Will the real buyers please stand up?

The level of actual buyer-occupants in sales volume is the critical indicator of long-term demand, not total sales volume.

For a critical analysis of the supply-side paradigm and a discussion of artificial speculator influence on demand, see Part I of this article series, It’s the demand, stupid!  

Obstacles confronting the end userA buyer who will occupy the property as their residence or own it as income property for long-term investment purposes.

At the prompting of government incentives, the national homeownership rate during the Millennium BoomThe years 2000-2007 leading up to the current economic recession, characterized by loose lending practices and unsustainably high property prices and sales volume.The years 2000-2007 leading up to the current economic recession, characterized by loose lending practices and unsustainably high property prices and sales volume. increased from the traditional 64% to an apex of 69% in June of 2004 . This was the same moment the Federal ReserveThe central bank in control of regulating the U.S. financial and monetary system. (the Fed) commenced raising interest rates to structure an economic slowdown.

This 6% increase consisted mostly of tenant-by-nature subprime borrowers who were lured into homeownership from the sidelines, enticed by the government-engineered mirage of the American Dream. These same individuals were rudely expelled from the housing market after the bubble burst, their tenuous grasp on homeownership broken, as was predestined.