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Housing bubble & other economic cycles

Going through a huge economic cycle is interesting. Take for example, the current "housing bubble" -- almost everyone that I know seems to be thinking that the housing boom will exisit forever. Very few want to sell homes & almost everyone wants to buy a first or a second or a third home. Any home that comes on the market on the west coast seems to be getting multiple offers (many above the asking price). Credit is dirt cheap; buying a home in a city without seeing the property (& sometimes even without seeing the city) has become a common thing. "The housing market has never crashed; so, buying real estate is not risky" is a commonly heard statement.

People don't seem to remember the past bubbles. Earlier today, I read an article that claims that the number of people searching for a bubble on the web has increased. Some experts claim that the the housing market is 'more prone to bubbles than stocks'. Only time will tell if there's a housing bubble & what its impact is going to be.

BTW, http://thehousingbubble2.blogspot.com/ has a good compilation of recent articles related to the housing bubble.
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