"Bernanke is sugar coating the housing situation. The worst is yet to come in the housing market. I am in the mortgage industry. The reality is foreclosures are going to continue to go up because of the inflated appraised values that were used to purchase/refinance homes."
-- Robert C., Indiana
"I do agree with Ben Bernanke on his assessment of the current housing market. We have only been in a downturn for the last year and a half and history shows that these things take 5-7 years to correct (look at 1990, 1980 and 1974). Alan Greenspan told us six months ago that the bottom of the housing market was in but we all know how bad his track record is for predictions."
-- Dwuight M., Pennsylvania
"The housing "bust" is going to be a slow-motion affair, unlike the dot-com crash. While any individual quarter may not show a definitive impact, the cumulative effect over 5-7 years will be significant."
-- Nick A., Virginia
"No. We’ve seen the tightening in credit standards and we are starting to see falling prices brought about by slower sales. What we haven’t really seen yet is the foreclosures. Increased foreclosures will create a downward spiral for home prices, which will hurt homeowner’s ability to sell at a profit and reduce their ability to take equity out of their homes because of lower appraised values. These have been two of the major forces driving economy recently. Add this to the pressure already on consumers due to high gas prices and you are going to see reduced consumer spending, which will pull the economy down. As is consistent with their track record, the Fed will wait too long to cut rates."
-- Kyle M., Ohio
"Yes, because people will not continue spending until their house is in order, so to speak. From 1900–2000 housing prices rose at the rate of inflation, from 2000–2005 they soared. Housing prices will have to fall another 40% to revert to the mean, which they will."
-- Ray M., Florida