[xt00]

Yea likely many cash buyers will sit in a wait and see mode except for amazing properties (like waterfront that is being sold cheaper than expected etc) -- but the ability of the fed to drive housing prices down will probably be seen as a feature rather than a bug to many people -- so I would expect the fed will keep the high interest rates for 2-3 years. There were continual increases from 1977 to 1981 until finally things were reversed.. so interest rates being ~8% + for 3 years would seem cheap compared to the high interest rates of 1981 (hitting 18%). So seems likely housing prices will keep sliding for a while until some sort of equilibrium is found.