In concert with much of the national and local media, they have been able to artificially construct something that has never —- I repeat, never —- been done before: drive down housing prices at a time when unemployment is low, the economy is booming and consumer confidence is approaching record highs.
Oh, so people really aren’t losing their homes en masse, and the only reason sales are closing at lower prices is because the sellers have been horribly duped by the evil bear and media conspiracy.
I want someone to explain to me why it’s only artificial and irrational when the prices are going down, but not when they’re going up? As far as I can tell, the main reason prices are headed down is because they got distorted in the first place. The roots of this downtrend lie with the uptrend that preceded it. Had there been no irrationality in the uptrend there would be nothing to correct for now.
As for running out of land and not having enough inventory, the facts on the ground speak for themselves. We have a lot more properties listed for sale than there are buyers. We have builders walking away from land options for lack of demand. Once the speculators left the market it has become apparent that there never was a housing emergency to begin with.
I suppose GC is also going to blame the bears for the foreclosure rate and the increasing numbers of escrows that are falling out because of the inability of the few buyers there are out there to qualify under more normal underwritng criteria.
I can’t believe this guy is a journalist of any type. Even the shills over at NAR put forth better arguments than he does.
GC’s perspective has a serious disconnect with the real world. He should seek professional help for that.
