Following my post yesterday on how economic news can drive elections, here is the latest on that impending downturn in real estate:

Housing developers, who saw prices fall last month at the fastest rate in 36 years, are feeling it most. The Commerce Department reported that the median price for a new home sold nationally in September fell to $217,100, a drop of 9.7 percent from a year earlier, when the median price was $240,400.

While we may have seen a peak in overall US prices, any adjustments will be of a regional character. Here is a list of the nation's Top 10 foreclosure markets, and here is a list of the ten best places to buy now.

And Canada is lagging the US, which means house prices in the north are still on the rise and they are fueling an already strong economy:

Canadian consumers are looking a lot like Americans these days, borrowing against their houses to fund their substantial shopping sprees.

Personal lines of credit are surging as house prices rise, and household credit is growing at double-digit rates. But analysts say the similarities with U.S. consumers end there.

The British market in the meantime is also setting record price increases.

It's not very difficult to spin the Dow, but it will be much harder to deal with an electorate that is bruised by soaring interest rates, negative equity and foreclosures. But judging from the numbers today, that scenario will not play itself out all that soon.