Superhuman....

David Lereah’s NAR bio reads like an account of modern day Renaissance man. With “tenures with private industry, government and academia” this part PhD., part Chief Economist, part Author, part CEO, has apparently accrued quite a long list lists of significant achievements in his life.

Yet for all these shining accomplishments, his finest seems to have gone totally unrecognized.

That, of course, is his seemingly never ending, fine tuned, super-human abilities as an Industry Cheerleader.

Rather than going on and on why not simply let Mr. Lereah do the talking.

Here is a list of truly amazing quotes he has made recently:

"You don't need a boom for real estate to roar. The real estate boom is over but the real estate expansion is still here."

"There are no real estate bubbles, only balloons that expand and contract,"

"In 2006, we are cleansing the market of speculation."

"With the supply of homes picking up very nicely in many areas of the country, pressure is coming off of home prices," Lereah said. "By the time we report second-quarter data, I expect most areas will be returning to normal rates of price growth in the single-digit range. Consumers generally can expect normal price appreciation for the foreseeable future, providing solid returns over time."

Lereah called the slowdown healthy: "Prices got a little too high. We got ahead of ourselves. We needed to catch our breath."

"We now see appreciation cooling to single-digit rates of growth — another sign that the markets are stabilizing,"

"Real estate is not an irrational investment, but speculators purchased irrationally during the boom, especially in areas like Miami. This drove prices up, and many speculators took out interest-only loans. This produced a vulnerable real estate market," Lereah explained.

Asked about a recent study that indicates 35 percent of homeowners who have ARMs don't know how much their rates could jump from one payment to the next, and that 41 percent don't know how high their rates can go.

"I do expect some of these households to have trouble making the payments," Lereah said. "We're talking about an increase in delinquency rates and also maybe foreclosures on some of those homes."