[FITZ]

As long as immigration keeps rising, the housing market will sustain home values. It's a matter of supply and demand.

Not necessarily. In this border region, we've got extremely high immigration, no jobs, many immigrants live 3-4 families in one run-down house or housing project apartment. Over a third of the families here are on some kind of welfare program and many houses in the city are sitting empty. If you look at the statistics of the Texas and New Mexico border counties, you'll see alarming poverty rates and the only way most will buy houses if whent he government gives them the money to do so.

[Dec31,1999]

Interesting. I wonder how much of that is because there is dirt-cheap property right next door in Mexico. I offer Tucson and San Diego as counter examples. Prices there are higher than many places much further inland. Here in the NYC suburbs, there is NOTHING for sale under 150K. And NOTHING under 200-225K in anything like a "good" neighborhood. I expect prices to level off or go down this year, though.