Bay Area Real Estate Trends

While the bubble itself has popped, we as a society remain driven by the same greed and egomania that got us into trouble in the first place. We are traveling the down same road as before, in the same direction. Despite the warning signs and mounting debts, we still think this is the road to [...]

The economy will not fully recover until the real estate sector is put back to work. No, it doesn’t have to attain the unsustainable heights of the housing bubble. A return to historic norms will feel like a boom compared to the last 4 years.

If we want home prices to bottom, well then we must let them fall.

The few bright spots appear to be a result of government stimulus, the homebuyer tax credits in particular. However, rather than jump-starting the market, the government’s interventions seem to have only had a temporary effect that evaporated as the stimulus expired.

Housing supply vastly outstripped demand in 2010, especially when one considers the shadow inventory of homes with mortgages in default or foreclosure. This state of affairs continues into 2011. As a result, RPX metrics continue to show weakness.

One benefit of gridlock in Washington is that our government will be hampered in its ability to meddle in the housing market.

Government efforts to prop up the market have only served to reduce sales volumes and eliminate an important component of the move up market.