April housing starts and the bubble

When March housing starts came in last month, bubble whispers turned into much louder conversations. Before the bubble talk got too loud; however, new and existing home sales blew estimates away and the real estate market demonstrated that, at least for now, the dynamics have changed. With April housing starts coming in at 11%, the real estate market isn't expected to cool much anytime soon.

Last year, double digit appreciation markets were rare, but those numbers have risen swiftly, particularly in recent months. Nationally, the market is just getting hotter.

Even optimists believe that double digit appreciation rates cannot continue into the future and some markets will eventually lose some value. When, where, and how much; however, are extremely divisive and debatable issues. For buyers, unfortunately, things will probably get much worse before they get better.