This is a California Association of Realtors' puff piece. This should not be reported as news. Is CAR really an objective observer with no interest in whether the housing market is heating up . . ? Investors are exiting the housing market because prices have risen too fast due to lack of supply and zero interest rates. How long will interest rates be at rock bottom? What will happen to prices when they rise back to normal levels?

When is the best time to buy a house, according to the CA Association of Realtors? Now!

When is the best time to sell a house, according to the CA Association of Realtors? Now!

The answer is always "Now!", in puff pieces (as fhagen correctly described them) from Realtor's trade groups.

Coincidently, on KTVU (Ch. 2) news last night, there was a story about the real estate market having cooled off considerably from a month or two ago, so that it was becoming better for buyers, in that there were far fewer offers being made, and therefore less competition. (Obviously this also means that it has been getting relatively worse for sellers, compared to a month or two ago.) All of this will probably change several times before the end of the year.

I have to agree. Nothing but a puff piece, pulled out of..... "thin air"... by people with a clear financial agenda. Wishful thinking at best. No one knows what the real estate market is going to be like next year; it's like the difference between weather and climate. You can make macro predictions over a lengthy time period with a fair degree of accuracy (real estate values will track family incomes over the decades is a pretty good bet) but you can't realistically predict what it's going to be like next year.

The best time to buy or sell a home is when prices are rising. Everyone wins.

Prices were rising in 2007. It was a great time to sell. Buying? Not so much. Everybody didn't actually win.