The American Statesman reports from Texas. "Central Texas home builders have been offering plenty of year-end discounts and bonuses to boost sales, but that doesn't mean that the Austin area housing market is cooling or that prices are falling. Sales to West Coast buyers could slow as investors and people seeking to move to Austin find it harder to sell or take equity out of their homes."

"But outside forces are not expected to have a significant impact on Central Texas."

"Last spring, Dr. Susan King is counting signed a contract to buy a new 4,800-square-foot house in Cedar Park. 'If we would have signed now, I think it would have been more expensive, because the prices have gone up,' she said."

"The base price for the Wilshire Homes model home she chose when she signed was $440,000. Now it's about $460,000."

"Big, publicly traded national production builders such as D.R. Horton, KB Home and Pulte Homes dominate the Central Texas market. They may need to raise prices in strong markets such as Austin as they watch profits decline in many other parts of the country. 'The local builders are facing tremendous pressures to produce because the market is slowing in other parts of the country,' said Dick Rathgeber, a longtime local developer."

"'Now that their margins are not as high in those coastal markets, they are looking to the other divisions including Texas to be more profitable and show better margins,' said Eldon Rude, director of the Austin office of Metrostudy. 'One of the ways the public builders are likely to do that is to carry less speculative inventory. We're seeing them have a strong push to reduce their inventory levels during the end of the year.'"

"Some builders have offered end-of-the-year discounts to spur sales. In mid-December, for example, Pulte was offering discounts as high as $40,000 on every one of its homes in Central Texas."

"They also have offered cushy incentives to real estate agents who find buyers for their houses. Beginning in October, some agents received daily e-mails about various incentives, such as 10 percent commission, rather than the typical 3 to 6 percent, on certain houses in communities such as Leander.'"

"Slowdowns in other once-hot markets, such as the West Coast, could reduce the number of investors buying homes and moving here as it becomes harder to sell or get equity of properties elsewhere. Working late at the office of Austin-based Streetman Homes recently, founder Randy Streetman fielded three calls from interested California buyers after 8 p.m."

"West Coast residents with plenty of cash from selling their homes are still buying in Central Texas, he said. But the recent housing downturn there has led to a spike in contract cancellations here."

"First American Loan Performance estimates approximately 15 percent of new mortgages in the Austin area last year were for investor homes purchases, while nearly 8 percent were for second homes. That's up from nearly 14 percent and 6 percent, respectively, in 2005."

"The median sales price of an existing house was $174,000 for the first 11 months of 2006, up 7 percent from the year before. The median price of a new house in the third quarter of this year was $212,527, a nearly 15 percent jump from the same time last year. Rising prices also could put home ownership out of reach for many buyers."

"'Generally speaking, housing prices are growing about twice as fast as wages,' said Brian Kelsey, for the Capital Area Council of Government's Center for Regional Development.'"

From KEYE TV. "Market analysts say Texas usually ranks dead last for appreciation in home values. As parts of the country have seen 30 and 50 percent appreciation, a slump wasn't hard to imagine. While most of the country has been slumping, Austin set a new home sales record this year."

"That record is 16,000 new homes sold. Market analysts say new home sales are one reason it's a sellers' market. There were 29,000 real estate listings in Austin in 2006. Median home price went from $181,000 in '05 to $196,000 this year. And developers built 16,700 new homes."

"'Four years ago, we had a record number of starts with 11,000. Now we're around 17,000,' said Mark Sprague with Residential Strategies, Inc. 'To equate that, that's the number of starts Denver, Colorado had and that's a city of 3.5 million.'"

"Sprague says buy now if you're in the market because you'll pay more in 30 days and considerably more in three months."

"Sprague says his firm counted almost 3,000 new homes finished and vacant. He says there's been a bit of a slow-down in homes under $200,000."

"Residential Strategies says Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are in the top 10 in the country for percentage of foreclosures. Analysts attribute that to more lenders in those cities taking a chance on buyers with lower credit scores."