Unlike that of most other housing economists, Glaeser's recent work on real estate addresses the issues of supply rather than of demand.

Martin Ellis, Halifax's housing economist, said: "Confidence is also weak as a result of uncertainty about the economic and employment outlook.

This year, some housing economists expect home prices to rise a healthy 4 to 5 percent nationally.

Many housing economists use permanent income rather than annual income because of the high cost of purchasing real estate.

Most housing economists note that that the population in the United States is aging as the "baby boom" generation reaches full middle age.

George McCarthy, a housing economist at the Ford Foundation, says the poor are most vulnerable.

The buyers are usually people with a disposition to modernity and a taste for self-expression, said Louis Winnick, a housing economist.

According to Ellickson, "most housing economists.

"A year ago, I expected things would be much worse than they are now," said George McCarthy, a housing economist at the Ford Foundation.

"The large builders have taken the position: we're just going to fight," Chris Mayer, a housing economist at Columbia University's business school, says.