The New Year is beginning where the old one ended -- with uncertainty about when – or whether – the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.
Read MoreTwo major issues dominated the news in late July: Inflation – whether it is, is not a problem or is likely to be one; and the prospect that millions of renters would be evicted from their homes as a federal moratorium barring evictions for nonpayment of rent expired.
Is the housing boom creating a dangerous bubble? In every boom-and-bust real estate cycle – and there have been a lot of them – experts have suggested and consumers have believed that the boom they were seeing, unlike all the others, would not be followed by a decline. And every boom-bust cycle in the past has proven them wrong.
Judging by news reports and opinion pieces in trade publications and mainstream media, the risk of a housing bubble probably ranks as the top concern of many economists and real estate industry executives today. But fear of resurgent inflation is a close second. Home prices and a housing shortage are feeding the bubble fears, as we’ve discussed before; consumer prices and an increasingly rocky labor market recovery are creating the inflation jitters.
The housing market is crazy! More than one industry professional has reached that conclusion, watching trends that seem inconsistent, if not contradictory.