Whats driving the housing boom?
Well, there are a number of factors. One, a lot of people have withdrawn their money from the stock market and decided to put it into homes. Second, I think there is a very strong nesting instinct that has been underscored by the uncertainties of the last six months. And finally, the demographics are very strong for increasing rates of home ownership and increasing housing prices. If you look at the sources of supply and the places where builders can build, they’re increasingly limited by public policy, and yet you have the demographics of our population in the peak home-ownership years. Q: Aren’t baby boomers getting older and downsizing their homes as their kids move out? A: The highest rate of home ownership is among those in the 64-plus range, and then the next highest is age 55 to 64, both of them in the 80% range. We are seeing people principally staying in their homes. When they downsize, they don’t downsize to a lower-cost property predominantly, although some do. They might mo
