by Calculated Risk on 5/04/2006 11:52:00 PM

From the San Francisco Chronicle: 30-year mortgages at 6.59%, approaching a 4-year high

Chris Thornberg, senior economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, thinks the housing market will decline no matter what happens with interest rates.

"The overall cooling bubble will far and away dominate any kind of interest-rate effects," Thornberg said. Rising interest rates "are just one tiny little (impact), like a guy standing in the middle of a hurricane throwing a bucket of water."

His predictions for the housing market are pessimistic.

"The market's already cooling. It's going to continue to cool and will get downright chilly by the end of the year," Thornberg said. "Appreciation will come to a stop and you'll continue to see overall unit sales falling."