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WASHINGTON – Sept. 8, 2010 – An increasing number of economists and housing analysts are urging the government to step back and let the housing market fall where it may.

“Housing needs to go back to reasonable levels,” says Anthony B. Sanders, a professor of real estate finance at George Mason University. “If we keep trying to stimulate the market, that’s the definition of insanity.”

“We have had enough artificial support and need to let the free market do its thing,” housing analyst Ivy Zelman says.

Even the National Association of Home Builders hasn’t been supportive of another tax credit, because its members believe that in order for one to have impact it would have to be worth at least $25,000 — an unlikely proposition.

“Our members are saying that if we can’t get a very large tax credit — one that really brings people off the bench — why use our political capital at all?” says David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist.

Source: The New York Times, Davie Streitfeld (09/06/2010)

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