Could it be that it’s déjà vu, all over again? A little over two years ago, in October 2005, I titled this column “Coasting Sideways This Fall.” At the time, there was a deluge of press ink focused on the housing bubble debate. Since early 2004, skeptics have been predicting that our market will tank. Despite all the gloomy talk about boom and bust, however, prices have been rising steadily. Buyers in all categories have been making deals for their homes at good prices, encouraged by continued historically low interest rates and short inventory. In October 2005 in an atmosphere of intense negative media attention, I wrote: “If anything, Manhattan prices are moving sideways, not down.”
