To: Crusader who wrote (42496 ) 9/28/2005 1:55:11 PM From: benwood Read Replies (1) | Respond to I think there will be a shift that results in a drag on RE for many years -- high taxation in cities resulting from complex, expensive infrastructure; blown up retirement plans; expensive medical care (or expensive premiums if you are one of the lucky ones); ever growing energy bills; deflated RE prices. Some in the city will benefit from some changes like more efficient mass transit by selling a home and moving into a condo perhaps; others I believe will move out of cities and/or downsize. I see a collision between declining real income and the high inflationary items in our lives, and the stock market bubble, RE bubble, and credit bubble have masked that effect for the past 10 years and that party will end and bring about some sobriety. The live for today crowd will get it when they cannot live for today any longer. The gloom I speak of will be a long psychological drag on RE -- it won't be all down but in relation to real money it will be a downward trend for many years I believe (barring an steep and abrupt adjustment which I just don't see). For many years, people have hardly given a thought to how much it costs to heat and cool their homes, and the result is ever growing home sizes. The shopper culture has needed larger houses to store all that unused junk (my brother's family a great example...).
