25 years later..
If you lived through the housing bust of the 80's and happened to pick up a Billings Gazette during the aftermath, you might have seen this graphic:
Pretty steep drop, huh? The population declines and price drops of the mid 80's created an environment where building almost ground to a halt for a few years. On a graph, it looks pretty ugly. But wait. Let's plot the current decline in construction against the 80's bust in terms of percent decline from peak:
Note that the 2009 figure is a rough projection based on the first two months of the year. If construction picks up, this graph will look a lot better. But if not, well, things sure are looking like the 80's or even worse, construction wise.
The construction bust really makes you ask questions, in the face of all the rosy predictions and reassuring Realtors: If the housing market is so healthy, and Billings is not overbuilt, and prices are stable... then why is no one building?
Thanks for the history Doug, well before my time so it's nice to be educated.
I think based on Howard's new numbers March might be all right, the first time home owner's credit has pulled out some buyers, and why not. $8k in the pocket is a good deal if you close before tax day. Long term though the credit won't do much, especially in the hard-hit upper end where first time buyers are less likely to be buying.
The times continue to be interesting.