Should the housing market “pop”, it will return. It’s just a matter of time. But how long will it take? Let’s take a look at three historical housing market declines for some insight.
First up, Houston. The Houston housing market declined 22.7% from 1983 to 1988; it recovered nine years after its peak. Granted, not a great comparison to San Francisco, but the point is that homes can lose significant value for an extended period of time.
Next up, Los Angeles. The Los Angeles housing marketing declined 19.5% from 1989 to 1996; it recovered eleven years after its peak. Still not the best comparison, but it is much closer to home and constitutes prime coastal real estate.
And finally, New York. The New York housing market declined 7.7% from 1988 to 1995; it recovered ten years after its peak. And no, Manhattan, that geographically constrained, “fully developed”, and highly desirable piece of real estate to our East was not immune.
Considering we Americans tend to move every 7 years, a decade could be an awfully long time to wait for a market to return.