also cut its full-year financial forecast for the second time this year."

"'At established Joe resort towns, sales remained slow during the second quarter, which had a significant impact on revenue and earnings,' said CEO Peter S. Rummell. 'Considering the high levels of resale inventory available in many parts of Florida, including Joe's core markets in Northwest Florida, we believe activity in our resort and seasonal markets will remain slow for at least 18 to 24 months before there is a return to supply-demand equilibrium.'"

From MarketWatch. "Freddie Mac said Tuesday that it will limit the annual growth of its retained mortgage portfolio to no more than two percent above the level at June 30, 2006. The unpaid principal balance of the company's retained portfolio was $722 billion as of June 30."

"'This voluntary, temporary growth limit is in response to a request of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo), the company's safety-and-soundness regulator,' the company said in a press release."

"The move by Freddie Mac follows a similar action by Fannie Mae, which limited its portfolio to $727 billion. Both companies are emerging from accounting scandals. Analyst Jaret Seiberg said the move by Freddie would contribute to congressional efforts to finish a bill putting in place new rules on Fannie and Freddie."