Sure, prices will be higher later – 10 or 15 years later. Pasadena’s point is nothing but RE establishment spin. Instead of data, he is falling back on buyer emotion, which is conveniently impossible to quantify. This is just a new tactic in line with the usual nonsense about “sunshine tax” and “they aren’t making any more land.”
I don’t think anybody here is saying that there will never be a time to buy SoCal real estate. RE will be a good investment again. It is not a good investment right now. The only people buying right now are the uniformed, the folks that have let emotion cloud their judgment (sure, there are a few who are ignoring the evidence), people who have convinced themselves that nothing in their future life will prevent them holding onto the property for 15 years until prices go back up (do they really think they have a crystal ball?), the small number who have so much money that the benefit of owning outweighs the disadvantage of a depreciating asset, the financially stupid who don’t seem to care that they could lose hundreds of thousands and maybe a very small number who have found their dream home (like docteur, who owns outright).
So yes, there are people buying. And the band played on….even as the titanic was sinking.
