'Obstinate Sellers Will Drag Out the Decline' Says the CAR

From the Chronicle (emphasis mine):

"It may take the California housing market three years to recover from its downturn because homes have simply gotten too expensive for most buyers, whose salaries haven’t risen nearly as fast as housing prices.

“We are at the beginning of the correction in the housing market in terms of prices," said Stephen Levy, director of Palo Alto’s Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "The prices now are way out of line with the income and income prospects of people.”

The California Association of Realtors [CAR] predicts a more-modest decline of 2 percent next year, according to Leslie Appleton-Young, the group’s chief economist. "It’s going to take another 18 months or so to work itself out," she said.

Appleton-Young, like Rosen, said that sellers who are refusing to drop their asking prices are dragging out the decline. Sellers will need to readjust their expectations, and lower prices, in order to get the market moving again, she said. "The period from 2002 to 2005 was unique — we had an extremely strong market and it was not sustainable," Appleton-Young said.

“The number of buyers who purchased their homes with unconventional loans, or mortgages that start out with extremely low payments and in some cases allow borrowers to rack up more debt than equity, also raise concerns about the stability of the housing market, Rosen said. "Anyone who could fog a mirror could get a 105 percent loan," he [Rosen] said. "And that means anybody.”

So there, take that sellers. The long, drawn-out decline you have to look forward to is all your fault. LOL. Of course, no mention of the part real estate agents and their ilk played in the irrational run-up in prices. Let's not forget the fearmongering. Let's not forget the myth creation. And let's not forget the shameless lies of David Lereah.