[quote=flu]FThat still doesn’t explain the 2/3 to 3/4 people who aren’t foreign investors that are still buying. Institutional buying at these levels? no way…[/quote]

People with good credit and good high income jobs, particularly dual high income earners. In a recession they are laid off the first. Even very responsible people are willing to highly leverage themselves with real estate based on their current financials with the mindset that it is the responsible thing to do because home ownership is a responsible activity – that is the common wisdom.

I know plenty of very responsible people who lost or almost lost their homes due to job loss during the last crash.

The key thing is that we are overdue for a recession and the political climate is also very tenuous. Is this pessimism on my part, I would just call it being guarded – history tells us the good times don’t last forever. Recessions happen and the fallout from the next one could be serious.