Prices Are Going Up (at least for now)

I was pointed to this video some time back, which is a bit dated, but is a great discussion of why, for now, prices are bound to rise. And it's been proven accurate so far. Basically, banks are not selling their shadow inventory like before but are instead working out more arrangements with homeowners or renting out the properties themselves, even Fannie and Freddie are doing this. Basically, this is all choking off the supply of REO's, which were what was keeping prices down, so now prices are rising swiftly. The talk is by Bruce Norris and focuses primarily on California, but I think it has national ramifications:

Now, how long will this continue is the big question. There are rumblings of a mini-bubble brewing. And all of the Hedge Fund money flowing into single family houses (such as Blackstone looking to buy 15,000 houses in Tampa Bay alone!) seems like a fad. Given this, I would still focus on cash flow properties instead of more speculative properties that may appear to have a higher appreciation potential.