Home Bust?

Uh-oh. Don't look, but the L.A. Times warns that the long-awaited housing bubble burst may be on its way:

Faced with reduced buyer demand and rising inventories of unsold properties, many sellers of homes worth more than $750,000 are dropping asking prices.

Many also are taking weeks before landing buyers.

The slowdown in pricier homes is typical of the latter stages of a housing boom, analysts say, as expensive properties were the first to rise sharply at the beginning of the current cycle.

It's also a leading indicator that the overall housing market is beginning to lose steam, as double-digit price increases become harder to sustain and mortgage rates rise.

The potential good news? Homes in the $500,000 range are still selling well. And the story notes that this could be simply a part of the fall slowdown in home sales. Things also quieted down last fall, before picking up again in early 2005. Guess we'll see.