What they say at market bottoms...

Is this some new kind of a long-term market bottom in home prices that we've been seeing over the last month or two - where buyers are fearful of missing the next move up in prices?

I thought market bottoms are made when buyers are disinterested and those who do have the stomach to buy have resigned themselves to waiting years for any future price increases.

Apparently not, according to this report at CNN/Money:

The rebound may mean that potential homebuyers will have more of a feeling of urgency, afraid that they'll miss the market bottom.

That's already happening in some of the markets that had gone through steep price declines over the past few years, such as the area east of Los Angeles that went through a severe boom and bust cycle. Home sales there are now booming again, according to Chuck Whitehead, a Coldwell Banker real estate broker.

"There's such a frenzy to get in before prices go up again," he said. "Buyers are more concerned about that than about getting the first-time homebuyers tax credit."

We have become a nation that is now fully conditioned to expect another bubble.

A lasting bottom in home prices would be much more believable if the local realtor were to say, "Look, nobody expects prices to rise like they did a few years ago. People are buying homes today because they just want a place for their family to call their own".