Robert Shiller: Optimism is Fading in Housing Market

Yale economist and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller index Robert Shiller raised some concerns about the housing market yesterday. He said confidence in the housing market can change suddenly and he’s concerned that it’s worsening and it’s been worsening for some time. Shiller isn’t 100% confident that recent the decline in housing prices is significant and means a double dip in housing markets, but his company’s survey results have been showing a continual decline in long term expectations for the past 5 months.

Yesterday, NYU economist Nouriel Roubini also predicted that housing prices have nowhere to go but down. Of course, Roubini’s style is much bolder than Robert Shiller’s. Shiller always uses words like “could” or “may”, so most of his comments aren’t real macroeconomic predictions. You have to judge yourself whether he’s optimistic or pessimistic about certain issues such as housing prices or stock market bubbles. Here’s the Bloomberg video: