It must be, because what else explains this ridiculous optimism?
In an annual survey conducted by the economists Robert J. Shiller and Karl E. Case, hundreds of new owners in four communities — Alameda County near San Francisco, Boston, Orange County south of Los Angeles, and Milwaukee — once again said they believed prices would rise about 10 percent a year for the next decade.
With minor swings in sentiment, the latest results reflect what new buyers always seem to feel. At the boom’s peak in 2005, they said prices would go up. When the market was sliding in 2008, they still said prices would go up.
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Monday ~ August 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Nick Rowe
Sample selection bias! New buyers will always be more optimistic about house prices rises than the average person, otherwise they wouldn’t be new buyers. And the new buyers today aren’t the same people who were new buyers in 2005 and 2008. Equivalently, Winner’s Curse.
Monday ~ August 23rd, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Lord
It’s what their Realtor told them. They ran numerous commercials telling them just that even as prices were falling.
Tuesday ~ August 24th, 2010 at 2:00 am
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