Could be related to cooling of housing market, analysts say.

An article in  Reuter’s today says the luxury car and SUV markets are facing a decline, reflected by a dip in sales.

Driven by aging baby boomers at the peak of their earnings power and dominated by European and Asian brands, the luxury segment of the U.S. auto market has grown by 20 percent since the start of the decade.

That growth, which came despite a pullback in the pace of less-pricey auto sales over the same period, brought the luxury segment to about 12 percent of 16.9 million vehicles Americans bought in 2005.

But luxury car sales are down about 4 percent this year, and some analysts are seeing a potentially worrying connection with another venue for conspicuous consumption: real estate.

Overall car sales had been on a downturn, but premium vehicles have been insulated from this trend until now. The possible link to the housing market has largely been based on the parallel decline of luxury car purchases and the housing market observed in California.

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