What do you see in your housing market this weekend? A slowdown in construction? "Builders continued their cautious approach toward new homes in the second quarter, with starts down nearly 22 percent from a year ago. The decreasing numbers signal a slowdown in the Austin area's housing market."

"Area builders started 3,367 homes in the second quarter, down from 4,295 a year ago, according to Dallas-based Residential Strategies Inc. Builders also sold fewer of those homes, down nearly 18 percent from last year's second quarter to 3,281."

"'The market has plateaued, and investors don't want to hear that,' said Mark Sprague, Austin area partner for Residential Strategies."

"'Builders are aware of the potential downturn and are taking drastic steps to make sure they're not stuck with inventory,' said Harry Savio, executive VP of the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin. 'While it looks ominous that it is down 22 percent from the second quarter last year, it's important to note that it was a record year last year.'"

Housing related budget woes? "Facing a souring economic outlook, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday ordered state government to trim up to $1 billion in spending for the budget year that begins next week. Deeper cuts could be in store."

"Florida witnessed a drop in state sales and corporate income taxes during the past three months worse than economists had expected, courtesy of the collapse of the state's five-year housing boom and the subsequent jitters of consumers."

Innovative ways to move a property? "Both the Putvins and Cliftons still have their homes for sale on the conventional market, but both also put their houses up for swap on a Web site where they've posted messages on the 'Housing Swap' forum describing the house they've got and the one they hope to get."

"The couples are part of a small but growing group of homeowners in Metro Detroit and other areas looking to swap homes rather than taking a more traditional path."

"'It's not like we haven't tried our best to sell this house,' said Kelli Clifton. 'We've offered everything, dropped the price. If this does the trick, that's fine by us.'"

Or housing bubble financial news? "Benchmark subprime mortgage ABX indexes closed at record new lows on Friday as concerns over subprime mortgages intensified, traders said. The index has tumbled by 42 percent since January."

"'Until two weeks ago, the market was mostly focused on trying to discern the impact of the declining housing market and deteriorating collateral performance on the 'fair value' of subpime-related assets,' said Richard Parkus, Deutsche Bank analyst."

"'However, with the events surrounding the problems at the two BSAM (Bear Stearns Asset Management) structured credit hedge funds last week, the market is now focused on the risk of a wider-scale contagion issue that could potentially impact other sectors as well,' he said."