-The US housing market is cratering, as the Fed's rapid interest rate hikes send mortgage costs soaring.

-Home sales have fallen for 8 months, and prices are dropping. But economists say worse is to come.

-Here's what Jeremy Siegel, Paul Krugman and 5 other top experts say about how painful things will get.

The alarm bell is already ringing for American homeowners, as surging mortgage rates scare away buyers — and the slump in the US housing market is only going to get worse, experts say.

The signs of stress have become blatant. Recent data showed that in September, existing home sales dropped 24% — the eighth straight monthly decline, marking the longest slide since 2007. Homebuilding starts slumped, and the number of new home listings fell 22%.