bizjournals: What's next for housing: A national wrap-up

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"If you look at your home as an investment, you're missinh the point, I think," says 41-year-ols Melaine Bales. "Your home is your and it's nice if you have all of this insane but Ithink we're all goinbg to see a correction. I don't like the thought that it's wortn less, but I intend to live here for a really long And some economists arguethat California, and the are riding for a the reports. "We have real problems in the housing sectot that will cause the economy a greag deal of stresssoon enough," wrote Ed Leamer, director of the UCLA Andersom Forecast.
Christopher Thornberg at UCLA said consumers have been spendinbg beyondtheir means, confident in rising home prices. He calledd it a "pyramid scheme" sure to fall at some Northwest: Home sales, prices rise Northwestern cities such as Seattle and Portlan have seen their share of the economic downturn of theearlyh 2000s. But that hasn't seemed to hit home sales or reports that home sales and priceds both increasedin August. Median prices for single-familyg homes and condominiumsrose 17.3 percent to $285,00o0 from $243,000. And it only took 43 days to sell a compared to 51 days ayear ago. Portland, Ore., is booming.
"Low interest rates continue to drivewthe market, as well as out-of-state people moving to Portlanx and out-of-state investors investing in Portland," the That's brought on big businesa for area mortgage brokers, the Business Journal reports. "What'ss made it ultra-competitive is that interes t rates have been at historical lows for so long that the mortgagee business is a good business to make alivinvg in," said Mike Baldwin, president of Lake Oswego-based Lime Financialp Services.