As a result of the unprecedented rise in housing prices during the last five years it seems the nation has become cautious anticipating the predicted housing bubble to burst. Although there is no doubt that the market has cooled, the latest numbers announced this week by the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, seems to indicate that the market is still holding surprisingly firm.

The national median price for an existing home was $230,000 last month, up 0.9% from one year earlier while existing home sales including single-family houses, townhouses, condos, and co-ops were down 4.1%. Inventory continued to rise and at the end of July there were 3.86 million existing homes on the market ‘ equal to a 7.1 months supply, the highest since 1992.

On the “hard landing” side are those that remind us that a huge concern is the growing number of new homes currently under construction together with the large amount of real estate speculators who bought homes on the anticipation of rising prices will cause a growing glut of house for sale.

On the “soft landing” side we are reminded that a large one million legal immigrant pool, together with a maturing block of former immigrants reaching now only reaching their peak home buying years and the fact that Echo-boomers (Gen Y) at an estimated 76 million strong are now only just entering their first time home buying years.

Quo Vadis?“? The question is easy. Which will be larger ‘ Supply or Demand?

What do you think? Lets blog”