When the ratio gets down to 1.5 sellers per buyer then you’ll have a market that will start to move. We’re so far from that right now that the end of this downswing is nowhere in sight.
People seem to think that if they blink they’ll miss their opportunity, which with RE is preposterous. There will be lots of advance warning before the market bottoms out, there’ll be a couple months while it wallows on the low end and then some of the more desirable areas will start moving first. It’ll take months before the other areas and price ranges follow suit. I daresay a savvy buyer will have a 6 month window to buy in at the absolute bottom, and maybe 18 months to buy at prices that are well below the long term trend. Possibly longer.
You’ll either have to be not looking at all or in a coma to miss the next best opportunity to buy. If anything, there will be people who will jump the gun a little and buy low but not at the absolute low. Nothing wrong with that, because it’ll still turn out well for them.
