CNN has this report from a Federal regulator. "New evidence of a housing market slowdown emerged Tuesday - growth in the price of a single family home was just 1.17 percent in the second quarter, a decline of one percentage point from the prior quarter."

"The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which released the report, said it was the slowest quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 1999 and was the sharpest quarter-to-quarter pullback since OFHEO began the index in 1975."

"According to Jonathan Miller, an appraiser in New York, 'The index may not reflect what's really happening out there.' He believes that many sellers are holding out for unrealistically high asking prices, and the buyers actually purchasing homes are only the ones willing to pay the higher prices."

"To close deals with the on-the-fence or reluctant buyers, sellers will have to drop their prices and the index will only then reflect that. The effect could snowball if sellers get a bit panicky and try to sell their properties before prices erode further."

"'These data are a strong indication that the housing market is cooling in a very significant way,' said James Lockhart, OFHEO director. 'Indeed, the deceleration appears in almost every region of the country.'"

"It's the fastest deceleration in the index in its three-decade history, OFHEO said.'