Dallas insulated from housing downturn?

In a story on NPR's "Morning Edition", Dallas-area realtor Jeff Updike suggests that much of Texas's residential real estate market has been insulated from the recent downturn, because of a more cautions approach to lending by local banks. Updike attributes the caution of bankers in the region to the experiences of only a few decades ago, when much of the capital in Texas that would be lent to finance home purchases came from oil production revenues. As oil prices weakened in the 1980's, that source of financing dried up, leaving a more circumspect group of bankers than in other regions.

Let's hear it Texans! Do you agree with Updike's analysis? Are there other explanations for the Texas market's apparent strength?

Listen to the story here.