Despite an encouraging report on April 30 from the Case-Shiller home price index — housing prices posted their biggest gains since 2006 — Yale economist Robert Shiller, a co-inventor of the index, remains bearish on the prospects for home buyers.
Noting that we’re in a “strange” economy, with mortgage rates at record lows, Shiller predicts that the present boom will be short lived. A trend toward renting — as opposed to home ownership — is one factor influencing prices, and generally a shifting away from the outer suburbs. Social networking might make remote living less desirable for young people, speculates Shiller, and even gas prices might doom the commuter way of life. “Housing prices may be the same in 10 years as they are today,” he predicts.
