patrick.net

Where have you been? The slow down has already happened in the last 30-40 days. It will likely be slow for the next several months. I expect the housing market to keep going up at a steady rate starting in the spring of 2014. Now and the next several months is a second chance to buy before you will hear the "buy now or be priced out forever" mantra from people in the coming years.

E-man says

Where have you been? The slow down has already happened in the last 30-40 days. It will likely be slow for the next several months. I expect the housing market to keep going up at a steady rate starting in the spring of 2014. Now and the next several months is a second chance to buy before you will hear the "buy now or be priced out forever" mantra from people in the coming years.

Bernanke just spiked the punch again.. that buzz will wear off soon... then we'll be back to housing prices flattening and then drifting lower and a stalling economy.. then he (or his replacement) will whip up some more punch.. they may need more than $40B in MBSs for the next round.. that's a few years off as the hangover from this round won't hit until next spring probably.. we'll soon see another standoff between buyers and sellers like we had in 2006/7 before the ponzi scheme broke down.. on the down side, I don't know if all this Fed intervention has completely shifted the importance of housing prices for good or not? .. really too bad, but I don't know.. regardless, bottom line is the Fed wants to ensure the banking industry gets their cut on your labor either through high housing prices or higher interest rates.. either way, the banks win and middle class and next generations lose in the end..

Assuming rates would not be increasing if economic signals had not improved enough to allow the Fed to tail off on its purchase, why do you think this will adversely affect prices?

If the economy has improved, that means more jobs. More jobs means more buyers.

More buyers should have positive affect on prices? No?

Will there be a slowdown from recent home price appreciation? Yes - because low rates and more jobs helps prices more than higher rates and more jobs. The past year has been the perfect storm of improving economy and low rates.

I think if you look at historical interest rate/home price trends, it will show you that increasing rates and falling home prices do not happen together.

seeitnow says

If the economy has improved, that means more jobs. More jobs means more buyers.

I agree with that statement; however, what percent of those new jobs are directly or indirectly the result of rising housing prices?.. I believe that answer is close to 50%... so, we'll see how strong our economy is when housing prices flatten.. or start to fall in bubble areas like CA..

kmo722 says

seeitnow says

If the economy has improved, that means more jobs. More jobs means more buyers.

I agree with that statement; however, what percent of those new jobs are directly or indirectly the result of rising housing prices?.. I believe that answer is close to 50%... so, we'll see how strong our economy is when housing prices flatten.. or start to fall in bubble areas like CA..

Yes BUY NOW! Otherwise you will be outbid by hordes of part time Walmart greeters and Starbucks baristas flush with cash from their phat paychecks!

Thank you, New Renter. If anybody here bothered to read the jobs report beyond the headline number they would see that the vast majority of jobs being added are part-time -- this is not going to help sales.

If you are even more of a wonk, you might also find out that because those jobs being added are part-time, they're often double-counting the employed, i.e. one person who gets a new part-time job is being counted as two people employed. I suppose working multiple part-time jobs could loft you into homeownership, but that would show a distinct lack of forward thinking given the tenuousness of reliable hours assigned to part-time employees.

I think all of you need to take a could of hours to re-read Animal Farm (or read it if you haven't already) and learn the power of reading beyond the headlines in a system in which every number is being manipulated to keep the sheeple peacefully gleaning the detritus of a fascist system without ever questioning it.