Floyd Norris Column

"Voting" your Home, or Your 401(k)?

New York Times business columnist Floyd Norris has a provocative piece today titled "Housing Prices and McCain":

http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/

Norris' premise is that Obama defections are likeliest in "red" states where home prices have dropped the most. Could be, although you'd be hard-pressed to isolate just one factor in causing a former Bush supporter to switch.

When people are feeling this much economic pain, I doubt they make careful distinctions about the precise source(s) any more. However, as I posted on Mr. Norris' blog, you don’t get a monthly statement telling you how much your home price just dropped. It's also the case that, at any given time, only a small fraction of homeowners are actively in the market -- less as we head into the holidays.

Personally, my guess is that people are “voting” their 401(k)’s more than their home prices this election cycle . .