In an article entitled Great Time to Buy (Famous Last Words), last Sunday’s New York Times took a swipe at perennially optimistic real estate agents who have never seen a time that wasn’t a good time to buy a house. Fair enough. Self-interest and magical thinking are not limited to the real estate profession.
For the record, I’ve never suggested to anyone that buying a home is a good “investment.” You can do much better in the stock market and probably even in bonds. ...
Every time there’s a housing slump, there’s discussion about whether the top end or the bottom end is fairing better or worse. Here’s a June 2009 article from The Examiner, declaring that luxury home prices in SF are picking up. And here’s a report published by First Republic Bank, which puts out a so-called “prestige home index,” for various cities in California, stating that luxury home prices in San Francisco continue to fall. Here’s the accompanying chart from First Republic. ...
