Shiller Says Downturn Won't Be Sharp

Yale economist and Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller recently spoke on the latest trends in the housing market, saying that he does not see an abrupt decline coming.

Talking to CNBC, the Case-Shiller Index co-founder says that while some worry about a bubble, as home prices have been rising over the past six years, the coming housing downturn will be more "placid," and not "sharp." New-home sales have decreased 5.5 percent in September from August, and dwindled 13 percent annually, lower than experts had previously anticipated.

The reading prompted Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, to write in a note to clients: "Anyone watching home builder stocks or watching the data all year should not be surprised but it's clear this important area of the US economy, highly sensitive to price and rates, has obviously slowed sharply. The latest S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released last month, showed a slowing of the rate of price increases for July.

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