The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that "housing prices are expected to continue to have a limited fall throughout 2006."

This was their official word at Wednesday's Senate Banking Committee hearing.

What sort of decline should the nation expect in the housing market? Forecasts indicate that home sales could ease off by 8 percent until year end, and then another 2 percent in 2007. NAR warns, however, that "a significant shift in interest rates or a change in the economy would change this forecast."

Is this the bubble and burst that experts worried about in late 2005? "Contrary to many reports, there is not a 'national housing bubble,'" said NAR President, Thomas M. Stevens, "we were seeing home prices and mortgage debt servicing cost-to-income ratios increase to unhealthy levels in some housing markets, which precipitate an adjustment."

If interest rates maintain their current track and the overall economy of the nation remains strong, then these predictions for the market should hold true.

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