Housing Market Rebound Not Likely To Happen In Our Lifetimes: Shiller

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. housing market is likely to remain weak and may take a generation or more to rebound, Yale economics professor Robert Shiller told Reuters Insider on Tuesday.

Shiller, the co-creator of the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, said a weak labor market, high gas prices and a general sense of unease among consumers was outweighing low mortgage rates and would likely keep a lid on prices for the foreseeable future.

"I worry that we might not see a really major turnaround in our lifetimes," Shiller said.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, the first uptick in prices in 10 months.

But Shiller called it "a very mixed bag." Nine of the 20 cities recorded falling or flat prices on the month.

He said suburban areas in particular might endure further price declines as high gas prices increase demand for "walkable cities." (Reporting by Steven C. Johnson; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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Comments

[Oracleman]

02:48 PM on 05/02/2012

What a bummer to find out everything you were taught growing up about owning real estate may not be realized in your own lifetime. I don't know if that's worse than also knowing many friends and family that do own may not even breakeven on the property they're paying off over the next 15-30 years. Of course cash is king in any scenario but not many people put down more than 20% on their house. So, banks and the 1% continue to buy distressed properties to artificially tighten supply while the dollar is devalued over time and the government runs up trillions more in debt.

[Scojam]

09:39 PM on 04/26/2012

The perfect economic storm hit, although it was delayed slightly by the sub prime fiasoe when people bought homes they couldn't afford helping to keep the building industry going as well as all the ancilory industries needed to provide furniture, appliances etc.

The storm that hit began building way back when advances in medical science extended life expentency, keeping people, who might have died or retired due to ill health, on the job. On jobs that traditionally went to the yoounger fold. In short a three generational economy became a three + to four generational economy.

At the same time basic entry jobs were disappearing by the millions due to computerization (yes some got jobs in the computer field).

The older folk began volunteering in droves and I include those who clear their tables and put their refuse away at MacD's.

Greed enabled the transferring of basic industiries to China as neighbors put neighbors and eventually themselves out of work buying a foreign made rake to save a couple of bucks.

Sending all those jobs to the Orient was stupid at minimum.

Blowing the bank account on ill thought out wars robbed the nation of the money needed to keep the safety nets in place and the funding to jump start the economy.

There are other contributors to the storm but space etc.

The perfect storm has hit and won't go away any time soon.

[Natassha Halverson]

02:12 PM on 04/25/2012

Yay for being a new home owner??

[ILoveGreatDanes]

09:11 AM on 04/25/2012

That article is so vague it's useless.

[joyz41]

11:40 PM on 04/24/2012

The housing market seems to have rebounded along the CA coast. The restaurants and shops are bustling. I remember how depressingly quiet cafes and restaurants were during the worst of the recession.

[rudy in la]

07:56 PM on 04/24/2012

Depends on your remaining life time.....no?

[maxwelldog]

03:08 PM on 04/24/2012

Shiller sounds like a doom and gloom announcer at the new gop open house.
The nonsense he spouts is a terrible misapplication of trends, not reality. I dare say it is also another way to introduce a sense of hopeless disparity in the housing market, when it actually ignores several points of fact.
FIRST and foremost point would be... when you put boys and girls together, population grows, and that means they need somewhere to live. Not many are willing to put their home, possessions, and possibly their lives in jeopardy of a "neighbor" via apartment complexes.
SECOND the houses being built today are identical to houses built in the 1400s, with the exception of indoor plumbing, energy, and entertainment/communications.
THIRD Although lumber companies DO NOT want this to happen... NO TREES need to be cut for building housing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Z7nkYkagk , which would also have far reaching effects on housing.

[IndyvoterRob]

02:58 PM on 04/24/2012

Are these the same analysts and experts who said ENRON was a great buy?

I will never trust these fools again.

[onebluebrick]

11:40 AM on 04/24/2012

I have not seen good economiic times in my lifetime and I was born in 1930. The only time my father brought home a fair wage was during WW2 - and he was a capable, hard working tool and die maker. Not fair to have to go to war with all that loss of life, in order to have a good economy.

Warships in Long Island sound were dumping coffee and other rationed goods into the water before setting off to sea, thereby lightening their load. There was rationing on land, 3 to 5 miles away, but no civilians or land based navy personnel were summoined to pick up that largesse.

[maxwelldog]

03:15 PM on 04/24/2012

It's doubtful they would take the time to do so because, "loose lips sink ships" however, your statement is as true today as then.
Having worked in a lot of fast food joints in my day, and in spite of hearing about how food is a scarce commodity for poor folk, we threw away boxes and boxes of cooked chicken, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, groceries and stores throw away food stuffs, candies, and the like.

Still, I thought it couldn't hurt to fan someone who is 82? It's nice to know some actually GET to that side of their social security check.
(of course, that is an assumption on my behalf. Maybe you haven't started receiving it, yet)

ha

d=^))

[PRETTYWOMAN-2]

07:05 PM on 04/24/2012

i thought when reagan was elected [1980] the country got out of a deep-recession from jimmy carter [1977-80],.......and for the next 26-yrs [till-2007] this country's economy was overall doing good ......until the ''credit-bubble'' bur$t !