Real Estate projections

I've been thinking a lot about real estate in the past few years. There have been so much press about how there's a real estate boom and whether or not it will burst. Whether or not there may be a bubble burst, or how much interest rates will rise, or how affordable it is, I still think there is an allure about it. I find that process of searching, renovating, and selling would be satisfying, albeit a time consuming process. I've looked at a lot of data, and although interesting, when I see lectures, talk with investors, businesses, friends, family, there's nothing more real than having the need to find good housing. Affordable and NYC real estate are rarely in the same sentence. I have seen them, but I haven't had the time to pursue it.

In any case, there have been some interesting real estate tools on the web that are popping up. This one uses google maps to locate Manhattan listings, which is similar to the one I wrote about previously, which combines google maps and Craigslist.

I saw an interesting statistic from the U.S. Census Bureau that says that the State of NY is 50 out of 51 in terms of Percent of Occupied Housing Units That are Owner-occupied.

On a grander scale, look at the world population reached:

• 1 billion in 1804,
• 2 billion in 1927 (123 years later)
• 3 billion in 1960 (33 years)
• 4 billion in 1974 (13 years)
• 5 billion in 1987 (12 years)
• 6 billion in 1999 (12 years)
• 7 billion in 2013 (14 years - projected)
• 8 billion in 2028 (15 years - projected)
• 10.7 (high) or 8.9 (middle) or 7.3 (low) billion projected for 2050

Aren't these opportunity enough to get into real estate? Just looking at the future...