mallarde

You Don't Own Real Estate - It Owns You

carey_jim, I think you are might be missing something on future generations being "condemned" to falling prices. Younger people have been badly hurt by real estate speculation. Many have put off family-formation or lived in less desirable places because of it.

Housing is in a way a natural resource with a flat demand curve -- like electricity or oil. People have to buy housing -- or rent it. When young people have to contend with very high-priced housing their cost of living has gone way up.

Like in a pyramid scheme, the people that benefit are the older people that already have their real estate and can cash out. But that is about all the baby-boomer generation can comprehend -- what helps themselves.

I think the country would be best served with housing that keeps pace with inflation and that is about it. But with our immigration policy the way it is, we can presume demand will increase and prices will go up over time. Maybe not like a bubble, but the real cost of housing will go up.