1250 ET - The housing market is still relying heavily on incentives to ink new-home contracts, but the incentives aren't as steep as they were earlier this year. "After increasing for several years, incentive levels have decreased from the first quarter to the second quarter to the third quarter," says Ara Hovnanian, CEO of Hovnanian Enterprises. "This happened even though mortgage rates increased during the quarter." Hovnanian says on a call with analysts that the trend is providing a boost to business, as the homebuilder's gross margins have improved over the past several quarters.