Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street. "The housing market is looking sicker by the day. Economist Ian Shepherdson said that the housing market is so far gone that 'it's not rescuable anymore. The housing market is beyond the control of the Fed.' He compared it to a football game played on a mountaintop. Once the football goes off the edge, he said, it doesn't stop until it reaches the very bottom."

"Even the homebuilders, long an optimistic bunch, are all but throwing in the towel on the current market's condition. 'We're running our business today as if we're in a prolonged downturn,' CEO Ara Hovnanian of Hovnanian Enterprises told analysts."

"Heeding the signs of a bursting bubble, St. Joe is bowing out of the Florida homebuilding market. Markets that went up too much, too soon will let gravity guide the way down. The news is unlikely to get any better in the near term. The overabundance of new and existing homes on the market will make this a buyer's market for some time."

"The strategy shift will result in job losses, the company said. Jacksonville, Florida-based St. Joe said it expects to take a $10.7 million charge, including $2.3 million for termination benefits."

"Lennar Corp. Friday became the latest home builder to warn that earnings would fall short of Wall Street's expectations. 'The U.S. housing market has continued to deteriorate,' Lennar CEO Stuart Miller said."

"Miller said new orders appear to have declined 5 percent in the quarter. But higher sales incentives and 'certain land adjustments' were the primary factors behind the company's lowered estimate, he said."

"'The market is very weak and may be staring at a hard landing,' said Paul Puryear, managing director of Raymond James & Assoc. 'Housing is a key driver in the economy, and consumers are in for some bad news in regards to the value of their homes.'"

"First Horizon National Corp. has laid off about 350 loan officers as the slowing housing market has taken a toll on its mortgage operations. At the same time, the holding company of First Tennessee Bank has decreased its staff by nearly 6 percent since the end of last year, a total of 759 employees."

"'What management appears to be doing is eliminating some of the cost in the infrastructure,' (analyst) Kevin Reynolds says. In this case, the costs are people."

"New Century Financial said August loan production fell 5% from a year ago to $5.8 billion. The company said interest-only loans fell to 17% of nonprime production in August from 35% a year ago. California-based loans slipped to 32% of nonprime production from 37% a year ago."

"Washington Mutual said it is dealing with a tough interest rate environment, softening housing prices, an overcrowded mortgage business and overall economic uncertainty by placing less emphasis on residential home lending, pulling back on the number of branches it opens, closing others and continuing to cut employment."

"WaMu CEO Kerry Killinger said he's been cautious about the housing market for 18 months, feeling that prices had gone up more than fundamentals justified."

"The market also has been plagued by too much capacity chasing declining demand, leading some lenders to aggressively price their loans which, when combined with the current squeeze on interest-rate margins from actions by the Federal Reserve, meant 'the whole industry is earning a substandard return right now,' Killinger said."

"Killinger said WaMu recently has been selling 71 percent of its Option ARMs; in good years it would have kept most of that production. 'I do expect delinquencies rates to rise because they've been at unsustainably low levels,' he added."