Some housing bubble reports from Wall Street, New Orleans and Washington. "The slowdown of the U.S. housing market will last through 2007 as inventories are pared enough to prompt a change in consumer psychology, the CEO of the nation's biggest mortgage lender said."

"Mortgage lending has slowed as rising inventories in the housing market led to a 'hard landing' for the industry after a decade of strong growth, Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo said at a conference in New York. 'We have another year of adjustment, or 'transition' in the industry until consumers believe home prices won't decline, Mozilo said."

The Globe and Mail. "First, Americans quit buying homes. Now, they may have stopped fixing and furnishing them too. Bob Nardelli, Home Depot's CEO said job losses in the home construction market are the worst he's seen in 35 years, and the pain is starting to spread to the home renovation market."

"'The loss of jobs...in the home construction market is at unprecedented levels,' Mr. Nardelli told analysts. 'Home builders [are] basically writing off earnest money and liquidating land. We're starting to see a lot of that unemployment find its way over to the small repair and remodel contractors.'"

"In October, U.S. retail sales fell at an annual rate of 0.2 per cent, the third consecutive monthly decline, according to a U.S. Commerce Department report yesterday. 'The housing slowdown left its grimy fingerprints all over this report,' economist Douglas Porter said."

"'People are being very cautious,' said economist Ian Shepherdson. 'The housing crunch is now hurting.'"

The Star Telegram. "D.R. Horton's earnings fell for the second quarter in a row. Horton has been...making aggressive cuts in its red-hot growth strategy and realigning management positions for a bear market, said Gregory Gieber with AG Edwards. 'It's like sailing and thinking it's going to be a gale, when it's going to be a hurricane,' he said. 'I think when they saw what was going on, they reacted very strongly.'"

"The moves included: Eliminating three COO positions in October. Reducing speculative inventory by starting 46 percent fewer homes than a year ago. Getting out of options to buy land and writing down costs on land purchased at higher prices."

"'This was the first write-down of inventory for Horton and we expect more going forward, given the continued market erosion,' wrote Daniel Oppenheim, analyst with Banc of America Securities."

The Dallas Morning News. "The new-home market faces at least six months of further declines, predicts Don Tomnitz, CEO of Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton Inc, the country's largest builder. 'We believe calendar year 2007, especially quarter one and quarter two, will be more challenging than the past three quarters,' Tomnitz said."

"'I'd say we are in the early stages of a declining market,' he said in a conference call. 'Most of these downturns are longer and deeper than we envision at the beginning.'"

"'We continue to operate in an increasingly challenging housing environment, as is evidenced by our increasing cancellation rate,' he said. About 40 percent of Horton's home purchases were canceled in the most recent quarter. The company said that about half the homes it has under construction have no buyer."

"Horton said its biggest sales declines have been in Florida, down 51 percent, and California, down 39 percent. In Texas, sales were down 15 percent."

From Newsweek. "For the last few autumns, when America's real estate agents met at their annual convention, much of their shoptalk focused on navigating the red-hot housing market. What a difference a year makes."

"The much-celebrated real estate boom has officially ended; nationally, economists now say, the housing market peaked in August 2005. 'The biggest question I'm faced with is how far do prices have to drop and how long will it take for the correction to finally turn around in [those] markets. I don't have an answer,' NAR chief economist David Lereah says, conceding that those markets could stay soft into 2008."

"But he counters that falling prices, while unpleasant for homeowners, are really a good thing, because lower prices will spur more buyers to make offers, and the resulting sales will help not only commission-hungry agents, but...other ancillaries that make housing such a vital prop to the economy."

"And while he calls predictions that home prices might fall 30 or 40 percent 'nonsensical,' he can't offer a number of his own. This slowdown (is) an anomaly, which makes it hard to predict where things will head next. Says Lereah: 'You'd have to go back to the Great Depression to find a housing period that is this unique.'"

From Business Week. "'We just don't know how much further the housing downturn has to go,' St. Louis Fed president William Poole said, according to Bloomberg News. 'As long as the housing problem remains confined to housing, there's really nothing the Federal Reserve can or should do.'"

"Fed policy makers are now giving the housing market what Poole called 'special attention,' the report said. The housing market is seeing 'significant price softness' and may be weaker than it appears, Poole said, according to Bloomberg."