Housing markets have "cooled" and residential mortgage lending has declined in most parts of the country, according to the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve Board's periodic report of economic activity.Except in the St. Louis and Dallas districts, the Federal Reserve Banks reported that new- and existing-home sales declined and inventories of unsold homes rose in June and the first two weeks of July. The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank reported some "cooling." But demand for housing "remains strong" and construction activity has been "robust," the district bank said. "As home demand has slipped more generally, scattered reports indicated a strengthening in demand for rental units," the Beige Book says.
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