Shiller says another housing boom unlikely: VIDEO

Robert Shiller (Source: Yahoo screenshot)
Robert Shiller (Source: Yahoo screenshot)

Home sales and prices may be on the rise across the country, but housing guru Robert Shiller is not convinced that another bubble is on its way, Yahoo reported. Shiller told the website that, while the market looks positive in the short-term, in the long run, “it’s really a great unknown.”

Speculators were behind 27 percent of the sales of existing homes in the U.S. over the last year, and are increasingly making purchases all in cash. However, despite the “speculative excitement,” Shiller said he does not believe a housing bubble is growing.

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“People shouldn’t assume the housing market is off to the races,” Shiller told Yahoo. “[For] the country as a whole it’s rather unlikely that we’ll have another boom like the one we recently had because that’s such a rare and unusual event.”

The last boom was unique in its scope — affecting the whole country and even the world — whereas the current speculative environment focuses on more specific markets, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, he said. [Yahoo]Zachary Kussin