Just to throw a thought out there...

As home values level-off (and in some cases drop), there is a lot of chatter that homeowners will feel less wealthy because of "equity lost". 

In theory, this will translate into less money spent by homeowners.

Throw in higher minimum credit card payments and higher home equity line mortgage payments because Prime Rate increased to 8.25%, and you'd think the average homeowner is getting squeezed skinny.

But, then we get the Wild Card factor. 

Over the last three months, the major stock indices have moved dramatically higher.  Wealth lost in real estate may be getting replaced by wealth created in stock ownership.

To be fair, because a person's real estate holdings tend to worth a lot more than their stock holdings, a 1% decrease in real estate usually wipes out more wealth than a 12% increase in stock holdings creates. 

But, it will be interesting to see if stock ownership replaces home ownership as America's primary "enabler" for its massive spending habit.

---

Dan Green is an active loan officer. Email or call 513-443-2020. Dan is on Twitter at @mortgagereports.