Housing market analyst ‘Poison Ivy’ Zelman, who called the 2008 bust that led to the Great Financial Crisis, sees ‘extremely depressed levels’ of existing home sales for years

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Ivy Zelman is a financial analyst with a reputation for delivering bad news, especially about housing. Dubbed “Poison Ivy” for accurately calling the 2008 housing bust, the chief executive of Zelman and Associates looks out at the current market and doesn’t see a recovery for months, if not years, to come.  

“Existing home sales are right now probably at the lowest since the GFC,” she said in a recent interview on CNBC, referring to the Great Financial Crisis. She added that she sees existing home sales remaining at “extremely depressed levels” through to 2025. In other words, housing activity, at least on the existing-homes side of the market, will largely remain frozen as homeowners hold onto their homes amid potentially higher-for-longer mortgage rates.