Believe it or not
I pulled the covers down and flicked on CNBC this morning, just to catch trader, Mark Fisher being asked how he’d get the US housing market moving again. While I found his answer slightly odious, it was clear he’d nailed how to get anyone to buy anything. Make them believe it will be more expensive tomorrow and they’ll buy it today – which let’s be clear, also pushes up the prices today. Fisher’s plan was simple – hand out green cards to any foreigner who wanted to live in the US and intended to buy, and live in (no renting out), a house. If people had no incentive or concern pushing them to buy today, they wouldn’t – especially if they thought prices would be cheaper tomorrow. The idea green card would probably work – high net worth individuals having access to US residency on the purchase of a house, clearly there would be some house price pressure. Yet, it’s the psychology behind the ‘more expensive tomorrow’ idea that the real estate and building industries understand and conti...