All the talk in RE circles and among the “smart money” crowd (whatever the hell that is) these days is about the soft landing that’s coming in real estate.
Surging inventory? No worries.
Interest rates rising? Eh.
ARMs readjusting? Big whoop. Have you seen my new beemer?– vanity plate# HELOC?
It is a measure of a changing discussion that the same big names who last summer predicted meaningful price gains for several more years now admit that *any* sort of landing is due.
I guess this could be soft. At first. But what happens when inventory continues to build, and long-time homeowners see their nestegg dip, a little more every month? Suddenly that retirement condo in Tampa or Dallas starts looking a lot better, and let’s put that for sale sign out front now, Martha, just to be safe.
What the price-floor crowd forgets is that San Diegans who’ve owned for ten years *could* sell for 50% off and still come out ahead. They wouldn’t want to, lord knows, but they could do it. And if the sentiment arrow ever points straight down and begins falling off the weathervane price reductions will come fast and furious, like a chased man tossing a chair behind him to slow his pursuers.
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