by Calculated Risk on 9/23/2007 11:32:00 PM

Quote of the day:

"Economists tend to think people are crazy because they won’t sell their houses for less than they paid for them — and people think economists are crazy for thinking things exactly like that."
Professor Christopher Mayer, director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School

From the NY Times: A Reality Check for Home Sellers

This article discusses homeowners not want to sell for a loss. But even homeowners with some profit reluctantly reduce their prices, unrealistically hoping for a price close to recent sales in their neighborhood. As the article notes:

... the [housing] market went into a deep freeze as many people held out for market prices that no one would reasonably pay.

We will see how much of a "deep freeze" later this week when the new and existing home sales reports are released.