A report from Bloomberg. "Despite a robust U.S. economy, at least as measured by gross domestic product, real home price growth is locked in a cyclical downturn. If that's not bad enough, it will likely get worse based on the same approach and factors that correctly flagged the housing bust – in real time – in early 2006. Part of the reason for the worsening outlook in home prices is the plunge in housing affordability, which is generally a function of the ability of a family with median earnings to buy a home at the median price."

"This metric – the National Association of Realtor’s Housing Affordability Index – recently dropped to a 10-year low, partly as a consequence of rising mortgage rates. But it’s not just about higher borrowing costs. Affordability has also been undercut by the steady rise in the ratio of median existing home prices to the median earnings of full-time wage and salary workers."

"This ratio recently reached a 10-year high, with the median cost of purchasing a home equaling almost six years of a worker’s earnings before easing slightly, according to our research."

"A downturn in the growth of home prices is unwelcome news for home builders, as growth in total homes sold has actually turned lower and is back in negative territory. Homebuilder profitability is caught in this pincer between falling home price inflation and rising building cost inflation. So it’s no surprise that homebuilder stocks have lost more than a quarter of their value since January, with nearly half of that decline occurring in the last month or so."

"With the Fed determined to keep hiking rates and broader housing affordability remaining tough, it’s difficult for home prices to gain much traction. And it’s hardly reassuring that the level of real home prices appears to have peaked for the first time since the housing bust."

"Separately, with rates rising and the broader economy in a stealth slowdown that few recognize, stock prices are vulnerable to corrections, like the 10 percent decline in February and the weakness seen last week. In this context, the home price downturn raises the risk of generalized asset price deflation that could result in a negative wealth effect for the first time since the financial crisis."

The Tampa Bay Times in Florida. "Home prices keep climbing. Houses sprout in long dormant parts of Pasco and Hillsborough counties. Condo towers rise in our downtowns. It’s no wonder I’m often asked whether we are creating another housing bubble like the one that plunged the economy into a tailspin a decade ago. The short answer: No, not this time around."

"'For housing, things point to a general slow down,' said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. 'No big crash or a popping of a bubble because there really isn’t a housing bubble out there.'"

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. "When Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun was in town last week, he predicted that nationwide median home prices will rise by about 8 percent over the next two years. 'The days of easy 10 percent price gains in one year are over,' Yun told real estate agents."

"For sure that is so in Dallas-Fort Worth. After several years of double-digit percentage home appreciation in North Texas, the latest price forecasts may seem dismal. But a slowdown in home price gains is just what the D-FW area needs at this point in the cycle."

"The best way to prevent another housing bubble is to let a little air out of the market before things get too overvalued."

From Builder Magazine. "According to a recent report by Trulia, more than 20% of the houses listed for sale in the Dallas area have had at least one price cut in order to try and move the property. The nationwide figure for properties that have had at least one markdown is hovering around 17% as of August."

"The number of homes up for sale with real estate agents in North Texas has grown by about 15 percent in the last year to the largest number of houses on the market in six years. Home sales by real estate agents in the area are flat this year. And median home prices through the first nine months of 2018 are up only about 5 percent from the same period last year. The U.S. cities with the largest percentage of price cuts this year include San Diego (26.4 percent), Salt Lake City (24.9) and Warren-Farmington Hills, Mich. (23.6), Trulia found."