Only two explanations come to mind:
1) market manipulation
or
2) the market sees something we don't about six months out
Chose your poison. My left-brain says #1, but my right-brain choses #2. (I just hope that doesn't mean I am a house divided against itself, LOL)
EDIT, on your following post on "dark-matter", I add the following:
The big question is, is housing crashing, or merely correcting (is this a pullback or a new impulsive move?). One of the homebuilders noted that while the r.e. market has slowed, nothing in the greater economy or demographics has changed and therefore he foresaw a continuation of the rise after a lull. Could be the skyrocketing prices merely priced a lot of potential buyers out of the market who will come streaming back in when prices combined with interest rate cuts make housing affordable to a greater number of people once again.
OTOH, the Fed will not go gently into that dark night, so if the overall economy takes a noticeable turn for the worst, I would foresee hyperinflation in our future which would keep housing prices in dollar-terms high, while they in fact lose true value due to a decline in the dollar.
Interesting times we live in.
Newly
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