Or Maybe They Don't Have Any Money

I'm not against the idea that the last few years have caused a wee shift in peoples' preferences for owning housing, but there are also simpler explanations.

Though there had been hopes in the industry that prices were troughing and ready to turn higher, the latest trends show little hope in sight until later this year or early in 2012, he added.

"Everybody's now keeping their fingers crossed for 2012 and wondering wheter people just don't want to own homes anymore," he said.

I'm sure people have, quite sensibly, reevaluated homeownership due to the Kafkaesque nightmare it's become for millions of people. I'm also sure that unemployment is at 9%.