There has been a little loosening in some of the widely-watched indexes, but it's like comparing a 99-degree day with a 103-degree day. Yeah, it's a touch cooler but will anyone notice the difference? Henry Blodget at Clusterstock explains why:

Because cash is king, and everyone is scared to death. Also, a whole bunch of mortgage rates are going to reset soon, thanks to sky-high LIBOR (Citi puts the November resets at $24 billion). This will exacerbate the foreclosure crisis and put more pressure on the housing market.

By the way, Jon Stewart has a very funny bit on CNBC's "decabox." Here's the link.