Things are still hot, but the trend is clear. The only debate now is how hard a landing there will be and what will it mean for the general economy. |
This is a real-estate-driven economy from top to bottom. |
We as a nation are not as oil dependant as we were back then. |
We have lots of new employees. It's just not showing up in the employment statistics. |
We say it's a bubble, but a housing bubble does not pop like a stock market bubble, ... A stock market bubble, when it pops, lots of market activity, prices dropping rapidly. Housing prices don't drop that way because there's a huge fixed cost. You don't day-trade your home. |
We're in a housing-driven economy from top to bottom at this point in time. |
We've never seen this size of a housing bubble before, so in a sense we're in kind of a strange place right now. |
When consumers realize they can no longer expect that appreciation bonus to subsidize their consumption habits, they will very likely pull back on spending. |
You got to think that this thing is going to end, eventually, one way or another. Prices have gotten to the point that, even with all the crazy financing out there, people still can't get into the market. It's just that over the top. |