“anyway, primary homes are for a lot of us personal decisions. ”
Absolutely! There still are advantages to ownership besides treating your home as a speculative investment. There is something to be said for autonomy, even if prices might not of bottomed yet. You are owning then for comfort, not for return on investment. If you can still get a fixed rate mortgage, you should be all right as the payments shrink in years to inflation. Plus, if inflation is severe enough, renting will have its risks as well as owning. Choose your poison, declining equity if home prices keep dropping but fixed outflows, or no losses from asset depreciation but huge losses of purchase power to rising rent. And either way you’re going to face a higher tax burden as we all pay for the bailout. Like fat_lazy_union said, life it short. If a home will help you enjoy what’s left of it and you have the means, why the hell not.
