My local paper - the St. Pete Times ran an article saying "Home sales" Relax, the sky may not be falling after all" It looks like the gloom and domm folks are wrong once again...
Some of the larger investment banks are already predicting a rolling-back of interest rates in 2007. That should prevent any meltdown if not even continue the rise of home prices.
Things have apparantly slowed a little bit, with fewer turnover this year than in recent years, but prices are barely budging. The homes are just sitting in inventory a little longer.
We'll check in again in 6 months and see where we are at, but if the Fed rolls back rates it should mean this is just a temporary flattening of the line and possibly a good time to buy in advance of future appreciation. And anyway, if a person/family can fix in a 30 year rate with payments they can reasonably afford, it doesn't matter because everyone needs a place to stay and over 30+ years, while values will fluctuate, at the end of the term the value should be much higher and anyway the home will be paid off.
Guess the "doomers" would rather wait for the dems to get back into the office. After they reverse all tax cuts Rangel has promised, then perhaps the return of Carter-era rates of 21%... THEN they will know what a housing bubble really is.