While on the subject of potential buyers, I am reminded of comments on this forum about people with boatloads of cash sitting around. According to this WSJ article, “the top 1% held 33.4% of the nation’s net worth in 2004… the wealthiest percent owned 70% of bonds, 51% of stocks and 62.3% of business assets. Housing Wealth Effect Shifts Into Reverse
So these people with boatloads of cash probably represent 1% of the population. For all intents and purposes, they are meaningless in terms of affecting the housing market. The 80% of people who took out exotic loans to get into a house: that group will drive this market.
