Is there a housing bubble? CUNA Chief Economist Mike Schenk looks into that question in CUNA’s latest Economic Update video. Schenk, who spoke to Buzzfeed recently about the same topic, looks at surging U.S. home prices and other factors in the video. 

“Whenever I think about asset price bubbles, typically I think about whether or not there is a lot of speculation in the marketplace, and a lot speculative trade of those assets,” he said. “As I look at the market today, I don’t really see that kind of frenzied trading we saw in the early 200s through 2007.”

Schenk’s focus is on:

• Recent rapid increases in home prices in a historical context.
• Geographic variation in home price performance.
• How home price appreciation has influenced overall consumer indebtedness.
• Characteristics of mortgage activity relative to historical norms.
• Reasons for optimism reflected in several recent trends.