This is certainly a bad time to be related to real estate in any way. Both mortgage rates and home prices are failing. How long will it last?

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 15 basis points to 6.29 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.31 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.97 percent; four weeks ago, it was 6.49 percent.

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Then there were the reports on used-home resales and new home sales in August. Prices and sales volume were down compared to August 2005, and more than 4 million houses are on the market. Housing is a large sector of the economy, and for years consumer spending has been lifted by huge increases in house values. The prospect of a softening in consumer spending drove bond yields and mortgage rates downward.

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Nevertheless, the bond market, which helps set mortgage rates, didn't react warmly to news that the median resale price of used houses fell 1.7 percent in the 12 months ending in August. Half of the houses resold in August cost more than $225,000; the median price a year before had been $229,000.