Even if you don't wait. What's prime now?
I just priced a loan for my state & it was 5.75% for a 15 year, and 6.25 with a 30 Year. Unbelievable. I can remember back in 1998 when I was looking for houses, the best rate I got was 8.25.
In a slowing economy, buying a house is good for two reasons. One, you put money into Equity (provided a good neighborhood with good growth prospects) which is much safter than the Stock Market.
Two, you spend $, which is what we as consumers have to do to avoid a recession. Don't be scared of purchases because of what happened. Our economy is strong, and it needs the consumers to have faith in it and the future. Overly saving money as oppossed to spending it is what will hurt us the most.
Incidentally, had I put my investments in anew house instead of the stock market right now, I'd be dancing a jig. My investmetns are crap, and houses around here have kept going and going up.