Up, down and all around

The New York Times reported today on renewed hyperventilating in the NYC housing market. Multiple bids by bonus babies. It is the same story in the Silicon Valley and parts of SF Bay Area -- option baby, Google/YouTube/VC frenzy, return of the tech stock. East Coast: Wall St. wealth; West Coast: tech wealth. This set-up probably says more about uneven distribution of wealth, than anything else.
And what about Main St? The rest of the housing market is sputtering as we wait for the fall out from the ezzzzzzzzzy money scandal.
Remember, the option ARM crack was not peddled to rich people (when they did take the bait, they had the liquidity to pay down their interest-only, LIBOR, loans).
But bi-coastal housing bliss is not immune from sloppy underwriting and from owners getting in over their head. I heard one story from a SF Realtor this weekend about a buyer who paid $1.4 million two years ago in a multiple-offer mess. Now the owner owes $1.5 million on a house worth $1.3 million, at best. Are you hearing the short-sale blues?
These extremes typify this housing market today, making it difficult for experts, analysts and journalists to figure out where it is headed.

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