"Echo Boomers" = Green Shoots?

The children of the Baby Boomers, dubbed "Echo Boomers," may wind up providing a benefit for real estate markets, according to the up-beat new Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Even though this report does point to the "warts" of the industry as a result of the current recession, new household formations and immigration have moderated -- a positive with respect to demographics, as noted.

The demographics for the Echo Boomers suggests that this group is entering peak household formation years (ages 24-44) for a total of 44.2 million, over 5.0 million (approximately 13.0%) more than the Baby Boomers level experienced in the 1970's.

Considering the present price pressure on home valuations and the continuation of the historically low interest rate environment -- with future improvement in the unemployment level for the U.S. along with expectations for increased demand for homes from the Echo Boomers -- financial institutions such as (but not limited to) Citigroup (C - Analyst Report), Bank of America (BAC - Analyst Report), Wells Fargo (WFC - Analyst Report), U.S. Bancorp (USB - Analyst Report) and Regions Financial (RF - Analyst Report) should experience benefits over the next 10 years.

However, we continue to expect pressures to be exerted on the financial industry and its institutions over the near term.