Kids are graduating college and immediately buying houses. Rent an apartment? What are you, crazy? Extra cash is being invested, not in stocks (by far the best performing asset class since the beginning of time), but rather in real estate.
When people reflect on the Internet stock bubble of the late 1990's, they often recall shares of Yahoo! and Amazon.com being the most common topics of conversations at dinner parties. Nowadays I find myself at poker games where investing in real estate is the main topic of conversation.
A few months ago, I got an email from a University of Missouri student who had been present for one of my guest lectures during his senior year. He had moved back to St. Louis after graduation and, along with a buddy of his, wanted to meet with me to discuss investment opportunities. Maybe they wanted to take my advice and open a Roth IRA, I thought. I was thrilled to sit down with them and offer some advice.
Turns out Roth IRAs were the farthest thing from their minds. Instead, they had assembled a group of 20 or so friends, most in their early 20's. Their plan was to pool money together and invest in real estate. They figured 20 people contributing $200 a month would net them $10,000 within three months; enough for a down payment on a $50,000 house, which they would then fix and resell for a profit.
This is the type of behavior the current real estate market has induced. Amazing really, given what we all experienced just five short years ago. The logic seems to be that stocks were just pieces of paper, but houses are a much safer asset. Houses might be more tangible, but regardless of what you are investing in, the only thing that really matters is how much you pay for it and how much it will ultimately be worth.
Below is a link to an article from Sunday's L.A. Times (free registration required). If you don't think there is a real estate bubble in this country after reading it, I'd be surprised. The author may be highlighting California-specific instances, but something tells me it's happening in a lot of other states as well.