Chitownproperty

The recent housing market boom is winding down, but that means now it’s time for someone to take the fall. Who’s to blame for creating the irrational exuberance about real estate? Well, pretty much everyone. As the Tribune’s Mary Umberger explains, the finger can be pointed at just about anyone involved in the real estate markets, from economists to the media to brokers, lenders and customers themselves. The National Association of Realtor’s chief economist David Lareah was surprisingly candid in his assessment.

We’re in transition from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, and that transition is costly. When that happens, there’s always a big drop in sales volume because the seller is stubborn.
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I’ve been wrong for three years in a row. I’ve said we’re about to get a correction. For three years, I’ve said, `This is the year that sales will come down.’ But now, it’s not because mortgage rates went up, it’s because of the psychology of the marketplace. The prices just got too high.