My comment should have reaffirmed your post, consumer confidence IS a great cause to the housing slowdown. This was the point of the article from the Univ. of Penn. site. One of the top real estate investors in the Chicago area felt that greatest factor of the increasing housing inventory has more to do with fear than with any other media hyped circumstances.

I think you’ve hit it on the head. People are “scared” to buy — and we can blame it on the media and how they are scaring everyone but I’ve recently had another conversation with a buyer’s mother (and good personal friend) and she brought up an interesting point.

“Rates are great and the inventory has wonderful homes. But how can you buy when you don’t know if you’ll have a job in six months?”

I wonder if consumer confidence isn’t quite as high as people think. I still think the media is very responsible for the slow-down with so much negative publicity. However, I think there is a confidence issue right now with buyers.

Toby

The overwhelming amount of media information has put potential home buyers, who have the acceptable income and credit to own a home, in a state of paralysis. If an individual is in a good financial position to buy a home, then that is the best time to buy. If the home prices at that time happen to be at a low point, and the inventory of homes are high, it’s a wonderful bonus for potential buyers.