Something to consider is how demographics influence the market. In addition to the contraction from over the top pricing and supply being way too large is the largest buying group (baby boomers) are not looking to go up, but are looking to downsize. IOW, we can get back to pricing based on 1/3rd of income paying the mortgage principal, interest, taxes and insurance and still have a drag because the numbers moving up don't match the numbers moving down.
That is a very valid suggestion. The boomers had children, and then there were immigrants and I think they offset the losses by the baby boomers. Either way if the economy was healthy, prices would be firm. I like your bankers prudence returning to the marketplace (1/3 equation, beats ninja)